This picture was taken from the air. It's hard to see, but that is a figure in a feathered headdress |
Nazca Lines
This picture was taken from the air. It's hard to see, but that is a figure in a feathered headdress |
Nazca is a city, 141 kilometers south of Ica, a place to see a great archaeological
mystery, Geolyphs known as the Nazca Lines.
The Nazca Lines are drawn on the rock -- strewn Pampa de San Jose, from straight lines 5-8
kilometers long, to geometric and animal shapes, stirring the minds of scientists for
years. Some say it could have been done by extraterrestial intervention, but mainly there
are two main ideas of reasoning. One is that they were part of a huge astronomical
calendar, noting the rainy seasons in the highlands and seasonal changes in the climate.
Others say that the lines were caused by the ritual, physical flow of water from the
mountains to the Nazca Plain.
We do know that these lines were etched by the people of Nazca, molding them with stones
in the shape of figures and animals from 1900 B.C. To 660 A.D.
Sites for further Information
"A Trip to the Nazca Lines"
http://newton.umsl.edu/~mway/trip.dec95/nazca/
Note: This is a document of one person's visit to the Nazca Lines. Lots of pictures.
"Dresdener Wissenschaftler untersuchen die
geheimnisvollen Linien von Nazca"
http://www.htw-dresden.de/~nazca/gis/nazca.html
Note: This web site is in German but contains a very understandable map of the Nazca
Lines.
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