Giant images on the Nazca plateau in Peru. Nazca lines. Another look. The main geoglyphs of Nazca

Pampa Colorado Desert(Spanish Desierto de la Pampa Colorado; "Red Plain"), located south of the Nazca River, is more often called "Nazca Plateau"(Spanish: Nazca). This is a waterless and deserted desert plain, surrounded by low spurs of the Andes, stretching 450 km southeast of the Peruvian capital, (Spanish: Lima).

The vast, elongated plateau area of ​​​​about 500 km² extends from north to south for more than 50 km, from west to east - from 7 to 15 km. The valley has long been mistakenly considered lifeless. Flat terrain with undulating relief in places is separated from other flat areas by pronounced ledges.

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The name "Nasca" also refers to an ancient civilization that flourished between 300 BC and 300 BC. to 500 AD Perhaps it was this culture that created the mysterious "Nazca lines", the ancient ceremonial city of Cahuachi and the extensive system of "puquios" - unique underground aqueducts.

An important component of the region, in addition to the famous plateau, is the city of the same name, founded by the Spaniards in 1591. At the end of the last century, in 1996, the city of Nazca was razed to the ground by a strong earthquake. Fortunately, there were few victims (17 people died), since the rampant underground elements occurred at noon, but about 100 thousand people were left homeless. Today, the city has been rebuilt, modern high-rise buildings have been erected here, and its center is decorated with a wonderful square.

Climate

The sparsely populated area has a very dry climate.

Winter on the vast plateau lasts from June to September, during the year the temperature in the desert does not fall below +16°C. In summer, the air temperature is stable and stays around +25°C. Despite the proximity of the ocean, rains here are extremely rare. Winds are also practically absent here, surrounded by a plateau there are no rivers, lakes and streams. The fact that these lands once saw water flows is told by numerous channels of long-dried rivers.

Mysterious geoglyphs (Nazca Lines)

However, this Peruvian region is notable primarily not for the city, but for the mysterious geoglyphs - unusual lines, geometric shapes and bizarre patterns that adorn the surface of the plateau. For the modern scientific community, these drawings have been presenting more and more new mysteries for centuries. Dozens of minds have been struggling for many years in an attempt to answer numerous questions regarding mysterious images.

Map of figures

In total, about 13 thousand different lines, more than 100 spirals, over 700 geometric figures or areas (triangles, rectangles, trapezoids) and 788 images of people, birds and animals were found on the desert plain. Images of the plateau are long grooves of various widths, from 15 to 30 cm deep, dug in the upper soil layer - a mixture of clay and sand. The length of the longest lines reaches 10 km. The width of the drawings is also striking, in some cases reaching 150-200 m.

There are drawings here that resemble the outlines of animals - llamas, monkeys, killer whales, birds, etc. Single drawings (about 40) depict sharks, fish, lizards and spiders.

The figures amaze the imagination with their gigantic size, but people still have not been able to unravel their true purpose. The answer may lie in the depths of the desert. This means that in order to find out who and why created these amazing arts, archaeological excavations are needed, which are prohibited here, because the plateau is protected by the status "Sacred Zone"(related to the Divine, heavenly, otherworldly, mystical). So, to this day, the origin of the Nazca drawings remains a mystery behind seven seals.

The geoglyphs of the Nazca plateau in 1994 were included in the lists of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

But no matter how “sacred” the territory is, no one has yet canceled the dominant human trait - curiosity, which stimulates humanity to overcome any difficulties.

The first extremely curious person who became interested in these forbidden lands was Mejia Toribio Hespe(Spanish: Toribio Mejía Xesspe), an archaeologist from Peru, who in 1927 studied the "Nazca lines" from the foothills surrounding the lifeless plateau. In 1939, an unusual plateau gained worldwide fame thanks to a Peruvian scientist.

In 1930, anthropologists studied the mysterious desert area with mysterious lines, flying around the plateau in an airplane. The attention of archaeologists around the world was riveted to the desert in the early 40s of the XX century. So, in 1941, the American historian, professor of hydrogeology Paul Kosok (born Paul Kosok; 1896-1959) made several reconnaissance flights over the desert in a small plane. It was he who determined that gigantic lines and figures cover a vast territory stretched for 100 km.

Scientists were able to study the unique plateau more closely only in 1946, although this was not a targeted state program funded by the authorities, but separate expeditions of enthusiastic researchers. It turned out that the ancient "designers" created the Nazca trenches by removing the dark surface soil layer (the so-called "desert tan") - clay saturated with iron oxide and manganese oxide. Gravel was completely removed from the line section, under which there was a light-colored soil with a rich lime content. In the open air, the limestone hardens instantly, forming a protective layer that is excellent at preventing erosion, which is why the lines are so catchy and have retained their original shape for 1000 years. With the technical simplicity of execution, such a solution required excellent knowledge of geodesy. The durability of the drawings was also facilitated by the usual calm here, the absence of precipitation and stable air temperature throughout the year. If the local climatic conditions were different, then, undoubtedly, the drawings would have disappeared from the face of the earth long ago.

They continue to puzzle more than one generation of researchers from around the world.

mystical civilization

Official science claims that all images were created during the heyday of the ancient Nazca empire, which has a very developed culture. Civilization was founded by the archaeological culture (Spanish: Paracas), the indigenous Indians of southern Peru in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Many scholars agree that most of the lines and figures were created during a period of 1100 years, during the "Golden Age" of the Nazca civilization (100-200 AD). The ancient civilization sank into oblivion at the end of the 8th century, the reason for this, presumably, was the floods that befell the territory of the plateau by the end of the first 1000th anniversary. People were forced to leave their land, which was settled after several centuries.

If we assume that the mysterious drawings were created by the ancient people, then why and, most importantly, how the natives were able to do this remains a mystery. Even using modern technology, it is extremely difficult to draw a perfectly straight line on the surface of the earth, even with a length of 3-5 km.

According to the findings of scientists, all this was done in a short time. For a couple of centuries, the Nazca plateau has turned from a lifeless valley into the most bizarre territory on the planet, dotted with geoglyphs. The hollows and hills of the desert were crossed by unknown artists, but the lines remained perfectly correct, and the edges of the grooves were strictly parallel. How unknown craftsmen created the figures of various animals that can only be seen from the height of a bird's flight is completely unclear.

46 meter spider

For example, the image of a hummingbird reaches a length of 50 m, a condor bird - 120 m, and a spider, similar to relatives living in the Amazonian jungle, has a length of 46 m. ​​Interestingly, all these masterpieces can be seen only by rising into the air, or by climbing on a high mountain, which is not observed nearby.

It is obvious that the people who inhabited the plateau during the period of the emergence of art did not have aircraft. How could people create drawings with jeweler's precision without being able to see the full picture of the work done? How did the masters manage to maintain the accuracy of all the lines? To do this, they would need a whole arsenal of modern geodetic equipment, not to mention the most perfect knowledge of mathematical laws, given that the images were created both on flat areas of the earth, and on steep slopes and almost sheer cliffs!

Moreover, in the region of the deserted Nazca valley there are hills (Spanish: Palpa), the tops of some are cut off like a giant knife on the same level. These huge sections are also decorated with drawings, lines and geometric shapes.

Maybe it is generally difficult for us to understand the logic of our distant ancestors. Children do not understand their parents, what is there to understand the motives of people who lived 1000 - 2000 years ago. It is possible that the images of the plateau have no practical or religious component. Maybe the ancient people created them in order to show their descendants what they are capable of? But why waste a lot of time and energy for self-affirmation? In general, questions, questions to which there are no answers yet.

Alien intervention?

Scientists who are sure that a person created the mysterious drawings are no more than those who believe that it could not have done without the intervention of aliens. According to the latter, the images on the plateau are alien runways. Such a version, of course, has the right to exist, it is only unclear why alien aircraft did not have a vertical take-off system and why it was necessary to make runways in the form of zigzags, spirals and terrestrial animals.

Another thing is also interesting: many scientists believe that complex drawings in the form of bizarre animals, birds and insects were applied much earlier than simpler geometric shapes, circles and lines. The conclusion suggests itself that at first unknown mysterious masters completed complex forms, and only then earthly people began to practice creating straight lines.

Other hypotheses

Maria Reiche (German: Maria Reiche; 1903-1998), a German mathematician and archaeologist, who since 1946 for more than 40 years (until her death at the age of 95) methodically and scrupulously studied the Nazca figures, believed that they the lines are a giant ancient calendar. In her opinion, many of the drawings are accurate images of the constellations, and the lines correspond to the movement of the sun or are oriented to the moon, the planets of the solar system and some of the constellations. For example, the drawing in the form of a spider, according to Reiche, reproduces a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. Based on her astronomical calculations, she was the first to announce the time of creation of the drawings - the 5th century BC. Later, radiocarbon analysis of a wooden marking peg found in the place of one of the geoglyphs confirmed the date indicated by M. Reiche.

There is another entertaining theory regarding mystical drawings. The famous American archaeologist Johann Reinhard, professor emeritus at the Catholic University of Santa Maria (UCSM, Peru), believes that the giant Nazca lines were built for some religious rites. The figures of animals, birds and insects were supposedly associated with the worship of deities. With the help of drawings, people pleased the Gods and asked them for water to irrigate their land. Some archaeologists are inclined to believe that the lines and bizarre drawings were sacred paths that local priests walked during ritual ceremonies. As in any pagan religion (the ancient people, obviously, was a novice of this faith), the cult of the gods occupies a central place not only in religion, but also in the life of people. But again the question arises: why did the ancient Peruvians decide to address the deities in this remote place, where there was never cultivated land?

There is also such a hypothesis that in ancient times Indian athletes ran along the giant lines and stripes, which means that South American sports Olympiads were held on Nazca. Straight lines, of course, could be used as treadmills, but how can you run in a spiral and on the images of birds or, for example, a monkey?

There were also publications that huge triangular and trapezoidal platforms were created for some kind of ceremonies, during which sacrifices were made to the gods and mass festivities took place. But why, then, the archaeologists, who have searched all the surroundings of the plateau, have not found a single artifact confirming this version?

There is even such an absurd idea that gigantic work was done solely for the purpose of a kind of labor education. So that the idle ancient Peruvians were busy ... Another hypothesis says that all the drawings are a giant loom of the ancient people who laid out the threads along the lines. It was also claimed that this is a colossal encrypted map of the world, which so far no one has been able to decipher.

In recent years, voices have increasingly begun to be heard that incredible drawings are just the result of someone's falsification. But then, over the course of decades, a whole army of counterfeiters had to tear their veins over the manufacture of the largest fake in the history of mankind. Yes, it was still necessary to keep everything a secret. The question is what for?

Today, unfortunately, the main attention of scientists from all over the world is focused not on the Nazca drawings shrouded in mystery, but on a serious environmental threat hanging over the mysterious plateau. Deforestation, harmful emissions into the atmosphere, environmental pollution - all this does not change the stable climate of the desert for the better. Increasingly, it rains, leading to landslides and other troubles that have a devastating effect on the integrity of the images.

If nothing is done in the next 5-10 years to overcome a serious threat, amazing drawings will be lost to humanity forever. Then there is no doubt that the answers to the countless questions that concern us will NEVER be received. We will never know WHO and WHY created these unique creations.

Archaeological sites of the region

The capital and main ceremonial center of the Nazca civilization was the ancient settlement of Cahuachi. The city was a concentration of adobe houses and outbuildings. In the center of it stood a pyramidal structure - the Great Temple, built on a hill about 30 m high. Around the main Temple there were squares, palaces and tombs.

In addition to Cahuachi, several other large architectural complexes of the ancient civilization are known. The most unusual of them is Vosque Muerto (Spanish for “Dead Forest”) Estaqueria, which is a row of 240 pillars up to 2 m high, mounted on a low platform. To the west and south of the platform, smaller pillars are installed, moreover, they are lined up not in rows, but in chains. Near the "dead forest" there was a stepped hill with 2 rows of terraces.

On the territory of Estakeria there are many burials in which preserved parts of robes were found. Based on the fragments found, the clothes of the Nazca people were recreated: long capes with a wide border and traditional South American ponchos - a rectangular canvas with a slit for the head. It is noteworthy that the color range of fabrics is unusually extensive, numbering up to 150 various shades.

The culture of the ancient civilization impresses with its unique polychrome vessels of excellent quality, while the Indians were not familiar with the potter's wheel. Cups, vases, figured jugs and bowls were painted with paints of 6-7 colors, which were applied before firing.

The secrets of Nazca do not end there. If the surface of the valley is decorated with gigantic drawings that are still incomprehensible to the human mind, then even more unimaginable puquios (Spanish Puquios; from Ketch. source, spring) lurk in its bowels - ancient aqueduct systems near the city of Nazca. Of the 36 giant puquios, which are granite pipes of underground water pipes, most of them still function normally. The current Peruvian Indians attribute the creation of the puquios to a divine creator (Quechua Wiraqucha, Spanish Huiracocha or Viracocha). Who, when and why created these titanic water structures under the ancient Nazca plateau is also from the realm of eternal mysteries.

Curious facts

In 1939 an American archaeologist Paul Kosok flying over Nazca desert, found strange lines and shapes. Previously, no one knew about them, because they can only be clearly seen from a sufficiently high height. From that moment began the study of strange figures. German Doctor of Archeology Maria Reiche dedicated her whole life to it. She also achieved the protection of the lines from destruction at the highest level. Now lines and geoglyphs Nazca is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Thanks to the desert climate over the centuries, the drawings have not disappeared, although they are very easily destructible: after all, they are just a removed top layer of soil. But there is something to protect the lines from. Lines that have held out for centuries can easily be destroyed by man, because both cars and people leave noticeable traces on the surface. And the route passing right through some geoglyphs Pan Americana Sur poses an even greater threat.

Many of the lines stretch for more than 8 kilometers in length, and the figures can reach a size of 250 meters. In the photo below - circular (360 degrees) photo panorama Nazca desert in high resolution, taken from a hill near the highway.

Currently, about 30 main and hundreds of lesser known drawings are known, about 700 geometric figures, most of which are spirals, and about 13,000 lines of various geometries. No less interesting geoglyphs were also discovered north of Nazca - near the city Palpa. Due to their obvious similarity, we will describe them together.

The main geoglyphs of Nazca

On the map below, we have highlighted the most famous geoglyphs - drawings of the Nazca desert. You can also see numerous lines on the map. Please note: the figure "Astronaut" is made at a great distance from the rest - on the map at the bottom right, moreover, on a hillside and in a different manner, this may indicate a different nature of origin compared to other geoglyphs.

Types of Nazca and Palpa figures

Conventionally, all the figures of both the Nazca desert and the Palpa desert can be divided into 6 types according to geometry:

Mysteries of Nazca and Palpa

1. Overlay oddities. Repeatedly intersecting, overlapping lines, figures and drawings refute the theory that the drawings were made later than the lines. Because somewhere the drawings are above the lines, and somewhere vice versa. But something else is strange: the drawings and lines located on top do not destroy the drawings and lines that are below them.

   

2. Passage through terrain. If you observe the view from space, then all the lines look absolutely smooth. But if you take pictures from an airplane, you can see that often the lines pass through rough terrain. In this case, it is not clear how it was possible to make lines so accurately not from a height, but while on the ground.

   

3. Drawing style. Almost all drawings are made with one line, which does not intersect anywhere. The manner in which the drawings are made strongly resembles the manner in which zigzags, spirals and parallel lines are made - as if they were drawn with one beam under the control of a computer program.

   

4. Location of drawings. Almost all drawings are parallel or at right angles to nearby lines.

   

5. Incoming and outgoing drawing lines. Many drawings such as hummingbird, Spider, A monkey, are drawn not as a closed line, but from somewhere outgoing and returning somewhere, as if the drawings were drawn "at the same time" with the lines. Often such entrances and exits are located in the genital area of ​​the depicted animals.
   

   

6. Location of drawings. Nazca and Palpa are not the only places of the lines. The lines are scattered across the desert part of almost all of Peru, many hundreds of kilometers from Nazca. Well known geoglyph " Chandelier"located in Paracas and clearly visible from the Ballestas Islands.
   

   

7. Interdependence of drawings. Thin lines suddenly turn into wide ones, the line can be continued with a pattern, and a wide line ends at the intersection of another wide one.

   

The lines represent a removed layer of soil from 20 to 50 cm. But there are no mounds nearby - only very minimal ones, and there are no heaps of stones in the distance. And on smooth turns of wide lines when clearing, the sides on the outer circumferences of the side should be wider than on the inner ones. In addition, it should be understood that in order to draw some large stripes, you need to remove thousands of tons of such rubble from the surface.



8. Relief dependency. The thickening of the lines often comes with a decrease in the level of the ground. Thick lines often break at the foot of mountains or rivers. And some wide lines are located on the mountains and, as it were, cut off their tops, which are almost perfectly even.

   

9. Rows of embankments. The purpose of the rows of points - embankments is not clear. In some places they fill wide lanes.

   

10. Unexplored artifacts. In the area of ​​the lines there are many strange formations - square and round depressions, geometrically evenly located rock formations that scientists have not yet explored. Therefore, until this is done, it is difficult to give the final versions of the purpose of the drawings.

    

11. Except for the lines, there are no traces. To draw such lines from the ground, you need to use some kind of device, you need the presence of people. All this would leave technological traces. Today you can observe distinct traces of cars and people. Even, for example, after Greenpeace carried out its unsuccessful campaign and left traces, which greatly angered the Peruvians. But the ancient lines have no traces, except for the lines themselves.

    

Versions of scientists

There are several main versions of the origin and purpose of the Nazca lines and geoglyphs. And all of them are quite controversial.

1. astronomical version. The German researcher Maria Reiche, who devoted her life to the study of figures, came to the conclusion that the drawings were made by someone who lived in this area about 2000 years ago. This is evidenced by the drawings on their ceramic dishes, similar to geoglyphs. Radiocarbon analysis proves approximately the same period of occurrence of geoglyphs. The drawings, according to Reiche, represent a large astronomical calendar, an open-air observatory. The calendar served to determine the time of agricultural work. Doctor Phillips Pitlugi, for example, claims that the image of a spider and lines diverging from it resembles a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. Modern scholars (starting with the American Gerald Hawkins) dispute this version, arguing that there are so many lines that, of course, one can find those that resemble the arrangement of stars. But what to do with the rest is not clear.
2. Religious version. This version does not dispute the version of origin, but considers release rites to be the destination. For example, shamans walked along these strips and called out to the souls of the dead. Or the inhabitants of Nazca tried in this way to turn to the gods so that they would give water in the form of rains. After all, the Nazca civilization, presumably, died out precisely because of climate change, which gradually dried up previously fertile lands.
3. Alien scan. This version assumes that the lines and drawings, except for the clearly anthropomorphic ones ("Family", "Lamas"), are drawn from a great height - only in this case they could be so even. It is also assumed that a computer program was used that could draw such perfectly aligned figures. Perhaps alien creatures took soil samples, this is evidenced by zigzags and spirals. And thick lines can indicate the collection of minerals from the surface. For example, iron ore is present in the stones on the surface of the desert. There is another interpretation of this version. An antediluvian civilization, not aliens, was looking for cities buried under the layers of villages, scanning the area from a height. The fact that a mudflow has passed in this area is evidenced by the composition of the desert soil: rounded stones in clay, and in some places peaks of former mountains stick out. Also, the ruined buildings of the city tell a lot about the flood.
4. Alien ships. This version says that the lines were runways. However, it is not clear why there are so many of them, why in such a viscous soil, and why then drawings and zigzags. And no traces of a possible takeoff and landing were found. But it can be assumed that the numerous lines in the sand are scanning to find a place to land or take off ships, and since the soil is soft, the scanning continued until the ideal place was found - in the solid mountains of Palpa. This version is supported by the fact that it is there that the stripes are not the removal of a couple of tens of centimeters from the surface of the soil, but as if the top of the mountain was deliberately cut and leveled.

How to observe

The best way to watch the Nazca and Palpa lines is, of course, from the plane. If you have purchased a tour to Peru, then please note that the flight over the Nazca lines is included. Then you don't have to worry about organizing it. Those who travel on their own should pay attention to the fact that you need to sign up for a flight at least a day in advance. At the same time, you can spend the night in Nazca, Ica or Paracas - they are closest to the geoglyphs.

The second option is economical. When you drive along Panamericana Sur, there are two places to look out for. If you go from the south, then the first place is Hill next to which there is a parking lot. Our photo-panorama was just taken from the hill (at the beginning of the article). Plus observation from the hill - unlike flying by plane, the lines can be seen very close. In addition, some lines are very clearly visible from the hill.

Well, the third option is a little further north along the Panamericana Sur. This is on purpose, even under Maria Reichel, made tower, with which you can see 3 figures. One side arms and wood, and on the other - from afar the tip reptiles. Near the tower, various souvenirs dedicated to the lines and geoglyphs of Nazca are sold. The entrance to the tower is paid.

You can visit the drawings of Palpa, we drive a little further north, but for their observation it is better to leave the Panamericana Sur.

Nazca drawings. South America, Peru

What are the Nazca Lines, no one knows for sure. The only indisputable fact is that they are located in South America, in Peru, on the Nazca plateau in the southern part of the country. In 1994 they were included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. This is where the indisputable facts end, leaving scientists with many unsolved mysteries.

The lines are giant geometric and figured geoglyphs (patterns) scattered over the plateau. They are applied to the surface in the form of furrows up to 135 centimeters wide and up to 40-50 centimeters deep. It is impossible to understand that this is a solid drawing, being on the ground: "the big is seen at a distance." That is why the Nazca Lines were opened only in 1939, when flights became possible.

Nazca drawings, spider

And since then, more than one scientist has been trying for years to answer the questions: “Who?” and why?". Most researchers are inclined to the version that long before the Incas the patterns were left by the Nazca civilization, which inhabited the plateau until the 2nd century BC. n. e. But for what purpose? With equal success, it can be both the world's largest astronomical calendar (although scientists have not discovered how to use it), and signals for the landing of alien spacecraft.

The plots of the Nazca Lines are very diverse: flowers, geometric shapes, animals, birds and even insects. The smallest image is a 46-meter spider, the largest is a 285-meter pelican...

At the end of 2011, two of our colleagues left for South America - photographer Dmitry Moiseenko and radio-controlled helicopter pilot Stas Sedov. They had a task: to take pictures in the deserts of Nazca and Palpa in Peru, the ancient city of the Inca civilization of Machu Picchu and stone idols on Easter Island. Now we bring to your attention shootings from Nazca.

Chasing the Hummingbird

On the first day of filming, we were faced with the fact that not only is it not allowed to enter the desert by car, but also to enter on foot. We talked to the police and attendants at the observation towers - the passage is allowed with special passes from the local Ministry of Culture, which issues them only to archaeological groups. Some time ago, the entrance and entrance to the desert were free, which led to the fact that a large number of figures almost died under the wheels of off-road vehicles.

Nazca drawings, parrot and astronaut

For tourists, local authorities put up several towers with observation platforms: one of those that we found , is located right on the Pan-American highway near Nazca, the other is 30 kilometers towards Palpa. It can be seen by tourists from these towers, frankly, not very much. It is much better to look at the figures from small planes that fly over the desert from the local airport.

View from the tourist observation tower

The second day in Nazca did not work out from the very beginning. In the morning we planned to go to a distant point near Palpa and try to approach the figures through the desert. On the previous day, there was no one on the observation deck: no tourists, no watchman. It is logical to assume that at 6 in the morning there should not have been anyone there either. Naive...

We left at dawn, and here we are standing on the observation deck. But what a disaster! A couple of minutes ago it was clear on the horizon, and now on the road 400 meters away from us, as if out of thin air, a police jeep appeared. That's it, shooting becomes almost impossible, since from the site where tourists can be to the figures themselves - about 200-300 meters. It is possible to fly, but to remove something of high quality is unlikely to succeed.

After a couple of minutes of deliberation, we decided to try to fly anyway. We shot a couple of test spheres, landed and realized that luck was not with us today: all the figures came out very small and very far away. Well, we decided to try to negotiate with the police. We drive up to the jeep and see a sleeping patrolman. They did not wake up the vigilant policeman, but quickly rushed back to the observation deck. Then everything happened, as in films about scouts.

We loaded up with equipment and almost bellied moved towards the figures through the desert. Somewhere in the middle of the road, Dima noticed out of the corner of his eye that the policeman was no longer sleeping, but got out of the car and was watching us. Looks like we've been spotted! What to do? Run? We acted illogically - we decided to start filming right in front of the police. They took off, filmed several spheres, all the time looking at the policeman. There was no reaction. Maybe they didn't notice us? Using the hollows, we got closer to the figures. The terrain helped to hide from the police patrol.

We began to fly quite actively, all the while expecting menacing shouts from behind. About half an hour later I climbed from another ravine to the level of the plateau and found a completely empty road - the police jeep had left. He probably didn’t notice us after all - lucky! After that, they worked almost close to the figures. Almost the entire supply of batteries for the helicopter flew off, leaving a couple of pieces for lifting on the observation deck near Nazca.

Tired, but very satisfied, we wandered to our car. Dima decided to shoot a few last shots with his telephoto lens, and at the moment of changing lenses he left the keys inside the cabin.

I must say that the crime situation in Peru is not very good, and therefore the car alarm is designed so that if you do not start the engine after disarming the car, the doors will be blocked in a couple of minutes. If you start the engine — the doors are locked immediately.

As you may have guessed, while Dima was making the final shots, the car was locked with the keys inside.

So, we are in the desert, an hour's walk from the nearest village, and not a soul around. Tools and water are inside the car. We only have a helicopter and a camera with a large lens in our hands. They tried to squeeze the glass with their hands - it's useless. After several attempts, I suggested to Dima to break the glass of the back door. You can watch Dima's dramatic torment in the video: to beat or not to beat - that is the question!

I quickly imagined how the police find our dried corpses next to the intact car, and insistently asked Dima to finally solve the problem. And Dima solved it! After a little thought, he suggested breaking not the glass, but a small rear window and trying to get the keys through it. A few minutes later, having searched the neighborhood and found several pieces of steel wire (having dismantled the roof of the local "museum", similar to an ordinary bus stop), we made an impromptu fishing rod, with which Dima fished out our keys through the broken glass on the first attempt. Saved!

On the way to Nasca, we shot the Tree and Hands for the second time, and also tried to shoot the Lizard. We learned from the rangers the coordinates of the local Ministry of Culture and decided to try to get official permission to pass through the desert.

During the morning visit to the Minister of Archaeology, he was not there. The secretary with gestures (almost no one speaks English there) explained to us that we should come in after lunch.

What to do? Dima offered to fly over the desert in a small plane. He planned to shoot figures that could not be reached on foot, and I had to shoot a video of the process and, most importantly, find passages between the police cordons to one of the famous figures.

Nazca drawings, monkey

Flight. No, not like that: it was FLIGHT!!! I have already flown a lot of things, but there was no such amount of adrenaline even on a motorized hang glider. I will omit the details of how we bargained at the airport and how they then tried to stab us on almost every point of the agreements.

So, we are at the executive start. After the pilot began to rape the engine, adjusting the fuel mixture, I realized that the "entertainment" we have is not weak. And exactly when they began to taxi out, instead of standing at the beginning of the runway, the pilot taxied onto the dirt road, outside of it, gaining another ten meters for acceleration. The engine roared wildly , and our "Tsesna" rushed along the runway, picking up speed very quickly. Breakaway! But instead of a sharp rise, we began to climb literally a meter per second - it was not the most pleasant moment.

What is the difficulty of flying over Nazca? It is hot during the day, the air density is low, and strong winds blow. We often noticed tornadoes of various sizes in the desert. I filmed one of these tornadoes during takeoff.

In a few minutes we are already over the desert. Gained a height of 600 meters. Here is the first figure - Keith. If the co-pilot (girl) had not shown her hand, I would not have noticed him. Expecting to see large figures, the head does not immediately switch to the true size, and because of this, it is almost impossible to see them. Lines and trapezoids, on the contrary, are visible very well.

Nazca drawings, whale

Flying up to the next figure, the pilots laid a very steep turn, and we made several circles with some unimaginable rolls. At the same time, the plane was often thrown by gusts of wind. The feeling of a rollercoaster, only several times stronger. I was amazed at how Dima would quite calmly hang out of the open window with his telephoto and shoot, shoot, shoot... At the same time, he still managed to quite accurately drive the figures into the frame.

Nazca drawings, bird of paradise

There was confidence that along one of the country roads we could get close to the figure of the Hummingbird. During the flight, Dima wrote a track with GPS coordinates, according to which we hoped to quickly find her. 50 minutes of flight time passed unnoticed, during which my face changed its color several times: from earthy gray to green. We landed at the airport and fell out of the plane exhausted.

We went back to the ministry. The archaeologist, in my opinion, did not appear in the office, and his secretary, with a sigh, announced to us - "manyana", which meant: come in tomorrow. We decided after a short rest at the hotel to go in search of Hummingbirds.

This figure is slightly off the track. They decided to go to the desert in the evening, when tourist planes should already finish their flights. In addition to the pilots, there was practically no one to notice us - during the flight, I did not see any movement on country roads.

The beginning of the way to the mountains was not very difficult: a well-rolled primer. Unfortunately, from the air, I did not have time to spot the characteristic landmarks on the Hummingbird beam, so Dima and I had a rather emotional argument about which way to go and where to leave the car. Dima showed me his track recorded during the flight and pointed his finger in the direction completely opposite (in my opinion) from the figure. Relying on visual memory and insisting on my choice of direction, by a miracle (and in different words) I managed to convince Dima.

According to our assumptions, there were only 15-20 minutes of light time left. That's a hell of a lot, especially since we didn't know exactly where to go.

We climbed up the mountain, towards the desert. We got in. From what I saw, despair seized me: it was not a plateau, but just one of the spurs on the way to it. We had to go down a rather steep slope, consisting of a mixture of sand and stones, 70 meters down, cross a small gorge and climb again, already 100 meters. We will not have time! But pulling ourselves together, we quickly ran down the slope, tearing off piles of stones behind us ...

I vaguely remember how we crawled up the mountain. Somewhere in the middle of the ascent, I ran out of strength. Running through the mountains with a 15-kilogram backpack, equipment around your neck and a helicopter in your hands is not an easy task. Dima took out a camera and shot a short video.

Another 5 minutes of climbing - and we are on the plateau.

Climbed! Where is the figure? We looked at the track: we seem to be standing somewhere nearby, but nothing is visible on the ground. Found some lines that look like a hummingbird's tail. We take off, we shoot. After landing, Dima rushes to the camera - no, this is not Hummingbird. In the frame there is some strange "sun" and a huge landing strip for alien ships.

We go further into the desert. The sun begins to fall towards the horizon rather quickly. Only a few minutes of daylight remain. We stumble upon some regular trapezoid, or a line. And Dima says: "The area is called the Nazca Lines, since we did not find the Hummingbird, let's shoot the lines."

I take off, quite high. Let's take a sphere. And then Dima asks me to simply scroll the device around the axis, without shooting. I don’t usually do this - there is little flight time, but this time for some reason I didn’t refuse. I do not know why. The wind on the plateau was quite strong, the visibility was not very good, but I spun the helicopter and then Dima shouted right in my ear: "HUMMINGBIRD!!! Take off!!!"

Nazca drawings, hummingbird

It turned out that we were standing next to this figure (more precisely, a figure: the bird is very small), not noticing it at all. Moreover, if you come close to it, it is very clearly visible on the ground.

Nature rewarded us with an absolutely fantastic sunset. This was not the case in previous days: clouds in pink light, the moon giving its silver hue - we almost forgot why we came ...

Having come to their senses, they made several sorties near the Hummingbird, while the sun went below the horizon. It is difficult to put into words the strange sensations that we experienced on the plateau. Apparently those who chose the location of this "bird" knew something inaccessible to our understanding. Or maybe we were just overwhelmed with positive emotions, from the feeling of a successfully completed mission...

While I was collecting the equipment, Dima was running around the Hummingbird in a very excited state, trying to shoot video and ground shots in almost complete darkness.

One thought drilled through me on the way to the car - you must always fight, even when it seems that everything is already lost, that you didn’t have time, you didn’t find ...

Fortune favors the persistent!

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 region.

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.

The Nazca Desert is located in the department of Ica in the south of Peru, between the Ingenio and Nazca rivers. This is an area of ​​500 square kilometers, covered with huge images of people and animals, lines, spirals and geometric shapes, the size of which reaches up to 300m in length. These signs are so huge that they can only be seen from an airplane. However, today everyone can admire the mysterious symbols without leaving home, just run any program on the computer that displays satellite images of the Earth. Desert coordinates - 14°41"18.31"S 75°07"23.01"W.

The mystery of the Nazca desert was discovered in 1927, when a Peruvian pilot flying over a desert valley in southern Peru saw that the land was drawn with long lines and painted with images of animals. Such geometric patterns appeared on the Nazca plateau during the Nazca civilization. It belongs to the pre-Columbian civilizations, II-IV centuries BC.

Geoglyphs are a big mystery, because no one knows why the representatives of the ancient civilization of the Indians, who disappeared without a trace, painted huge pictures that are visible only from the air. The images seem to be scratched into the sparse, stony soil of the desert. At first glance, they are hardly distinguishable and represent a chaotic plexus of lines drawn by someone on the reddish surface of the desert, but from a bird's eye view, this randomness makes sense.

Despite the fact that geoglyphs were discovered in the last century, the purpose of these amazing drawings is still unknown. Researchers A. Krebe and T. Mejia consider them part of the ancient irrigation system. T. Mejia also later also later suggested that the images are connected with the holy path of the Incas. Some signs, such as mounds of stones at the intersections of the lines, indicate that the figures were used for cult purposes.

P. Kozok, who visited the Nazca Valley in 1941, drew attention to the special role of lines in the rays of the setting sun during the summer solstice and called these lines the largest astronomy textbook on earth. Later, this theory was developed by the German researcher M. Reiche in her research. In her opinion, some of the geometric figures symbolize the constellations, and the images of animals - the location of the planets.

The study of astronomy for ancient civilizations made a lot of sense. Among other things, it also had a practical function - it helped to predict rainy periods important for agriculture, but archaeologist H. Lancho suggested that the drawings were maps showing the way to vital places, for example, to underground water sources.

The most incredible and at the same time the most popular theory belongs to the famous Swiss researcher Erich von Daniken. He suggested that the images are nothing more than markings on the earth's surface for aliens from other planets.

No less surprising is another hypothesis, according to which the representatives of the ancient Nazca civilization mastered aeronautics, which is why the drawings are distinguishable only from a height. In support of this theory, several dark spots that are present on the surface of the plateau are interpreted as traces of fires on the grounds for balloons. In addition, the pottery of the Nazca Indians has patterns resembling balloons or kites.

The exact age of the geoglyphs is unknown. According to the results of archaeological research, the images were created in different periods. The earliest, most straight lines appeared probably in the sixth century BC, the latest - drawings of animals - in the first century AD.

Scientists have proven that the figures were created by hand. The drawings were drawn on the surface of the desert in the form of furrows 130 cm wide and 50 cm deep. On dark soil, the lines form white stripes. Since the light lines heat up less than the surrounding surface, there is a difference in pressure and temperature, which leads to the fact that the lines do not suffer during sandstorms.

Who and why painted these pictures on the surface in ancient times, distinguishable only from a great height, still remains a mystery. A huge number of theories have been put forward, but none of them has yet received scientific confirmation.