The Nazca Lines have become a true mystery to man, it is an incredible group of pre-Columbian geoglyphs located in the Nazca desert in Peru. Some of these figures represent living creatures, other plants or fantastic beings.To live and see this creation of the ancestors with your own eyes, you have to do it flying over the desert, since they extend over 520 km and some up to 800 km. Amazing, right?. Until today it has not been verified how they were created, they remain a mystery!
HUMMINGBIRD
The most famous of them all, easy to identify by its large beak and tail.
SPIDER
It was one of the first discovered, spanning 151 feet long.
CONDOR
It was one of the first discovered, it is 151 feet long.
HUMMINGBIRD
It is the best known of all, easy to identify by its large beak and tail.
SPIDER
It was one of the first discovered, it is 151 feet long.
CONDOR
It was one of the first discovered, it is 151 feet long.
The Nazca Lines are amongst one of Peru’s biggest mysteries and there are still no definite answers to its origins. It’s strongly believed that they were created sometime between 200 BC to 500 AD by the Nazca Culture. Due to the drawings being nearly impossible to spot from the ground, the “discovery” came many centuries later after the disappearance of the Nazca Culture.
The first published discovery came in 1553, where Pedro Cieza de León mistakenly wrote of trail markers within the desert.
Years after, with the increase of aviation, reports began to come to light of strange drawings in the desert which sparked an interest in archaeologists and historians in Peru.
Peruvian archaeologist, Toribio Mejía Xesspe, stumbled across the Nazca Lines in 1927 on land and so began his years of studying the lines and eventually present his findings at a conference in Lima in 1939.
Paul Kosok, an American historian, is credited as the first scholar to study the geoglyphs. After a flight over the lines, he noticed that one of the drawings resembled a bird. This caught his attention, which led to him extensively researching the Nazca Culture and how and why these lines were created. He was then joined by Maria Reiche, whom many know as the Lady of the Lines due to her fight for the conservation of the geoglyphs.
Today, archaeologists and historians still don’t know how or why the Nazca Lines have been created. Many theories exist, some more obscure than others, and with new technologies and discoveries, more are sure to come.
The incredible Nazca Lines are a must-visit for everyone traveling in Peru. Nazca Lines Flights are by far the best way to catch a glimpse of these mysterious carvings that will surely leave you with more questions than answers. And who knows, maybe you’ll come up with a theory or two of their creation.
