The Nazca Lines are ancient geoglyphs in Peru, made by removing the surface of the desert to reveal lighter ground underneath. The figures, visible only from the air, are thought to have religious significance, but alternative theories suggest they were created as runways for extraterrestrial planes or as maps of underground waterways.
The Nazca Lines are giant earth drawings, or geoglyphs, located in the Nazca Desert in Peru. They were built by members of an ancient culture that inhabited the area between the 4th and 8th centuries BC. These lines are made up of hundreds of figures, each drawn with a single line, many in the shape of animals. The most mysterious feature of them is that the images they form are visible only from high in the air; some of the figures measure 4 feet (8 meters) in diameter.
These figures are classified as negative geoglyphs, meaning they were made by removing part of the ground surface, rather than adding earth or gravel. The surface of the Nazca Desert is covered in rusty pebbles, which the ancients removed to reveal the lighter ground underneath. The aridity and lack of wind in the desert have kept the Nazca Lines extremely well preserved over the centuries.
Why the ancient Nazca people allegedly created elaborate geoglyphs so large that no one could see them has puzzled researchers ever since they were discovered. The leading theory is that they were religious in nature, meant to be visible to the gods who reside high in the sky. Proponents of this theory often suggest that the lines served not only as messages to the gods but also as pathways leading to and from places of worship.
One of the more controversial alternative theories, popularized by author Erich Anton Paul von Däniken, is that extraterrestrials helped the Nazca people build the geoglyphs as runways for their planes. Others have suggested that the ancient Nazca people developed rudimentary methods of flight, most likely a hot air balloon.
One early theory proposed that the Nazca lines were a form of astronomical chart, but there is not enough evidence to support this idea. A similar theory points to a period of frequent solar eclipses in the desert around the time the lines were built; the Nazca people may have interpreted the phenomenon as a giant eye watching them from the sky and constructed the designs to their advantage. Another theory that has gained some popularity is that they served as a map of underground waterways, which would have been quite valuable in the desert.
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