Why the
Nazca Lines
are special

They are a mind boggling set of extremely large scaled drawings etched along an arid coastal plateau. Scholars do not know exactly why and when they were created, and by whom.

Nazca Lines
tips & insights

The drawings

The geoglyphs (drawings etched in the earth) include fanciful animal, bird, fish, plant and human figures. Some of them are two football fields wide. The stylized drawings of a monkey (see photo), hummingbird, spider, and a man with an owl shaped head are especially popular with tourists.

The Nazca patterns also consists of numerous geometric patterns. This includes triangles and trapezoids formed by crisscrossing straight lines. Some lines are so long that they stretch beyond the horizon.

The drawings are so
expansive that their shapes
cannot be recognized
from ground level

No one in the last 1000 years knew what they represented until they were seen from the air in the 1920s. Today, there are small local sightseeing planes for tourists.

Theories about the purpose
of the Nazca Lines abound.

For example, some experts argue that they were used as an astronomical calendar for the benefit of farmers planting and harvesting their crops. Some people speculate that the lines were landing aids for alien spacecrafts. However, the modern day consensus says the Nazca Lines likely had a religious purpose.

Origin

Little is known about the civilization that is now named “Nazca”. Many scholars surmise that its geoglyphic constructing period occurred somewhere between 400 BC and 800 AD.

Geoglyphs exist in other parts of the world, but the Nazca Lines are easily the most striking and enigmatic.

Drawing method

Most objects were drawn by digging a narrow, shallow trench. This exposed the light hued subsoil, which markedly contrasts with the plateau’s thin reddish-brown surface layer.

Explore my
candid country, region
and other travel guides
Click links for tips & insights

©2010 HQP / Hillman Quality Publications