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 =The Nazca Lines = By Sean Jenness

Located on the west coast of Peru, a series of geoglyhs are laid on the earth’s surface in the Nazca Desert(Nickell). Amid this high and arid plateau which stretches more than fifty miles, hundreds of individual lines ranging from simple lines to stylized animals to human figures trace the desert floor creating the Nazca Lines or the "Riddles in the Sand" as they once were known. This huge sketch pad can be seen not only from land, but also from the sky. But who and why were these lines and drawings made?


It is believed by many experts that these geoglyphs were created by the Nazca culture between two hundred BCE and seven hundred CE. The construction process to create these lines was relatively simple and was thanks to a phenomena that was created by mother nature. On top of the desert floor lays a layer of pebbles which are coated in iron oxide which gives a reddish-brown appearance. When this first layer is removed, a light white powdery layer of gypsum appears beneath the pebbles and creates a strong contrast against the first layer.  The German mathematician and archeologists Dr. Maria Reiche spent much of her life studying how these lines were made and helped preserve them. She believed that the lines were carved into the earth, probably with a stick at first. After drawing the initial picture the pebbles and rocks were then used to outline the continuous-line drawings with the white side up. However, this still does not answer for the amazing straightness of the individual lines. But, when this technique of removing pebbles is used with simple tools and surveying equipment, lines can be drawn across the landscape in relative ease. Tools such as a simple line of rope and wooden stakes can be used with a minimum number of people to create these amazing lines.

By having an initial wooden post hammered in the ground, one can rotate away from the single point in any direction and distance, and is still able to create a straight line when a rope is tied to the stake via where the person is.

If the line is too long for a rope to reach, individuals can become lined up from a single position in a line and then become straight from a single person’s perspective. Individuals may possibly hold flags to show their position easier for the person straighting the line, or use the flags to mark the positions instead of a person holding that point. After the line is straightened from the initial point, smaller ropes may be used to mark the line from one person to the next creating one long line.

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Through archeological excavations, wooden stakes have been found in the ground at the end of some lines supporting this theory. Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky has reproduced some figures using the technology available to the Nazca people at the time, and without aerial assistance. It is estimated that during Nazca times with careful planning and simple technologies, a small team of individuals could recreate even the largest figures within a few days. In fact Joe Nickell and his team completed this hummingbird in a landfill area in West Liberty, Kentucky which is pictured right; in only a several days with rain slowing them down most of the time.

With the average temperature at 77 degrees Fahrenheit all year round and with an extremely dry and almost constant climate of the Nazca dessert, these lines have survived for hundreds of years. Many have been lead to think that the Nazca people created these images and lines so that their gods in the sky could see them. Others, such as Erich von Däniken have been so far to theorize that the lines were built for spacecraft and aliens to see from the sky, or that the aliens in fact helped build them. Däniken believed that the drawings were signals and the lines possible landing strips for space craft. However, as Nickell argues, would aliens place signals shaped like monkeys and hummingbirds? And would these "signals be less than eighty meters long. He goes on further to state as well that if the lines were landing strips the spaceship would probably get stuck from the soft soil under the first layer of pebbles.

 Other theories relate to the Nazca using "prehistoric hot air balloons" for ceremonial flights from which they could see the Nazca Lines from the sky. Jim Woodman actually constructed a hot air balloon to test this theory made of cloth, rope, and reeds, the same materials the Nazca could have used. Remarkably, Jim Woodman and British balloonist Julian Nott tested the "balloon" flying over 300 hundred above the Nazca desert. But, the flight was short lived when the balloon descended rapidly and the two men had to jump off the vessel only to see their balloon fly into the sky until it crashed some yards away. Another theory is that the lines point somehow to water sources in the desert. But, the most plausible theory, or at least logical, is that the lines were used to point to where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set. The motivation for the Nazca people to build these lines could have been that their gods might have been related to these celestial bodies.



 But, all of these theories have very little to know evidence to back them up. It might be possible that we may never know what really these lines stood for or what they were used for. However, what is known for sure is that the lines are in danger of being destroyed. According to the Maria Reiche Centre, pollution and erosion is continuing to threaten the existence of the lines. With the lines being only shallow designs in the earth, they cannot resist rain without being damaged. But, now that there is great changes in the earth’s weather due to global warming, this now may change the dessert’s rare rain level.

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REFERENCE

[] [|www.science-frontiers.com/ sf028/sf028p02.htm] www.unmuseum.org/**nazca**.htm [|www.latinamericanstudies.org/. ../nazca-lines.htm] []