Nazca geoglyphs. Nazca desert, Peru - wonders of the world - travel encyclopedia - catalog of articles - travels with Oleg Baranovsky

The Nazca Desert is located in the south of Peru, 450 kilometers from Lima. This is the region of residence of the pre-Inca civilization of Nazca (I-VI centuries AD).

The Nazca people waged wars and engaged in trade, but the main activity for them was fishing and farming. In addition, the Nazca were excellent artists and architects - we can judge this from the found ceramics of this culture and the ruins of ancient cities. There is a lot of evidence of the high level of development of this civilization, the main of which, of course, are the Nazca Lines - huge geoglyphs in the desert, visible only from a bird's eye view.

What to watch

Nazca lines

Giant desert drawings depicting animals and objects - the Nazca Lines - were discovered in 1926. Researchers suggest that the geoglyphs were created in the years 300-800 by the Nazca civilization. They were called “the largest calendar in the world”, “the most gigantic book on astronomy” - their exact purpose remains unknown.

The area of ​​the territory where the Nazca Lines are located, occupies 500 km2 and is located in the desert, where it rains for only half an hour a year. It is this fact that allowed geoglyphs to survive to this day.

These drawings were first described in 1548, but for many years no one paid serious attention to them. Perhaps this was due to the fact that they can only be properly examined from a height, and they began to fly airplanes over the desert much later. In the early 1940s, during the construction of the Pan-American Highway, an American professor invited to study coastal hydrology regularly flew over the valleys in small planes. It was he who drew attention to the strange lines that form into huge drawings. The sight that unfolded shocked and astounded him. Professor Kosok and other scientists have devoted many years to the study of these lines. They managed to discover the relationship between the location of the lines with the sun on the days of the summer and winter solstices, as well as indications of the moon, planets and bright constellations. It seemed that the Nazca civilization set up a gigantic observatory here.

The technique for creating geoglyphs was very simple: the upper darkened layer was cut off from the soil and folded here, along the formed light strip, creating a darker color framing the lines. Over time, the color of the lines darkened and became less contrasting, but we can still see the drawings left by the Nazca civilization.

How to watch
In Nazca, there are several companies that make sightseeing flights in small planes over the desert. Such, because due to the number of people who want to see the Lines of Places, it may not be at the last moment at the right date.

An alternative way to see the lines is to go up to the observation deck on the Panamericana Highway (El Mirador). The cost of lifting is 2 soles (20 rubles), but you can only see 2 drawings.

Palpa Lines

Unlike the Nazca drawings, the Palp Lines consist more of human and geometric designs. According to archaeological research, the Palpa Lines date back to an earlier period than the Nazca Lines. Flying over the Palp Lines, you can see the image of the Pelican, the image of a woman, a man and a boy, whom archaeologists have nicknamed "The Family". One of the Palp Lines is an image of a Hummingbird - similar to one of the geoglyphs of the Nazca Lines. Another Line is read by archaeologists as an image of a Dog near the Square. Near the city of Palpa you can see the famous image of the Sundial and Tumi - a ritual knife.

Ruins of Cahuachi

The most important and powerful city of the Nazca civilization was Cahuachi - a city in the Nazca Valley, 24 km from the modern city of Nazca. Excavations are still underway here. To date, the city remains:

• The Central Pyramid is 28 meters high and 100 meters wide, consisting of 7 steps. Religious ceremonies were held here.
• Stepped Temple 5 meters high and 25 meters wide
• 40 buildings made of adobe (unfired brick)

There was a necropolis near the city, where scientists found untouched graves with various items that were customary to put in graves (dishes, fabrics, jewelry, etc.). All finds can be seen in the Antonini Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueológico Antonini) in Nazca.

Necropolis of Chauchilla (El cementerio de Chauchilla)

The Chauchilla necropolis is located 30 km from the city of Nazca. This is the only place in Peru where you can see the mummies of an ancient civilization directly in the graves where they were found. This cemetery was used from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD, but the main burials date back to 600-700 years. The mummies were well preserved due to the arid desert climate, as well as the embalming technology used by the Nazca: the bodies of the dead people were wrapped in cotton cloth, painted with paints and impregnated with resins. It was the resins that helped to avoid the decomposing action of bacteria.
The necropolis was discovered in 1920, but officially recognized as an archaeological monument and taken under protection only in 1997. Prior to that, he suffered for many years from marauders who stole a significant part of the treasures of Nazca.

2 hour guided tour - 30 Sols

Entrance ticket to the Necropolis - 5 soles

San Fernando Nature Reserve (Bahía de San Fernando)

About 80 km from Nazca there is a nature reserve very similar to Paracas. Here you can also see penguins, sea lions, dolphins, various birds. And besides, the Andean fox, guanaco and condors are found in San Fernando.

It is difficult to get here and there are almost no tourists here.In San Fernando you can spend time alone with nature and the Pacific Ocean!

Cantayoc aqueducts

The Nazca were a very advanced civilization. In the desert, where the river only fills with water for 40 days a year, the Nazca farmers needed a system that would allow them to have water throughout the year. They solved this problem by creating a magnificent system of aqueducts. One of them - Cantayoc Aqueducts are less than 5 km from the city of Nazca and are a chain of spiral wells.

When to go

Nazca is located in the desert, where it is almost always dry and sunny. December to March is the hottest time in this region, the average daily temperature is around 27C. June to September are the coldest months of the year when the daytime temperature is only 18C.

How to get to Nazca

Nazca is located 450 kilometers south of Lima. You can get here on your own by car along the Panamericana Highway, or by one of the many buses that go in this direction. The bus trip will take 7 hours.

The Nazca lines still cause a lot of controversy regarding who created them and when they appeared. Strange inscriptions, clearly visible from a bird's eye view, resemble geometric shapes, even stripes, and even representatives of the fauna. The dimensions of the geoglyphs are so large that it is not possible to understand how these images were drawn.

Nazca Lines: Discovery Story

Strange geoglyphs - inscriptions on the surface of the earth, were first discovered in 1939 on the Nazca plateau in Peru. American Paul Kosok, flying over the plateau, noticed strange drawings resembling birds and animals of enormous size. The images intersected with lines and geometric shapes, but stood out so clearly that it was impossible to doubt what they saw.

Later, in 1941, Maria Reiche took up the study of strange inscriptions on the sandy surface. However, it was possible to take a photo of an unusual place only in 1947. Maria Reiche devoted more than half a century to deciphering strange symbols, but the final conclusion was never provided.

Today, the desert is considered a protected area, and the right to explore it has been transferred to the Peruvian Institute of Culture. Due to the fact that the study of such a vast location requires huge investments, further scientific work on deciphering the Nazca lines has been suspended for the time being.

Description of Nazca drawings

When viewed from the air, the lines on the plain are clearly visible, but walking through the desert, it is unlikely that it will be possible to understand that something is depicted on the ground. For this reason, they were not discovered until aviation became more developed. Small hills on the plateau distort the pictures, which are caused by trenches dug across the entire surface. The width of the furrows reaches 135 cm, and their depth is from 40 to 50 cm, while the soil is identical everywhere. It is due to the impressive size of the lines that they are visible from a height, although they are hardly noticeable in the process of walking.

Among the illustrations are clearly visible:

• birds and animals;
• geometric figures;
• chaotic lines.

The sizes of the printed images are quite large. So, the condor spread over a distance of almost 120 m, and the lizard reaches 188 m in length. There is even a drawing resembling an astronaut, whose height is 30 m. trench seems impossible.

Hypotheses of the origin of lines

Scientists from different countries tried to find out where the lines point and by whom they were laid. There was a theory that such images were made by the Incas, but studies have shown that they were created much earlier than the existence of the people. The approximate period that dates back to the appearance of the Nazca lines is considered to be the 2nd century BC. e. It was at this time that the Nazca tribe lived on the plateau. In a village belonging to the people, sketches were found that resemble drawings made in the desert, which once again confirms the guesses of scientists.

Maria Reiche deciphered some of the symbols, which allowed her to put forward a hypothesis that the drawings reflect a map of the starry sky, which means they were used for astronomical or astrological purposes. True, this theory was later refuted, since only a quarter of the images fit the known astronomical bodies, which seems insufficient for an accurate conclusion.

At the moment, it is not known why the Nazca lines were drawn and how the people, who did not have writing skills, managed to reproduce such inscriptions on an area of ​​​​350 square meters. km.

,
and also obtained using Google Earth

The versions and classifications expressed in the book by A. Belokon “The Nazca Desert. Traces of a different mind” and in the LAI film “Nasca – Beyond Logic” from the series “Forbidden Themes of History”.

I. Lines

So, if you try to delve into the issue, the first thing you encounter is a huge number of theories based on rather modest factual material. Yes, and when you see a diagram of lines and drawings of the most famous part of the Nazca desert, for example, this one:

at best, it does not add clarity.

I decided to take an interest in the topic and somehow imperceptibly got involved in a small study, the results of which I post here. There will be no revolutionary classifications and theories, just a slight shift in emphasis based on the actual material from Google Earth and, in my opinion, logical interpretations are offered.

The first thing I did was, according to the established tradition, I left the found, or rather flown, tourist routes and decided to take an interest in the surroundings (with the help of Google, of course). The results are simply stunning! If the literature mentions a section of the Earth's surface 70 by 15 km, then in fact the lines are visible on almost the entire coastal strip, up to the city of Trujillo, which is 900 km to the north. With markers on the map, I marked places where the lines were obvious.

For example, well-preserved lines near the town of Casma, 650 km north of Nazca.

It is quite possible that there were a lot of lines along the entire coast, and the preservation of the Nazca lines is only the uniqueness of the natural conditions, plus the heroism of the tireless explorer Maria Reiche, largely thanks to which the whole place (the Nazca plateau is now a reserve) remained in good condition.

On the periphery, the density of lines is much less, there is less chaos in them, and while I adapted to find them, some patterns became clear.

The first (well-known) is that the ancient lines are almost always perfectly straight for hundreds of meters, and sometimes even kilometers (it is very easy to check with a ruler), they have a characteristic edging on the sides, they often ignore the relief and there is always a feeling that they were made from exactly the place Where do you google them from?

Human footprints are either obviously modern (mostly automobile) or “walk” depending on the relief. And besides, people often use lines for their own purposes:

The second and most important pattern is ATTACHMENT TO THE RELIEF, and not just to the relief, but to changes in the relief - river valleys, desert junctions with mountains, plateau edges, flat tops of hills, etc.

The marks are well-preserved lines. The binding to the river valleys and foothills is very clearly visible. The little blue squares in the center are just that hyped place with a twist of lines and drawings.

Detailed plan-scheme of the Palpa region.

Plot of the same in 3D.

Below I give examples of the most characteristic places where lines meet (for a while, let's forget about the plateau with its chaos of lines and patterns and try to find elementary algorithms using simple examples).

Foothills-mountains:

near Lima (360 km from Nazca)

Hill with "astronaut":

Hill Crests:

Close to Lima:

River valleys:

By itself, the following classification of lines was formed.

SCAN LINES - thin long lines, straight lines, zigzags, etc. They also made drawings.

PASSING LINES - long thin strips of the same thickness or expanding.

MAIN STRIPS - wide, up to a hundred meters, rectangular or expanding strips, in which the length is commensurate with the width.

The classification is not rigid; a short and thick passing line can be called a long and thin main strip, etc.

Very often, through lines are joined with the main ones and a line with “variable geometry” is obtained. The joints are almost everywhere clearly visible and are sometimes marked by characteristic dots-clumps.

There is another distinct class of bands, but more on that later.

Another interesting pattern was also found. I call it the height rule. Almost all stripes of unequal width expand with decreasing height. The rule is not absolute if, say, the height difference is small. Sometimes there are groups of bands with an inverse relationship, for example, like this:

And in general, it seems that the change in the width of the strip does not depend on the height, but on another factor.

So, I announce the working version.

Something that interested the ancients was washed away from the mountains either by a cataclysm or by rains and rivers and settled in the river valleys and on the plateau. It could be anything - rare earths, precious metals, building materials for megaliths, orichalcum, quantum fluids, etc. Let's call it "ore" for now. And the Nazca plateau, and, it seems, the entire western Peruvian coast was a large development of this ore deposit. I deliberately do not touch on the question “how did they do it”, this is a matter of technology, and in my opinion it is very reckless to comment on, say, the operation of a nuclear reactor from the standpoint of a medieval city dweller. Now we are interested in the question “what did they do”.

Consider the main mining algorithms on the Nazca plateau.

Classics of the genre. While we will not pay attention to spirals and patterns, we will leave it for later. So three passes. We select a site, scan, in this case in a zigzag, select the ore with a passing line and get the most delicious in small main stripes. All.

I cannot fail to note the following.

A very famous drawing of this figure. We slightly corrected the ends of the passing line (in fact, the scanning line goes far beyond the drawing), called it a whip and voila, the meaning has changed. You can launch the Indians with a tambourine and rejoice at the greatness of science ...

Sorry, got distracted.

More examples.

At the bottom left is a modern road. The same algorithm - only scanned in different ways - longitudinal, radial, and there is even a little zigzag. And then we went through the main ones. They even left bunches of dots.

And yet, in the schemes.

It is very possible that the spirals are some kind of calibration, or a special way of scanning.

In large areas, straight scanning lines several kilometers long were used.

Five ways of scanning are very clearly visible:

Let's make a preliminary conclusion.

Everywhere there is one pattern - first scanning, on top of them are walk-throughs, and they cover all the main ones. It can be assumed that the walkers scanned deeply, took samples and mined. The main strips were intensively developed.

The next example is very important.

The algorithm is the same, but the work is in two stages, between which there seems to be a large period of time. Either the resource is renewable, or, more likely, the evolution of technology (they began to work with poorer ore). Here comes the 4th class of bands. There are few of them. They are wide (up to a hundred meters), rectangular, with characteristic points and always go across and over the main ones. I called them technological.

The rule of heights (expansion of lines with a decrease in height) is more likely not related to height, but to the enrichment of the ore (flowing down, the flow expands), but somewhere it does not work.

The question arises. And why don't they just remove the entire upper part of the earth and drive it into processing, as they would do it now?

They probably had a different view of ecology. Another level. Only people who are very careful about the environment could lay over streams, rocks and stones with polygonal masonry. And, despite the fact that they cut the rocks as they wanted and moved the megaliths like wooden cubes, it seems that they did not tear down mountains, did not turn rivers, but simply carefully modified the places where they lived and did something.

Nevertheless, there are examples of intensive processing.

The next place is 800 km north. And if it weren’t for a line of dots-heaps, stretching for almost 4 km, regardless of the relief, one would think that this is a modern activity.

There are many more details (regarding the lines themselves) that I would like to pay attention to.

But this is all related to technology and requires a more detailed and qualified approach. We're moving on to the second part.

II. Drawings

So, drawings.

In a completely natural way, all images that do not belong to lines are decomposed into three groups.

Actually drawings - drawings of animals, plants and various kinds of spirals.

Enlarged petroglyphs - anthropomorphic, and images similar to them.

Blueprints. All kinds of strange drawings, circles, groups of dots, etc.

Let's consider the first group. Let's remember that drawings are creativity, and a subjective assessment is inevitable here. There is always an author, the meaning that he puts, a tool and a carrier. Everything is clear with the carrier, but we will try to explain the first three positions. And for the sake of clarity of perception, I suggest for a while to forget about the size of the drawings, the time of creation, theories, etc., and perceive them as they look right here on the monitor screen.

The drawings have three main features. Actually, all this has been known for a long time, but I consider it necessary to repeat myself and place the necessary accents.

First. The general style, one manner of drawing, everything is done in one line. According to M. Reiche, there is an unusual, mathematically precise alignment of the lines here. Now it is called elements of computer graphics.

Let's note one more subtlety. If, say, from the ancient Egyptian drawings, drawings breathe arrogance and grandeur, the Mayan images give off otherworldly nightmares, then in the Nazca drawings there is, on the one hand, lightness and simplicity, as in graffiti on concrete fences, and on the other hand, designer elegance.

The second feature. Correlating all patterns and spirals with lines or line directions

Third. The attitude of the creators of the bands to the drawings. Very often, the drawings are superimposed on the stripes and vice versa, and sometimes the main stripes completely cover them.

It can be added, and now practically no one doubts that they were intended for the viewer from the air, and from a considerable height.

The second group is enlarged petroglyphs.

The Nazca Plateau today is a lifeless desert, covered with stones darkened from heat and sun and indented by channels of long-dry water streams; one of the driest places on earth. It is located 450 km south of Lima, the capital of Peru, 40 km from the Pacific coast, at an altitude of approximately 450 m. It rains here on average once every two years and lasts no more than half an hour.

In the twenties, with the beginning of air travel from Lima to Arequipa, strange lines began to be noticed on the plateau. Lots of lines. Straight as an arrow, sometimes stretching to the very horizon, wide and narrow, intersecting and overlapping, combining into unthinkable patterns and flying out from the centers, the lines made the desert look like a giant drawing board:

Since the middle of the last century, a serious study of the lines and cultures that inhabited this region began, but the geoglyphs still kept their secrets; versions began to appear explaining the phenomenon outside the mainstream of academic science, the topic took its rightful place among the unsolved mysteries of ancient civilizations, and now almost everyone knows about the Nazca geoglyphs.

Representatives of official science have repeatedly stated that everything has been unraveled and deciphered, that these are nothing more than traces of religious ceremonies, or, in extreme cases, traces of searches for water sources or the remains of astronomical indicators. But just look at the pictures from an airplane, and preferably from space, as fair doubts and questions arise - what kind of rituals are these that forced Indians two thousand years ago, whose society was at the earliest stages of development, who did not have a written language, who lived in small villages and farmsteads, forced to constantly fight for survival, to draw hundreds of square kilometers of the desert with geometric shapes, many kilometers of straight lines and giant design images that can only be seen from a great height?
Maria Reiche, who has devoted more than 50 years to the study of geoglyphs, notes in her book that, given the enormous amount of work carried out, the creation of lines should have been the central task of the society that inhabited this area at that time ...

Although it is worth noting that in more specialized works, archaeologists do not adhere to such categorical conclusions about the complete solution of the lines, mentioning religious ceremonies only as the most likely version that requires further research.

And I propose to touch this amazing riddle again, but maybe a little more closely, as if from another dimension; to do similar to what P. Kosok did in 1939, when he first specially hired an airplane to fly over the desert.

So, some necessary information.

1927 Official discovery of the lines by the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Meia Xespe.

1939 Geoglyph research begins by historian Paul Kosok of Long Island University in New York.

1946 - 1998 The study of geoglyphs by the German mathematician and archaeologist Maria Reiche. Arriving for the first time together with Paul Kosok as an interpreter, Maria Reiche continued the research of lines, which became the main work of her life. It is largely thanks to this courageous woman that the lines continue to exist and are available for research.

1960 Start of intensive study of geoglyphs by various expeditions and researchers.

1968 Erich Von Denikin's book "Chariots of the Gods" is published, where the version of the traces of extraterrestrial civilizations is expressed. The beginning of the wide popularity of the Nazca geoglyphs and the tourist boom on the plateau.

1973 Expedition of the English astronomer Gerald Hawkins (author of a monograph on Stonehenge), the results of which showed the inconsistency of the astronomical version proposed by P. Kosak and M. Reich.

1994 Thanks to the efforts of Maria Reiche, the Nazca geoglyphs are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Since 1997, the Nasca Palpa project, led by the Peruvian archaeologist Joni Isla and prof. Markus Reindel of the German Archaeological Institute with the support of the Swiss-Liechtenstein Foundation for Foreign Archaeological Research. The main version based on the results of work since 1997 is the already mentioned ritual actions associated with the cult of water and fertility.

At present, a GIS-geoinformation system (digital 3-dimensional display of geoglyphs combined with archaeological and geological information) is being created with the participation of the Zurich Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry.

A little about versions. The two most popular ones have already been mentioned (rituals of the Indians and traces of extraterrestrial civilizations):

To begin with, let's clarify the meaning of the term "geoglyphs" a little. According to Wikipedia, "a geoglyph is a geometric or figured pattern applied to the ground, usually over 4 meters long. There are two ways to create geoglyphs - by removing the top layer of soil around the perimeter of the pattern, or, conversely, pouring rubble where the pattern line should pass. Many geoglyphs are so large that they can only be seen from the air." It is worth adding that the vast majority of geoglyphs are quite unambiguously interpreted drawings or signs, and from ancient times to this day people have applied and apply geoglyphs for certain purposes - religious, ideological, technical, entertainment, advertising. In our time, thanks to technological progress, the application methods have improved significantly, and, ultimately, both the illuminated runway and artificial islands in the United Arab Emirates can be considered modern geoglyphs:

According to the above, the Nazca lines (the number of giant drawings is only a fraction of a percent of the number of lines and geometric figures) are not entirely correct to consider geoglyphs, due to the unknown purpose for which they were applied. After all, it doesn’t occur to anyone to consider geoglyphs, say, agricultural activities or the transport system, which from a great height also look like geometric patterns. But it so happened that in official archeology, and in popular literature, the lines and drawings of Nazca are called geoglyphs. We will not break traditions.

1. LINES

Geoglyphs are found almost along the entire western coast of South America. In this chapter, we will take a closer look at the geoglyphs in the Nazca region, and you will find information about other regions in the appendix.

On the next map, the areas marked in blue are where the lines are clearly readable in Google Earth and have a similar structure; red rectangle - "tourist place", where the density of lines is maximum and most of the drawings are concentrated; the purple area is the area of ​​distribution of lines, considered in most studies, when they say "geoglyphs of Nazca-Palpa" they mean exactly this area. The purple icon in the upper left corner is the well-known geoglyph "Paracas Candelabra":

Red rectangle area:

Purple area:

The geoglyphs themselves are a rather simple thing - stones covered with a dark desert tan (manganese and iron oxides) were removed to the side, thereby exposing a light layer of subsoil, consisting of a mixture of sand, clay and gypsum:

But often geoglyphs have a more complex structure - deepening, an ordered border, stone structures, or simply heaps of stones at the ends of lines, which is why in some works they are called soil structures.

Where the geoglyphs enter the mountains, a lighter layer of rubble was exposed:

In this chapter, we will mainly consider that large part of geoglyphs, which includes lines and geometric shapes.

They are usually classified according to their shape as follows:

Lines and stripes from 15 cm to 10 or more meters wide, which can stretch for many kilometers (1-3 km are quite common, some sources mention 18 or more km). Most of the drawings are drawn with thin lines. The stripes sometimes gradually expand along their entire length:

Truncated and elongated triangles (the most common type of geometric figures on the plateau after lines) of various sizes (from 3 m to more than 1 km) - they are usually called trapezoids:

Large areas of rectangular and irregular shape:

Often the lines and platforms are deepened, according to M. Reiche up to 30 cm or more, the deepenings near the lines often have an arched profile:

This is clearly seen on almost filled trapezoids:

Or in a picture taken by a member of the LAI expedition:

The shoot place:

Lines almost always have well-defined borders - basically it is something like a border, very precisely maintained along the entire length of the line. But also the boundaries can be dumps of stones (for large trapezoids and rectangles, as in Fig. 15) or heaps of stones with varying degrees of order:

We note a feature due to which the Nazca geoglyphs became widely known - straightforwardness. In 1973, J. Hawkins wrote that some many-kilometer straight lines were made at the limit of photogrammetric possibilities. I don’t know how things are now, but you must admit that it’s not bad at all for the Indians. It should be added that often the lines go along the relief, as if not noticing it.

Examples that have become classic:

Airplane view:

The centers are clearly visible on map 6. Map of the centers compiled by Maria Reiche (small dots):

American researcher Anthony Eveny in his book "Between lines" mentions 62 centers in the Nazca Palpa area.

Often the lines are connected to each other and combined into various combinations. It is also noticeable that the work went on in several stages, often lines and figures overlap each other:

It is worth noting the location of the trapezoids. The bases usually face the river valleys, the narrow part is almost always higher than the base. Although where the elevation difference is small (on flat hilltops or in the desert) this does not work:

A few words need to be said about the age and number of lines. It is generally accepted by official science that the lines were created between 400 BC and 400 BC. e. and 600 AD This is based on fragments of ceramics from different phases of the Nazca culture, which are found in dumps and heaps of stones on the lines, as well as radiocarbon analysis of the remains of wooden poles, which are considered marking. Thermoluminescent dating is also used, which shows similar results. We will touch on this topic further below.

As for the number of lines - Maria Reiche registered about 9,000 of them, at present a figure from 13,000 to 30,000 is mentioned (and this is only on the purple part of the map 5; no one counted similar lines at Ika and Pisco, although they obviously exist there far less). But we must take into account that we see only what the time and cares of Maria Reich left us (now the Nazca plateau is a reserve), who mentioned in her book that before her eyes, areas with interesting lines and spirals are planted under cotton crops. Obviously, most of them were buried by erosion, sands and human activity, and the lines themselves sometimes cover each other in several layers, and their true number may differ by at least an order of magnitude. It makes sense to talk not about the number, but about the density of lines. And here it is worth noting the following.

Considering that the climate, as archaeologists point out, was wetter during this period (and Google Earth also shows that the ruins and remains of irrigation facilities go deep into the desert), the maximum density of geoglyphs is observed near river valleys and settlements (Map 7). But you can meet individual lines both in the mountains and far in the desert:

At an altitude of 2000 m, 50 km west of Nazca:

A trapezoid from a group of lines in the desert 25 km from Ica:

And further. When compiling the GIS of some areas of Palpa and Nazca, it was concluded that, in general, all lines were built in places accessible to humans and what is happening on the lines (but not the lines themselves) can be seen from remote observation points. I don’t know about the second, but the first seems to be true for the vast majority of lines (there are inconvenient places, but I haven’t seen impassable ones), especially since Google Earth allows you to rotate the image this way and that (purple area on map 5):

The list of obvious features could go on, but perhaps it's time to move on to the details.

The first thing I would like to start with is a significant amount of work done, to put it mildly, not quite qualitatively:

Most of the pictures were taken within the purple area on map 5, which was the most invaded by tourists and all sorts of experimenters; according to Reiche, there were even military maneuvers here. I tried to avoid clearly modern traces as much as possible, especially since it is not difficult - they are lighter, go over ancient lines and do not have traces of erosion.

A few more notable examples:

The ancients had strange rituals - would it be worth doing such a volume of marking and clearing work that you would then give up halfway through or even at the final part? Interestingly, sometimes on completely finished trapezoids, there are often heaps of stones, as if thrown or forgotten by the builders:

According to archaeologists, work on the construction and reconstruction of lines was carried out constantly. I will add that this is more likely to apply only to certain groups of lines located near Palpa and in the valley of the river Ingenio. There, all kinds of activity did not stop, perhaps even during the time of the Incas, judging by the numerous stone structures around the bases of the trapezoids:

Some of these places are sometimes marked with anthropomorphic and rather primitive geoglyphic images, reminiscent of ordinary rock paintings (historians attribute them to the style of the Paracas culture, 400-100 BC, the predecessor of the Nazca culture). It is clearly seen that a lot of trampled there (including modern tourists):

I must say that such places are mostly preferred by archaeologists.

Here we come to one extremely interesting detail.

You noticed that I constantly mention heaps and stone structures - they made borders out of them, arbitrarily left on the lines. But there is another type of similar elements, as if included in the design of a significant number of trapezoids. Notice the two elements at the narrow end and one at the wide end:

The detail is important, so more examples:

In this Google image, several trapezoids have similar elements at once:

These elements are not the latest additions - they are present on some unfinished trapezoids, and are also found in all 5 regions indicated on the map. Here are examples from opposite ends - the first from the Pisco region, and two from the mountainous area east of Nazca. Interestingly, on the latter, these elements are also present inside the trapezoid:

Archaeologists have recently become interested in these elements, and here are descriptions of these structures on one of the trapezoids in the Palpa area (1):

Stone platforms with walls of stones bonded with mud mortar, sometimes double (the outer wall was made of the flat sides of the stone, giving splendor), filled with rock, among which there are fragments of ceramics and food remains; there was a raised floor made of rammed clay and stone inlays. It is assumed that wooden beams were laid on top of these structures and used as platforms.

The diagram shows pits between the platforms, where the remains of wooden (willow) poles, presumably massive, were found. Radiocarbon analysis of one of the pillars showed the age of 340-425 AD, a piece of a stick from a stone platform (another trapezoid) - 420-540 AD. e. Also, pits with the remains of pillars were found on the borders of the trapezoids.

Here is a description of a ring structure found near the trapezoid, which, according to archaeologists, is similar to those found at the base of the trapezoid:

According to the method of construction, it is similar to the platforms described above, with the difference that the inner part of the wall was also given splendor. It had the shape of the letter D, a gap was made on the flat side. A flat stone, placed after reconstruction, is visible, but it is noted that there was a second one, and both were used as supports for the stairs to the platform.

In most cases, these elements did not have such a complex structure and were simply heaps or ring structures of stones, and a single element at the base of the trapezoid could not be read at all.

And more examples:

We dwelled on this point in a little more detail, because it is quite obvious that the platforms were built together with the trapezoids. They can be seen very often in Google Earth, and ring structures are very well distinguishable. And it is unlikely that the Indians were specifically looking for trapezoids in order to build platforms on them. Sometimes even the trapezoid is barely guessed, and these elements are clearly visible (for example, in
desert 20 km from Ica):

The large rectangular areas have a slightly different set of elements - two large piles of stones, located one at each edge. Perhaps one of them is shown in the National Geographic documentary "The Nazca Lines. Deciphered":

Well, a sure point in favor of the rituals.

Based on our orthodox version, it is logical to assume that there must be some kind of markup. Something similar really exists and is very often used - a thin central line running along the center of the trapezoid and sometimes going far beyond. In some works of archaeologists, it is sometimes called the axial line of the trapezoid. Usually it is tied to the platforms described above.
(begins or passes near-through the platform at the base, and always exits exactly in the middle between the platforms at the narrow end), the trapezoid may not be symmetrical with respect to it (and the platforms, respectively):

This is true for all selected areas of map 5. The trapezoid from Iki is indicative in this respect. 28, the center line of which seems to shoot a line of heaps of stones.

Examples of different types of marking trapezoids and stripes, as well as various types of work on them in the purple area (we called them mattresses and perforated tapes):

The markup in some of the examples shown is no longer a simple delineation of the main axes and contours. Here there are elements, as it were, of scanning the entire area of ​​the future geoglyph.

This is especially noticeable on the markings for large rectangular sites from the "tourist place" near the Ingenio River:

Under the platform:

And here, next to the existing site, another one was marked out:

A similar markup for future sites on the layout of M. Reiche is well read:

Let's take note of the "scanning markup" and move on.

Interestingly, the markers and those who carried out the clearing work sometimes seemed to be unable to coordinate their actions to a sufficient degree:

And an example of two large trapezoids. I wonder if this is how it was intended, or someone messed something up:

Given all of the above, it was hard not to take a closer look at the actions of the markers.

And here we are waiting for some more extremely entertaining details.

To begin with, I will say that it is very significant to compare the behavior of modern transport and ancient markers using a thin line. Traces of cars and motorcycles run unevenly along one direction, and it is difficult to find straight sections of more than a couple of hundred meters. At the same time, the ancient line is always practically straight, often moving inexorably for many kilometers (checked in Google with a ruler), sometimes disappearing, as if breaking away from the ground, and reappearing in the same direction; occasionally can make a slight turn, sharply or not very change direction; and in the end either rests on the center of intersections, or smoothly disappears, dissolving into a trapezoid that crosses lines or with a change in relief.

Often markers seem to rely on heaps of stones located next to the lines, and less often on the lines themselves:

Or this example:

I have already spoken about straightforwardness, but I will note the following.

Some lines and trapezoids, even distorted by relief, become straight from a certain point of view from the air, which has already been noted in some studies. For example. The line, slightly walking in the satellite picture, looks almost straight from the viewpoint, located a little to the side (frame from the documentary "Nazca Lines. Deciphered"):

I am not an expert in the field of geodesy, but, in my opinion, to draw a line on rough terrain along which an inclined plane intersects the relief is a rather difficult task.

Another similar example. Airplane photo on the left, satellite photo on the right. In the center is a fragment of an old photo of Paul Kosok (taken from the lower right corner of the original photo from the book by M. Reiche). We can see that the whole combination of lines and trapezoids seems to be drawn from a point close to the point from which the central picture was taken.

And the next photo is better viewed in good resolution (here - Fig. 63).

First, let's pay attention to the under-cleared area in the center. The ways of working by hand are very clearly presented - there are both large and small heaps, gravel heaps at the borders, an irregular border, not very organized work - they collected it here and there and left. In short, everything that we saw in the section on manual work.

Now let's look at the line that crosses the left side of the photo from top to bottom. A radically different style of work. The ancient aces-builders seem to have decided to imitate the work of a chisel fixed at a certain height. With a jump across the stream. Rectilinear and regular borders, leveled bottom; they didn't even forget to reproduce the subtleties of breaking off the trace of the upper part of the line. There is a possibility that this
water or wind erosion. But there are enough examples of all kinds of environmental influences in photographs - it does not look like either one or the other. Yes, and on the surrounding lines it would be noticeable. Here, rather, a deliberate interruption of the line by about 25 meters. If we add a concave profile of the line, as in old photographs or from a photo in the Palpa region, and tons of rock to be shoveled (the line width is about 4 m), then the picture will be complete. Also indicative are four perpendicular thin parallel lines, clearly applied on top. If you look closely, you can see that the depth of the lines also changes on uneven terrain; it looks like a trace drawn along a ruler with a metal fork over a piece of plasticine.

For myself, I called such lines t-lines (lines made with the help of technology, i.e. taking into account the use of special methods for marking, performing and controlling work). Similar features have already been noted by some researchers. Photos of similar lines are on the site (24) and similar behavior of some lines (interruption of lines and interaction with the relief) is noted in the article (1).

A similar example, where you can also compare the level of work (two "rough" lines are marked with arrows):

What is remarkable. The unfinished rough line (the one in the center) has a thin marking line. But the markings for t-lines have never been seen. As well as unfinished t-lines.

Here are some more examples:

According to the "ritual" version, the lines had to be walked. One Discovery documentary showed the internal compacted structure of the lines, presumably due to intense walking on them (the compaction of the rock explains the magnetic anomalies recorded on the lines):

And in order to trample on like that, they had to walk a lot. Not just a lot, but a lot. It is only interesting how the ancients determined the routes in Fig. 67 to tread down the lines approximately evenly? And how did you jump 25 meters?

It is a pity that the photos with sufficient resolution cover only the "tourist" part of our map. So from other areas we will be content with maps from Google Earth.

Rough work at the bottom of the picture and the t-line at the top:

And these t-lines stretch in a similar way for about 4 km:

T-lines were able to make turns:

And such a detail. If we return to the t-line, which we discussed the very first, and look at its beginning, we will see a small expansion, resembling a trapezoid, which then develops into a t-line and, very smoothly changing width and abruptly changing direction four times, crosses itself , and dissolves into a large rectangle (the unfinished platform is obviously of a later origin):

Sometimes there was some kind of failure in the work of the markers (curves with stones at the end of the strips):

There are also large trapezoids, similar to the work of markers. For example. A well-made trapezoid with borders-borders, as it were, grows by pushing the borders out of the dent line of the marker:

Another interesting example. A fairly large trapezoid (in the picture, about two-thirds of the entire length), made as if by pushing the cutting edges of the "cutter", and in the narrow part one of the edges ceases to touch the surface:

There are enough oddities like this. The whole area of ​​our map under discussion seems to be mostly the work of those same markers, well mixed with rough, unskilled work. Archaeologist Heylen Silverman once compared the plateau to a scribbled blackboard at the end of a busy school day. Very well marked. But I would add something about the joint activities of the preschool group and graduate students.

There are attempts to make the lines by hand in our time available to the ancient Naskans by means:

The ancients did something similar, and perhaps in precisely these ways:

But in my opinion, t-lines resemble something else. They are more like a trace of a spatula, with which they imitated the Nazca drawings in one of the documentaries:

And here is a comparison of t-lines and a trace of a stack on plasticine:

Something like this. Only a spatula or a stack they had a little more ...

And the last. A note about markers. There is such a recently opened religious center of the ancient Naskans - Cahuachi. It is believed that it is directly related to the construction of lines. And if we compare, on the same scale, this same Cahuachi with a section of the desert lined a kilometer away, the question arises - if the Nascan surveyors themselves painted the desert, then they invited Cahuachi to mark out
guest workers from backward hill tribes?

It is impossible to draw a clear line between unskilled work and t-lines and draw any conclusions using only photographs of a "tourist" area and Google earth maps. It is necessary to look and study on the spot. And since the chapter is devoted to material that claims to be factual, I will refrain from commenting on such sophisticated rituals; and therefore we end the discussion of t-lines and proceed to the final part of the chapter.

Line combinations

The fact that lines form certain groups and combinations has been noted by many researchers. For example, prof. M. Reindel called them functional units. A few clarifications. Combinations are understood not as a simple superimposition of lines on each other, but as if unification into one whole through common boundaries or obvious interaction with each other. And in order to try to understand the logic of creating combinations, I propose to start by systematizing the set of elements that the builders used. And, as we can see, there is not much diversity here:

There are only four elements. Trapezoids, rectangles, lines and spirals. There are also drawings, but a whole chapter is devoted to them; here we will consider them a kind of spirals.

Let's start from the end.

Spirals. This is a fairly common element, there are about a hundred of them and they are almost always included in line combinations. There are very different ones - perfect and not quite, square and intricate, but always double:

The next element is lines. Basically, these are our familiar t-lines.

Rectangles - they were also mentioned. Let's just note two things. First. There are relatively few of them and they always try to be oriented perpendicular to the trapezoid and gravitate towards their narrow part, sometimes as if crossing them out (Map 6). Second. In the valley of the Nazca River there is a significant number of large broken rectangles, as if superimposed on the beds of dried up rivers. On the drawings, they are indicated mainly in yellow:

The boundary of such a site is clearly visible in Fig. 69 (bottom).

And the last element is a trapezoid. Along with lines, the most common element on the plateau. A few details:

1 - Location relative to stone structures and types of borders. As already noted, very often stone structures are poorly readable, or they do not exist at all. There is also some functionality of trapezoids. I don't want to militarize the description, but the analogy with small arms comes to mind. The trapezoid, as it were, has a muzzle (narrow) and breech, each of which interacts quite standardly with other lines.

For myself, I divided all combinations of lines into two types - collapsed and expanded. The trapezoid is the main element in all combinations. Curled (group 2 in the diagram) is when the line emerges from the narrow end of the trapezoid at an angle of about 90 degrees (or less). This combination is usually compact, the thin line often returning to the base of the trapezoid, sometimes with a spiral or pattern.

Reversed (group 3) - the outgoing line almost does not change direction. The simplest expanded one is a trapezoid with a thin line, as if shooting from a narrow part and stretching for a considerable distance.

A couple more important details before we move on to the examples. In folded combinations, there are no stone structures on the trapezoid, and the base (wide part) sometimes has a series of lines:

It can be seen that the last row in the last example was laid out by caring restorers. Snapshot of the last example from the ground:

In deployed ones, on the contrary, very often there are stone structures, and the base has an additional trapezoid or trapezoids of a much smaller size, joining (in series or in parallel) to the place of a single platform (possibly taking it outside the main one):

For the first time, a folded combination of lines was described by Maria Reiche. She called her "whip":

From the narrow end of the trapezoid at an acute angle in the direction of the base there is a line that, as if scanning the surrounding space (in this case, the features of the relief) in a zigzag, turns into a spiral in the immediate vicinity of the base. Here is the twisted combination. We substitute different variations of these elements and get a very common combination in the Nazca Palpa region.
An example with another zigzag option:

More examples:

Examples of larger and more complex folded combinations in characteristic interaction with a rectangular pad:

On the map, multi-colored asterisks show well-read folded combinations in the Palpa-Nasca area:

A very interesting example of a group of folded combinations is shown in the book by M. Reiche:

To a huge folded combination, to the narrow part of the trapezoid, a micro-combination is attached, as it were, having all the attributes of an ordinary folded combination. A more detailed photo shows: white arrows - breaks of the zigzag, black - the mini-combination itself (the large spiral near the base of the trapezoid is not shown by M. Reiche):

Examples of folded combinations with pictures:

Here you can note the order in which combinations are created. The question is not completely clear, but many examples show that the scanning lines seem to see the parent trapezoid and take it into account with their trajectory. On a combination with a monkey - a sawtooth zigzag, as it were, fits between the existing lines; much more difficult from the point of view of the artist would be to draw him first. Yes, and the dynamics of the process - first a trapezoid with a garden of various details, then a thinning t-line, turning into a spiral or pattern, and then disappearing altogether - in my opinion, is more logical.

Introducing the folded combination champion. The length of only the visible continuous and very high-quality part (a combination of lines near Cahuachi) is more than 6 km .:

And here you can see the scale of what is happening - Fig. 81 (drawing by A. Tatukov).

Let's move on to expanded combinations.

There is no such relatively clear construction algorithm here, except for the fact that these combinations cover a significant area. You can even say that these are rather different ways of interaction of lines and groups of lines with each other. See examples:

Trapezoid 1, which, in turn, has a small "ignition" trapezoid, rests with a narrow part on a hill, on which, as it were, an "explosion" occurs, or a connection of lines coming from the narrow ends of other trapezoids (2, 3).
Remote trapezoids seem to be connected to each other. But there is also a serial connection (4). Moreover, sometimes the connecting center line can change the width and direction. Purple indicates unskilled work.

Another example. Interaction of an axial line with a length of about 9 km and 3 trapezoids:

1 - upper trapezoid, 2 - middle, 3 - lower. You can see how the axial one reacts to trapezoids, changing direction:

Next example. For greater clarity, it would be better to consider it in detail in Google Earth. But I'll try to explain.

Trapezoid 1, very roughly made, to which trapezoid 2 “shoots” at the narrow part, is connected to the base of trapezoid 3 (Fig. 103), which in turn “shoots” with a well-made line into a small hill. Here is such a trapezology.

In general, such shooting at distant low hills (it also happens at distant mountain peaks) is quite a common thing. According to archaeologists, about 7% of the lines are aimed at hills. For example, trapezoids and their axes in the desert near Ika:

And the last example. Combining a common border using rectangular pads of two large collapsed combinations:

It can be seen how the trapezoid, which shoots in a straight line, is deliberately ignored.

Here is a brief summary of all that I would like to say about combinations.

It is clear that the list of such compounds can be continued and developed for a very long time. At the same time, in my opinion, it would be wrong to think that the plateau is one big mega-combination. But the conscious and intentional association of some geoglyphs into groups according to certain characteristics and the existence of something like a common strategic plan for the entire plateau is beyond doubt. It is worth noting that all the deployed combinations mentioned occupy an area of ​​​​several square kilometers each, and you cannot build such a thing in a day or two. And if we take into account all these t-lines, correct borders and platforms, kilotons of stones and rocks, and the fact that the work was carried out according to the same schemes throughout the entire area of ​​​​the mentioned region (map 5 - more than 7 thousand square kilometers), over a long period of time and sometimes in very unfavorable conditions, unpleasant questions arise. It is difficult to judge to what extent a society of culture
The Nazca was able to do this, but the fact that this required very specific knowledge, maps, tools, serious organization of work and large human resources is obvious.

2. DRAWINGS

Phew, with the lines, it seems, finished. For those who did not fall asleep from boredom, I promise - it will be much more fun. Well, there are birds, little animals, all sorts of spicy details ... Otherwise, all the sand is stones, stones are sand ...

Well, let's start.

Nazca drawings. The smallest, but the most famous part of the activities of the ancients on the plateau. To begin with, a little explanation of what kind of drawings will be discussed below.

According to archaeologists, man appeared in these places (the Nazca-Palpa region) quite a long time ago - several millennia before the formation of the Nazca and Paracas cultures. And all this time, people left various images that have been preserved in the form of petroglyphs, drawings on ceramics, textiles and well-marked geoglyphs on the slopes of mountains and hills. It is not in my competence to delve into all sorts of chronological and iconographic subtleties, especially since there are enough works on this topic now. We'll just look at what these people drew; and not even what, but how. And as it turned out, everything is quite natural. In Fig.106, the upper group is the earliest and most primitive petroglyphs (rock paintings); lower - images on ceramics and textiles of the Nazca - Paracas cultures. The middle row is geoglyphs. There is a lot of such creativity in this region. The sombrero-like detail on the head is actually a headpiece (usually gold Fig. 107), as I understand it, some kind of insignia used in these parts and is very common in many images.
All such geoglyphs are located on slopes, are clearly visible from the ground, made in one way (clearing stones from sites and using heaps of stones as details) and quite in the style of the lower and upper rows. In general, there are enough similar activities around the world (1st column of Fig. 4).

We will be interested in other drawings, as we will see below, in many ways different from those described above in style and method of creation; which, in fact, are known as Nazca drawings.

There are just over 30 of them. There are no anthropomorphic images among them (primitive geoglyphs, described above, in the vast majority depict people). The sizes of the drawings are from 15 to 400(!) meters. Drawn (Maria Reiche mentions the term "scratched") with one line (usually a thin marking line), which often does not close, i.e. the drawing has, as it were, an entrance-exit; sometimes included in a combination of lines; most of the drawings are visible only from a considerable height:

Most of them are located just in the "tourist" place, near the river Ingenio. The appointment and evaluation of these drawings are controversial even among representatives of official science. Maria Reiche, for example, admired the refinement and harmony of the drawings, and the participants in the modern Nazca project
Palpa" under the guidance of Prof. Markus Reindel believe that the drawings were not conceived as images at all, but were created only as directions for ritual processions. There is no clarity, as usual.

I suggest not to be loaded with introductory information, but immediately delve into the topic.

In many sources, especially official ones, the issue of drawings belonging to the Nazca culture is a settled issue. For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that in sources with an alternative focus, this topic is generally silent. Official historians usually refer to a comparative analysis of the drawings in the desert and the iconography of the Nazca culture, made by William Isbel back in 1978. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the work, I had to climb myself, since it’s not 78 now.
Drawings and photos of ceramics and textiles of the Nazca and Paracas cultures are now enough. I have mostly used the excellent collection of drawings made by Dr. C. Klados, available on the FAMSI website (25). And here's what turned out. Here is the case when it is better to look than to speak.

Fish and Monkey:

Hummingbird and Frigate:

Another hummingbird with a flower and a parrot (as the depicted character is usually called), which, perhaps, is not a parrot at all:

Well, the remaining birds: condor and harpies:

The fact, as they say, is obvious.

It is obvious that the drawings on textiles and ceramics of the Nazca and Paracas cultures and images in the desert sometimes coincide in detail. By the way, there was also a plant depicted on the plateau:

This manioc, or yucca, has been one of the staple foods in Peru since antiquity. And not only in Peru, but throughout the tropical zone of our planet. Like our potatoes. To taste too.

At the same time, it is worth noting that there are drawings on the plateau that have no analogues in the Nazca and Paracas cultures, but more on that later.

Well, let's see how the Indians created these wonderful images of theirs. There are no questions regarding the first group (primitive geoglyphs). The Indians were quite capable of doing this, given that there is always the opportunity to admire the creation from the outside, and, in which case, correct it. But with the second (drawings in the desert), some questions arise.

There is such an American researcher Joe Nickell, a member of the society of skeptics. And once he decided to reproduce one of the Nazca drawings - a 130-meter condor - in a field in Kentucky, USA. Joe and five of his assistants were armed with ropes, pegs and a cross of boards, allowing them to draw a perpendicular. All these "devices" could well have been among the inhabitants of the plateau.

The "Indians" team set to work on the morning of August 7, 1982 and completed it 9 hours later, including a lunch break. During this time, they marked 165 points and connected them together. Instead of digging, the testers covered the contours of the figure with lime. Photographs were taken from an aircraft flying at an altitude of 300 m.

“It was a success,” Nickell recalled. “The result was so accurate and accurate that we could easily recreate a much more symmetrical drawing in this way. It seems that the Nazca people marked out far fewer dots than we did, or used a rougher method, measuring distance, for example, with steps, and not with a rope" (11).

Yes, indeed, it turned out very similar. But then we agreed to take a closer look. I propose to compare the modern condor with the creation of the ancients in more detail:

It looks like Mr. Nickell (his condor on the left) got a little excited about judging his own work. A remake is walking. In yellow, I marked roundings and axes, which the ancients undoubtedly took into account in their work, and Nickell did it, as it turned out. And the proportions, slightly swollen because of this, give the drawing on the left some "clumsiness", which is absent in the ancient image.

And here comes the next question. To reproduce the condor, Nickell appears to have used a photograph as a sketch. When the image is enlarged and transferred to the surface of the earth, errors will inevitably occur, the magnitude of which depends on the method of transfer. These errors will be expressed, respectively, in all sorts of "clumsies" that we observed in Nickell (which, by the way, are present on some modern geoglyphs from the middle column of Fig. 4). And a question. And what sketches and methods of transfer did the ancients use to get almost perfect images?

It can be seen that the image, in this case the spider, is deliberately devoid of full symmetry, but not in the direction of an uncontrollable loss of proportions due to the imperfection of the transfer, as in Nickell's, but in the direction of giving life to the drawing, the comfort of perception (which greatly complicates the transfer process). One gets the impression that the ancients had no problems at all with the quality of the transfer. It should be added that Nickell fulfilled his promise to create a more accurate image, and drew the same spider (frames from the National Geigraphic documentary "Is it Real? Ancient Astronauts"):

But you and I see that he drew his own spider, very similar to the Nascan and the same size, but simpler and symmetrical (for some reason, the photo from the plane could not be found anywhere), devoid of all the subtleties that are visible in the previous photos and which so admired Maria Reiche.

Let's put aside the often discussed question about the method of transferring and enlarging the drawings, and try to look at the sketches, without which the ancient artists could hardly have done.

And then it turned out that there are practically no better drawings that Maria Reiche made by hand in the middle of the last century. All that is there is either a stylization, without taking into account details, or a deliberate distortion of the drawings, showing, according to the artists, the primitive level of the Indians of that time. Well, I had to sit down and try to do it myself. But the case turned out to be so exciting that I could not tear myself away until I had drawn all the available images. Looking ahead, I will say that there were a couple of pleasant surprises. But before inviting you in
gallery of "Nasca" graphics, I would like to note the following.

At first, I did not quite understand what made Maria Reiche so carefully search for a mathematical description of the drawings:

And this is what she wrote in her book: “The length and direction of each segment were carefully measured and recorded. Approximate measurements would not be enough to reproduce such perfect outlines that we see with aerial photography: a deviation of just a few inches would distort the proportions of the picture. Photographs taken in this way help to imagine how hard it was for the ancient craftsmen.The ancient Peruvians must have possessed equipment that even we do not have and which, combined with ancient knowledge, was carefully hidden from the conquerors, as the only treasure that cannot be kidnap" (2).

I fully understood this when I started drawing. It was no longer about sketches, but about getting close enough to what is on the plateau. Any minimal shift in proportions almost always resulted in "clumsiness", similar to what we saw with Nickell, and immediately lost the lightness and harmony of the image.

A little about the process. There is enough photographic material for all the drawings, if some detail was missing, you can always find the right picture from a different angle. Sometimes there were problems with perspective, but this was solved either with the help of existing drawings, or with a snapshot from Google Earth. This is how the working moment looks when drawing the "snake" (in this case, 5 photos were used):

And then, at one fine moment, I suddenly discovered that with a certain skill in working with Bezier curves (developed in the 60s for automotive design and which became one of the main tools for computer graphics), the program sometimes drew contours quite similarly. At first it was noticeable on the fillets of the legs of the spider, when without my participation these fillets became almost identical to the original ones. Further, with the correct positions of the nodes and when they were combined into a curve, the line sometimes almost exactly repeated the contour of the picture. And the fewer nodes, but the more optimal their position and settings, the more similarity with the original.

In general, a spider is practically one Bezier curve (more correctly, a Bezier spline, a sequential connection of Bezier curves), without circles and straight lines. With further work, a feeling arose that grew into confidence that this unique "Nascan" design is a combination of Bezier curves and straight lines. There were almost no regular circles or arcs:

Is it not Bezier curves that Maria Reiche, a mathematician by training, tried to describe by making numerous measurements of radii?

But I was truly inspired by the skill of the ancients when drawing large drawings, where there were almost ideal curves of huge sizes. Let me remind you once again that the purpose of the drawings was an attempt to look at the sketch, at what the ancients had before drawing on the plateau. I tried to minimize my own creativity, resorting to painting damaged places only where the logic of the ancients was obvious (for example, the tail of a condor, a falling out and clearly modern rounding on the body of a spider). It is clear that there is some idealization, improvement of the drawings, but one should also not forget that the originals are gigantic, more than once restored images in the desert, which are at least 1500 years old.

Let's start with a spider and a dog without technical details:

Fish and bird frigate:

A little more about the monkey. This drawing has the most uneven outline. First, I drew it the way it looks in the pictures:

But then it became clear that with all the accuracy of observing the proportions, the artist's hand seemed to be trembling a little, which is also noticeable on straight lines belonging to the same combination. I do not know what it is connected with, perhaps with a very uneven terrain in this place; but if the line on the sketch is made a little thicker, then all these irregularities will be hidden inside this thicker line. And the monkey acquires a standard geometry for all drawings. He attached spider monkeys, the prototype of which, according to many researchers, is depicted among the ancients. Not to mention the balance and
the accuracy of the proportions in the figure:

Further. I think the trinity of a lizard, a tree and "nine fingers" does not need to be introduced. I would like to pay attention to the paws of a lizard - the ancient artist very accurately noticed the anatomical feature of lizards - as if turned inside out, compared to a human hand:

Iguana and hummingbird:

Darter, Pelican and Harpy:

A rhinoceros dog and another hummingbird. Pay attention to the elegance of the lines:

Condor and Parrot:

The parrot has an unusual line. The fact is that this drawing has always been embarrassing due to its unfinished nature, unusual for Nasca images. Unfortunately, it is very badly damaged, but in some pictures this curve is visible (Fig. 131), which is, as it were, a continuation of the drawing and balancing it. It would be extremely interesting to look at the whole drawing, but, unfortunately, I can not help. I draw your attention to the virtuosic execution of the curves on the contours of these rather large images (people are visible in the photo of the condor). The pitiful attempt of modern "experimenters" to add an extra feather to the condor is clearly visible.

And here we have come to some climax of our opening day. There is a very interesting image on the plateau, or rather, a group of drawings, spread over more than 10 hectares. It is perfectly visible in Google Earth, in many photographs, but very few are mentioned. We look:

The size of a large pelican is 280 by 400 meters. Photos from the plane and the working moment of drawing:

And again, a perfectly executed (if viewed from Google) curve with a length of more than 300 meters. Unusual image, isn't it? It smells of something alien, slightly inhuman ...

Be sure to talk about all the oddities of this, and other images later, but now we will continue.

Other drawings of a slightly different nature:

There are images, sometimes quite complex, with characteristic rounding and requiring markings to maintain proportions, but at the same time devoid of visible meaning. Something like signing a newly acquired pen:

The "peacock" pattern is interesting in its conjugation of the right wing with the line (although, perhaps, this is the work of restorers). And admire how skillfully the ancient creators inscribed this drawing into the relief:

And to make our review of drawings complete, a few words about undrawn images. Recently, Japanese researchers have found more drawings. One of them is in the following picture:

Located in the south of the plateau, near the Nazca River. It is not clear what is depicted, but the handwriting in the form of graceful regular curves, drawn along the rugged relief with t-lines about one and a half meters wide (judging by the tracks of cars), is clearly visible.

I have already mentioned the trampled area near Palpa, where the lines are adjacent to primitive geoglyphs. There is also a small, very interesting drawing (marked with a slanted arrow), depicting a creature with a large number of fingers or tentacles, mentioned in the studies, but, unfortunately, not entirely distinguishable in the pictures:

A few more drawings, maybe not of such high quality, but made in a style different from primitive geoglyphs:

The next drawing is unusual in that it is applied with a thick (about 3 m) t-line. It can be seen that the bird, but the details are destroyed by the trapezoid:

And in conclusion of the review, a diagram where some drawings are collected approximately on the same scale:

Many researchers paid attention to the asymmetry of some drawings, which, logically, should be symmetrical (spider, condor, etc.). There were even suggestions that these distortions were caused by relief, and there were attempts to straighten these drawings. Indeed, with all the scrupulousness of the ancients to details and proportions, it is somehow not logical to draw the paws of a condor of obviously different sizes (Fig. 131).
Please note that the paws are not copies of each other, but are two completely different patterns, including ten precisely made fillets. It is difficult to assume that the work was carried out by two teams speaking different languages ​​and using different drawings. It is quite obvious that the ancients intentionally moved away from symmetry, especially since there are absolutely symmetrical
images (more on them later). And so, during the drawings, I noticed one amazing thing. The ancients, it turns out, drew projections of three-dimensional images. We look:

The condor is drawn in two planes intersecting at a slight angle. Pelican, it seems, in two perpendicular. Our spider has a very interesting 3-d look (1 - original image, 2 - straightened, taking into account the planes in the figure). And this is noticeable in some other figures. For example, a hummingbird, whose wing size shows that it is flying above us, a dog that turned its back to us, a lizard and "nine fingers", with different sizes of palms (Fig. 144). And look how ingeniously the three-dimensional volume is laid in the tree:

It's like it's made from a sheet of paper or foil, I just straightened one branch.

It would be strange if no one before me noticed such obvious things. Indeed, I found one work by Brazilian researchers (4). But there, by means of rather intricate transformations, a certain three-dimensional corporeality of the drawings was substantiated:

I agree with the spider, but not quite with the rest. And I decided to make my own three-dimensional version of some drawing. Here, for example, looks like "nine fingers" from plasticine:

I had to be smart with the paws, the ancients portrayed them slightly exaggerated, and no creature walks on tiptoe. But on the whole, it turned out right away, I didn’t even have to think of anything - everything is in the drawing (a specific joint, the convexity of the body, the position of the “ears”). Interestingly, the figure initially turned out to be balanced (standing on its feet). The question automatically arose, what kind of animal is this, in fact? And
in general, where did the ancients draw plots for their wonderful exercises on the plateau?

And here we are, as usual, waiting for a few more entertaining details.

Let's turn to our favorite - the spider. In the works of various researchers, this spider is identified as belonging to the order Ricinulei. The entry-exit lines seemed to some researchers to be a sexual organ, and the spider of this particular order of arachnids has a sexual organ on its paw. In fact, the delusion does not come from here. Let's take a break from the spider for a moment, look at the next drawing and I
I will ask the reader to answer the question - what are the monkey and the dog doing?

I don’t know what it seemed to the dear reader, but all my respondents answered that the little animals were doing their natural necessities. Moreover, the ancients clearly showed the sex of the dog, and the genitals are usually depicted in a different configuration. And, it seems, the same story with the spider - the spider, however, does not straighten anything, it just has an entrance-exit on its paw. And if you look closely, it turns out that this is not a spider at all, but something more like an ant:

And certainly not Ricinulei. As someone joked on the "ant" forum - this is a spider ant. Indeed, the spider has a cephalothorax, and here the ancients clearly distinguished the head and body with eight legs characteristic of an ant (an ant has six legs and a pair of whiskers). And interestingly, the Indians themselves did not understand what was painted in the desert. Here are the images on the ceramics:

They knew and drew spiders (on the right), and on the left, it seems, our spider ant is depicted, only the artist did not coordinate with the number of legs - there are 16 of them on ceramics. I don’t know what this really means, but if you stand in the middle of a forty-meter drawing, in in principle, you can understand what is depicted on the ground, but the rounding at the ends of the paws can be overlooked. But one thing is for sure - there is no such creature on our planet.

We go further. Questions are raised by three drawings. The first is the "nine fingers" shown above. The second is a rhinoceros dog. A small Nazca image, about 50 meters, for some reason unloved and rarely mentioned by researchers:

Unfortunately, I have no thoughts about what it is, and therefore let's move on to the remaining image.

Big pelican.

The only drawing that, due to its size and ideal lines, looks exactly the same on the drawing as in the desert (and on the sketches of the ancients, respectively). Calling this image a pelican is not entirely correct. A long beak and something that looks like a goiter does not mean a pelican. The ancients did not indicate the main detail that makes a bird a bird - wings. In general, this image is non-functional from all sides. You can't walk on it - it's not closed. Yes, and how to get on the eye - jump again? It is inconvenient to view from the air due to the specificity of the details. It also doesn't fit well with lines. But, nevertheless, there is no doubt that this object was created intentionally - it looks harmonious, the ideal curve balances the trident (apparently transverse), the beak is balanced by diverging straight lines behind. I could not understand why this drawing left a feeling of something very unusual. And everything is very simple. Small and subtle details are spaced a considerable distance, and in order to understand what is in front of us, we must look from one small detail to another. If, however, move away a considerable distance in order to cover the entire drawing, then all this smallness seems to merge and the meaning of the image is lost. It seems that this drawing was created for perception by a creature with a different size of the "yellow" spot - the zone of greatest visual acuity in the retina. So if any drawing claims to be unearthly graphics, then our pelican is the first candidate.

The topic, as you noticed, is slippery, you can fantasize as much as you like, and I initially doubted whether to raise it at all or not. But the Nazca plateau is an interesting place, you never know where a hare will jump from. And the topic of strange images had to be raised, because quite unexpectedly an unknown drawing was discovered. At least I couldn't find anything about it online.

The drawing, however, is not entirely unknown. On site (24), this drawing is considered lost due to damage and its fragment is given. But in my database I found at least four pictures where the lost details are readable. The drawing is really very badly damaged, but the location of the remaining details, fortunately, makes it possible to assume with a high degree of probability what the original image looked like. Yes
and experience in drawings did not hurt.

So, premiere. Especially for readers of "Some Observations". A new inhabitant of the Nazca plateau. Meet:

The drawing is very unusual, about 60 meters long, a bit not in the standard style, but definitely ancient - as if scratched on the surface and covered with lines. All details are readable, with the exception of the lower middle fin, part of the contour and the remaining internal drawing. It can be seen that the drawing has been erased in more recent times. But, most likely not intentionally, they simply collected gravel.

And again the question arises - is it a fantasy of ancient artists, or did they spot a similar fish with a similar arrangement of fins somewhere on vacation on the Pacific coast? It is very reminiscent of the relic coelacanth coelacanth discovered not so long ago. Unless, of course, coelacanths swam in schools at that time off the coast of South America.

Let's put aside for a while the strangeness in the drawings and consider one more, although not extremely numerous, but no less interesting group of images. I would call it correct geometric symbols.

Estrella:

Grid and ring of squares:

The image from Google Earth shows another started, and larger ring of squares:

Another picture, I call it "estrella 2":

All images were made in similar ways - points and lines significant for the ancients are marked with stones, and light areas cleared of stones play an auxiliary role:

As you can see, in the ring of squares and on "estrella"-2, all significant centers are also lined with stones.

Nazca drawings are located on Nazca Plateau- one of the most mysterious places on Earth. It is located 450 km south of the capital Peru, between cities Nazca and Palpa. Here the whole territory is 500 sq. km. covered with lines and drawings of unknown origin. They are nothing special if you look at them standing next to each other.

Map of Nazca drawings

In 1553 Cieza de Leon first reported the Nazca drawings. From his words: “Across all these valleys and along those that have already been passed, the beautiful, great road of the Incas goes along its entire length, and in some places among the sands signs are seen to guess the path that has been laid.”

Obezyan, Nazca drawing

The drawings were seen in 1939 when an airplane flew over the plateau. American archaeologist Paul Kosok. A huge contribution to the study of mysterious lines belongs to the German doctor of archeology Maria Reich. Her work began in 1941. However, she was able to photograph the drawings from the air only in 1947, using the services of military aviation.

In 1994, the Nazca geoglyphs were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Tree and handsNazca drawing

Nazca Plateau occupies 60 kilometers and approximately 500 square meters of its territory is covered with a tie of strange lines that form into bizarre figures. The main mystery of Nazca is geometric figures in the form of triangles and more than thirty huge drawings of animals, birds, fish, insects and unusual people. All images on the surface of Nazca are dug in sandy soil, the depth of the lines varies from 10 to 30 centimeters, and the width of the stripes can reach as much as 100 meters. The lines of the drawings stretch for kilometers, while not changing at all under the influence of the relief - the lines rise to the hills and descend from them, while remaining almost perfectly smooth and continuous. Who and why created these drawings - unknown tribes or aliens from outer space - there is still no answer to this question. To date, there are many hypotheses, but none of them can be a clue.

Dog, Nazca drawing

Whale, Nazca drawing

hummingbird has a length of 50 meters, spider — 46, condor extends from beak to tail feathers for almost 120 meters, and heron has a length of up to 188 meters. Nearly all the drawings are made on this huge scale in the same manner, with the outline outlined by one continuous line. Ideally straight lines and stripes go beyond the horizon, crossing dry riverbeds, climbing hills and at the same time not deviating from their direction (although modern geodetic methods do not allow drawing a straight line up to 8 kilometers long on rough terrain so that the deviation does not exceed 0, 1 degree). The true shape of the images can only be observed from a bird's eye view. Such a natural elevation does not exist nearby, but there are semi-mountain humps. But the higher you rise above the plateau, the smaller these drawings become and turn into incomprehensible scratches.

hummingbird,Nazca drawing

Spider, Nazca drawing

Condor, Nazca drawing

Heron, Nazca drawing

What scientists managed to establish more or less accurately is the age of the images. Based on the ceramic fragments found here and the analysis of organic remains, they found that between 350 BC. and 600 AD there was a civilization here. However, this theory cannot be accurate either, since the objects of civilization could have been brought here much later than the appearance of images. One theory says that these are the works of the Nazca Indians who inhabited the regions of Peru before the formation of the Inca Empire. The Nazca did not leave behind anything but burial places, so it is not known whether they had a written language and whether they “painted” the desert.

"Astronaut", Nazca drawing

The Nazca lines pose many questions to historians - who created them, when, why and how. Indeed, many geoglyphs cannot be seen from the ground, so it remains to be assumed that with the help of such patterns, the ancient inhabitants of the valley communicated with the deity. In addition to the ritual, the astronomical significance of these lines is not excluded.