Nazca geoglyphs. Nazca Lines in Peru: mysterious geoglyphs in the desert

What are Nazca paintings?

The giant images on the Nazca Plain in Peru (South America) are the mystical sights of planet Earth. They look like lines on the earth's surface with an area of ​​approximately 500 square meters. m, which are made in the form of recesses. The elm has approximate parameters of 140x50 cm, its color turns white on a dark rock surface.

At close range it is noticeable: this shade of “scratches” was obtained by cleaning tons of volcanic rock. As a result, the desert base was exposed - a sandy clay base with a yellowish tint. Surprisingly Nazca drawings have smooth and continuous contours, regardless of the landscape they pass through - hilly or flat.

At the same time, many geoglyphs are drawn with lines, over 10 thousand of which are stripes, more than 700 are geometric textures in the form of trapezoids, triangles and spirals, up to 30 are frontispieces of birds and animals, insects, etc.

History of drawings

The first mention of geoglyphs appeared in 1553 in the book of Pedro de Cieza de Leon (Spanish historian). I saw the part first drawings in the Nazca desert archaeologist from Peru Mejia Xessle, who stood on the slope of a mountain one day in 1927.

Discover all the mysterious patterns and install Nazca drawing coordinates It was succeeded only in 1939 by the American archaeologist Paul Kosok, who was flying over the plateau. Since in the desert they look like ordinary depressions, being on the ground, they cannot be seen, but from above the outlines of all the figures are clearly visible.

The history of the drawings seems obvious. They were made in Southern Peru by local people who, for several centuries, decorated desert areas along the coast. The ancient Peruvians painted mysterious signs on the ground using the same method as the ancient Indians, using the dark shade of the soil as a “canvas”.

But to the question: “Why?” no answer has been found yet. Scientists have also not yet established the exact age of the images. Local residents claim that the drawings were made by demigods - Viracochas. They say that they imprinted their presence in the Andes mountain range many thousands of years ago.

But scientists have already proven that everything drawings on the Nazca plateau were done at different time periods. The most ancient ones appeared in the 6th century. BC, the youngest are considered to be those painted in the 1st century. AD

Location and size of drawings

Geoglyphs are scattered throughout the Nazca rock desert between the cities of Nazca and Palpa. A significant number of them are located above the dry valley of the Ingenio River. These ancient drawings are illustrated by another mystical drawing in the form of a giant trident, which was carved into a cliff near the town of Paracas.

Among the giant images there are no figures of Homo sapiens or anything related to him. The largest by unknown artists were: a spider with a length of 46 m, a hummingbird with a length of 50 m, a monkey with a length of 55 m, a condor with its wings spread over 120 m, a lizard with a length of 188 m, and a pelican with a length of 285 m.

Almost all images have huge parameters and are made with a continuous border. Lines stretching to the horizon intersect and overlap each other, forming mysterious drawings by their combination. Because of this Nazca desert took on the features of a huge drawing board.

Scientists' assumptions about Nazca drawings

The mystery of the appearance of the images has not yet been studied. Scientists have come up with many versions and hypotheses concerning, among other things, the answer to who and when completed the Nazca drawings. Some researchers believe that the drawings appeared in 750-100 BC. during the heyday of the Paracas Culture.

Others argue that the images were executed between the 2nd century. BC. and VI century. AD, when the Nazca Civilization ruled in this area. The third group of experts is inclined to believe that the geoglyphs were placed on the plateau in the 11th – 16th centuries. during the Inca Empire. The fourth has its own point of view: the drawings were “painted” by extraterrestrial beings in the period 12960 – 10450 BC.

As a result, various assumptions arose about the origin of geoglyphs.

— These drawings were considered ritual, and therefore were used in ancient times in occult ceremonies.

— Geoglyphs - a gigantic astronomical calendar: displayed Nazca drawings on the map very reminiscent of the month book.

“They helped the ancient inhabitants of Nazca contact the deity Viracocha.

— The outlines are airfield runways.

— The Nazca Plateau served as a spaceport for takeoff and landing of interplanetary rockets.

— Images – fires on the original platform for balloons.

— Geoglyphs appeared as a result of the energetic influence of UFOs.

— Photos of Nazca drawings shows that they are a map of the astral sky placed on the earth’s surface, and the figure of the spider is the coordinate system of a gigantic stellar concentration in the constellation Orion.

— The image entitled contains information about the star HD42807 in the constellation Orion.

— Figures related to flora and fauna are drawn as a reminder of the Flood.

— Outlines and images are the most ancient Zodiac.

— The outlines speak of the worship of the deity of the Mountain. For the ritual, the Indians took plants that caused hallucinations and carried out “witch doctor flights” over the valley.

— Drawings are an indispensable attribute of ceremonial dances in honor of the cult of Water, and straight lines denoted the water supply and sewerage systems.

— Nazca geometry is a theory of numbers and measurements, a cipher with the encoded number “pi”.

– Geoglyphs represent ancestral signs with which different families marked the territories they captured.

– Figures and images on the plateau – a gigantic map of the well system, which is placed along the outlines of the mysterious drawings.

Among scientists there are also those who believe: the answer to those located in Peru Nazca drawings lies in the giant geoglyph “Trident of El Candelabro” (its parameters are 128X74 m), known under the pseudonym “Candelabra”. It is located on a rock in Pisco Bay on Cape Paracas at an altitude of 150 meters, and can only be seen from the sea.

It is worth drawing an imaginary line from the middle prong of the “Candelabra” and making sure that it points to the Nazca Plateau. Experts believe that the Paracas Candelabra symbolizes Atlantis and contains important information about Mother Earth.

Based on numerous expeditions to Peru, some scientists have the impression that the Nazca Plateau was created by a petrified mudflow in the form of “tongues” descending from the peaks.

Moreover, the “tongues” froze between the rocks already on the return path of the tsunami that happened then into the Pacific Ocean. This is also evidenced by the flora and fauna found in the high-mountain Lake Titicaca (4 km above the sea line), which live in the salt water of the sea, and not in a freshwater reservoir.

Drawings in the Peruvian Nazca Desert

Looks like flying down a river undefined object in Buenos Airos— click on the picture to view.

Well of course it's not UFO, but what is it, look for yourself.

And what is this a figure that looks like a flower, or maybe this is a planting site spaceship ?

Indian head in the mountains of the USA— click on the picture to view.

Atacama, Giant Inca drawing— click on the picture to view.

China.
Coordinates 40.458779,93.313129 Airplane site

Chinese pattern
40.458181,93.388681

Another chinese pattern
40.451323,93.743248

40.480381,93.493652

And when was this one applied?

Is there anything to hide behind these? black rectangles?
62.174478,-141.119385

In addition to black squares, there are also
66.2557995,179.188385

The famous Area 51, where UFOs and aliens are allegedly hidden
37°14"13.39"n, 115°48"52.43"w

There are also such closed colorful zones in cities.
52°14"55.40"n, 4°26"22.74"e

Who needs a compass at an altitude of 2 kilometers?
34°57"14.90"N 117°52"21.02"w

Arrows on the underwater bottom that are only visible from above.
32°40"36.82"n,117° 9"27.33"e

The rocket flew and did not reach
38°13"34.93"n, 112°17"55.61"w

Ground drawing of some animal
31°39"36.40"n, 106°35"5.06"w

UFO landed in a grove
45°42"12.68"n, 21°18"7.59"e

A sight measuring hundreds of meters
37°33"46.95"n, 116°51"1.62"w

Colorful lakes on the outskirts of Baghdad
33°23"41.63"n, 44°29"33.08"e

33°51"3.06"s, 151°14"17.77"e

Rock paintings in Oregon, visible from a height of 1.5 km
+42° 33" 48.24", -119° 33" 18.00"

Another triangle
-30.510783, 115.382303

Apparently the remains of an ancient civilization under water. Pay attention to the size of the building and the height of the shooting...
31°20"23.90"n, 24°16"43.28"w

Türkiye, Noah's Ark

The anomaly near Mount Ararat is a geological formation of an unusual shape. It is located at an altitude of 4725 meters above sea level and has a length of almost 183 meters. To date, there are three main versions that explain its occurrence - it could be a geological formation, a glacier, or... the remains of Noah's Ark.
There are legends among local residents about a huge old ship on the top of a mountain near Mount Ararat. Writer Charles Berlitz in his book “The Lost Ship of Noah” cites the testimony of the Armenian George Hagopian.
Georgiy Hagopyana said that in 1905, as an 8-year-old boy, he was on Mount Ararat with his grandfather. And that they found the ark and visited inside. On the upper deck, Georgy saw a superstructure with many windows. The body of the ark was huge and hard as stone.
An interview with a former pilot was published in the American magazine New Eden in 1939 tsarist army Russia by Lieutenant Roskovitsky, who allegedly discovered an object resembling an ark back in 1916 during a reconnaissance flight. Roskovitsky reported to the tsar, and Nicholas II equipped an expedition of 150 people. It took them two weeks to reach the site. According to Roskovitsky, the ship resembled both a giant barge and a freight car, and inside there were many rooms - small and large. Moreover, the small rooms were covered with metal mesh.
But the first significant evidence of the existence of an unknown object on the top of the mountain is considered to be photographs taken by American pilots in 1949. A few years later, something resembling a ship covered with snow was seen by Turkish soldiers. The object was then photographed two more times: in 1973 by the American spy satellite Keyhole-9 and in 1976 by the reconnaissance satellite Keyhole-11. CIA workers processing satellite images in the 70s found it difficult to interpret the data obtained. Porcher Taylor, who worked for the CIA at the time, says the picture was quite unexpected. But he was unable to clarify what exactly was there, because the materials collected by Keyhole-9 and Keyhole-11 are still classified.
Coordinates: 39.440628,44.234517

World Seed Bank on Spitsbergen
78°14"23.12"N, 15°27"30.19"E

Neftegorsk is a ghost town, completely destroyed in 1995 after an earthquake of 9-10 magnitude
52°59′45″ n 142°56′41″ e

Another strange structure in the desert
30.029281,30.858294

An anomalous place near the city of Osoyoos in Canada - Lake Khiluk
49° 4"42.70"N 119°33"58.79"W

Ushtogai square
50 49"58.38N, 65 19"34.54E
— is a geometric figure consisting of 101 mounds in the form of mounds. The side length of the square is 287 meters! Approximately 112 m from the northwest corner, three rings, each 19 meters in diameter, are located diagonally.
On the opposite side, at a distance of 112 meters from the south-eastern corner, there is an embankment with a diameter of 18 meters. If the square, rings and mound are a single figure, then the length of the figure is 643 meters!

The structure in Antarctica is clearly not of natural origin. Dungeon entrance
-66.603547, 99.719878

Four strange balls in Peru
13°33"39.26"s, 75°16"05.80"w

UFO in the Area 51 area?

Larger

Chanquillo, Spanish Chankillo is an ancient monumental complex on the desert coast of Peru in the Casma oasis in the department of Ancash, Peru. Among the ruins are the hilltop Fort Chanquillo, the Thirteen Towers solar observatory, living quarters and public meeting areas. It is assumed that the Thirteen Towers Observatory was built in the 4th century. BC e. The area of ​​the monument is 4 square meters. km. It is assumed that it was a fortified temple.

“Mandala” is the most mysterious geoglyph of the Palpa plateau, located 30 km from the more famous Nazca plateau. In addition to it, there are many geoglyphs on the plateau; it’s a pity that they cannot be clearly seen in Google Maps (and Earth). The geoglyph “Mandala” or Estrella (i.e. “star”), as the locals call it, is definitely the most amazing of them. According to scientists, it was created in the 2nd century AD. Nazca civilization. The composition of two drawings has a size of about two hundred meters and the mystery, as you may have guessed, is how in ancient times people were able to create such a geometrically correct drawing, which is entirely visible only from a bird's eye view. It is believed that the geoliths of the Nazca and Palpa plateaus carry information encoded in mathematical form from their creators, be they people or someone else.

Several videos on this topic

Earthquake, plane crash, fire, Russian geoglyph, crop drawings and others interesting places planets. The coordinates of all places are given. In some places, you need to change the date to see what's in the video (where Google frequently updates photos).

23° 6"54.45"N 113°19"3.79"E Game center, China
35°38"6.01"N 139°44"40.63"E Tokyo, Reclamation Center
33°26"19.18"N 111°58"51.41"W drawing at the airport, USA
35°41"18.90"N 139°45"19.90"E Tokyo, flower
45°38"27.65"N 122°47"43.01"W drawings in the USA fields
52° 2"33.57"N 4°12"47.26"E Sundial, Netherlands
51° 3"16.04"N 1°58"42.45"W Medals, UK
52°31"15.93"N 13°24"34.08"E TV Tower Berlin
37°47"30.27"N 122°23"23.57"W Bow and arrow, San Francisco
35°46"52.68"N 139°35"59.27"E Note, Japan
54°56"30.29"N 59°11"35.85"E Geoglyph "Elk", Chelyabinsk
32°51"31.47"S 70° 8"31.76"W Highway, Chile
46°45"56.81"N 100°47"34.26"W Accident, USA
36°10"58.55"N 68°46"37.34"E Afghanistan (Afghanistan)
55°57"4.82"N 3°13"35.22"W Spiral, Edinburgh
23°38"44.11"N 57°59"13.14"E House in the shape of a heart with an arrow, Oman
34°55"29.03"N 139°56"32.84"E Rybka, Japan
52° 9"14.17"N 2°14"53.03"W Frog, UK
43°42"53.23"N 112° 1"4.04"E Geoglyph giraffes of Mongolia
43°27"25.38"N 3°32"39.48"E Dinosaur, France
29°10"32.51"N 34°42"6.29"E sand drawing, Egypt
50°41"53.40"N 3°10"8.99"E Car on the roof of a house, France
39°44"57.08"N 105° 0"23.02"W Pepsi Center, USA
42°54"6.25"N 22°59"31.76"E Medal, Bulgaria
35°42"13.37"N 140°50"21.12"E Consequences of the 2011 Japan earthquake
37.790699,-122.322937 Plane crash (only google maps!) plane crash- only google maps
42°19"59.78"N 83° 3"19.94"W drawings, America
43°17"25.51"N 80° 1"42.35"W Field in Canada
51°56"57.39"N 7°35"25.43"E Dinosaurs near the History Museum, Germany
56°40"45.06"N 12°48"42.85"E 3 hearts, Sweden
52°30"36.12"N 13°22"19.99"E Sony center, Germany
26° 6"57.47"N 80°23"48.39"W City on the water, USA
39°51"37.23"N 4°17"5.20"E secret place in Spain
69°10"36.03"N 33°28"27.51"E Overturned ships, Murmansk region
43°34"35.10"N 28° 9"4.00"E Pozhar, Bulgaria
52°32"15.37"N 13°34"28.10"E Labyrinth Germany
21°35"4.41"N 39°10"33.58"E "Space", Saudi Arabia
25°14"3.58"N 55°18"3.48"E balls, Dubai, UAE
33°36"6.59"N 111°42"38.98"W Fountain, USA
51°34"38.38"N 0°41"49.54"W Airplane takes off, UK
53°27"5.16"N 113°44"4.84"W fig. in Canada, Formula 1
12°21"55.53"N 76°35"41.31"E INFOSYS-inscription from residential buildings, India
53°48"49.58"N 3° 3"16.87"W Skull, UK (change date)
15°49"32.22"S 47°56"7.71"W Star, Brazil
51°58"14.47"N 4°12"1.03"E MiG 23, Netherlands
52°30"28.86"N 13°23"9.32"E Globe, Berlin
35°41"30.80"N 139°41"49.08"E Cocoon Tower Tokyo
55°24"0.17"N 10°23"7.93"E drawings, Denmark
40°35"44.02"N 141°24"27.53"E Fish, Japan
6°37"43.75"S 31° 8"10.10"E Hippopotamus Lake, Tanzania
47°16"52.49"N 0°50"51.44"W drawings in the fields of France
70°14"24.91"S 69° 6"25.56"E Strange object in the snow of Antarctica
33°49"46.31"N 130°28"4.68"E Sunken plane, Japan
59°57"16.63"N 30°20"15.96"E Cruiser "Aurora" St. Petersburg
25°11"46.30"N 55°16"36.87"E Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE, 828 meters. Burj Khalifa, Burj Dubai

3° 0"8.59"S 33° 5"24.30"E Tanzania market
66°17"50.90"S 100°47"7.55"E Ice began to melt in Antarctica
67°25"48.55"S 60°52"35.18"E "Hand" in Antarctica)
40°41"21.15"N 74° 2"40.34"W Statue of Liberty, USA
41°40"2.82"N 86°29"32.18"W Studebaker
41°45"39.13"N 86°16"9.39"W St. Patrick's Park, USA
44°58"1.39"N 124° 1"7.43"W bear
47°35"43.11"N 122°19"51.84"W Football match
48° 1"39.15"N 122° 9"50.93"W Labyrinth, Washington
21°50"21.11"S 46°34"3.04"W in Brazil
28° 0"21.90"N 86°51"33.79"E Tent camp near Mount Everest
29°50"36.13"N 47°50"49.45"E Fire
35°17"2.60"N 33°22"21.11"E Cyprus, flag
44°45"39.41"N 20°28"19.73"E name of the former president of Yugoslavia
44°34"54.07"N 38° 6"13.78"E Gelendzhik
48°48"18.82"N 2° 7"8.93"E Skeleton, Versailles
50° 3"8.21"N 8°36"51.04"E aircraft
50°56"17.25"N 5°58"40.80"E NATO headquarters Netherlands
52°19"36.22"N 4°55"11.33"E Newspaper parking lot, Netherlands
52°25"50.72"N 4°23"24.12"E Boat and plane
51°17"6.09"N 30°12"44.47"E Chernobyl-ship graveyard
69° 3"38.05"N 33°12"18.76"E Nuclear submarine "Kursk"

Do you know what Nazca is? This is an ancient Indian civilization. It got its name from the river, in the valley of which you can still admire numerous cultural monuments. The heyday of this civilization was observed in the first millennium BC. Later, the name Nazca was borne by a small Indian village in southern Peru, located beyond mountain ranges. In order to get to it from the capital of the state, Lima, it was necessary to travel many kilometers through a dusty, rocky and sandy wasteland.

Today, the city of Nazca is connected by a four-lane highway. Moreover, that part of it that passes through bare hills and desert is paved with wild stones. A small and quiet village in the past, today it is a small but very neat town. It has its own museum and a small park, various shops and even two banks. There are hotels of various classes in the town that accept tourists who go to this area in order to get acquainted with the world-famous Pampa de Nazca.

Geography

What attracts tourists from all over the world to a small town in southern Peru? Travelers come here to see the amazing and mysterious plateau Nazca. This is a plain located on some hill. It, like all plateaus, is characterized by a flat and sometimes wavy topography. In places it is slightly dissected. Distinct ledges separate the plateau from other plains.

Where is Nazca? This plateau is located in the south of Peru. It is separated from the capital of the country, Lima, by 450 km, which must be overcome in a south-easterly direction. on the map is located almost in coastal zone Pacific Ocean. From the plateau to its endless waters - no more than eighty kilometers.

Nazca coordinates will help you find this area on the map faster. They are 14° 41′ 18″ south latitude and 75° 7′ 22″ west longitude.

The Nazca Plateau has an elongated shape from north to south. Its length is 50 km. But the width of the area from the western to the eastern borders ranges from five to seven kilometers.

Natural conditions

Nazca's coordinates are such that the area is located in a dry climate zone. Due to this, it is sparsely populated. Winter here lasts from June to September. This is surprising for us, but in the Southern Hemisphere it does not coincide with that which is typical for the zone located north of the equator.

As for the air temperature, it is almost stable in this area. In the winter months, its value does not fall below sixteen degrees. IN summer period The thermometer almost always stays at +25.

The Nazca Plateau, as mentioned above, is located in close proximity to the waters of the Pacific Ocean. However, despite this, rain is very rare here. There are no winds on the plateau, since it is protected from air masses by mountain ranges. There are also no rivers or streams in this desert. You can only see their dry riverbeds here.

Nazca Lines

However, it is not its location that attracts many tourists to this region. The Nazca Plateau attracts with mysterious patterns and lines located directly on the earth's surface. Scientists call them geoglyphs. This concept means a geometric figure made in the earth's soil, the length of which is at least four meters.

Nazca geoglyphs are grooves made of a mixture of sand and pebbles dug into the soil. They are not deep (15-30 cm), but long (up to 10 km), having different widths (from 150 to 200 m). Geoglyphs, or, as they are also called, Nazca lines, are made in a very bizarre form. Here you can see the outlines of birds, spiders and animals, as well as geometric figures. There are about 13 thousand such lines on the plateau.

What is this? Secrets of history? Mysteries of the past? There is no clear answer to these questions. Some scientists believe that the Nazca drawings were applied to the earth's surface by skilled by human hands. However, it is still not possible to confirm such an assumption. There is another, rather stable opinion, according to which the stripes and lines were applied not by people, but by representatives of alien intelligence. This is the greatest secret of the Nazca Desert, over which dozens of scientists are struggling. However, despite this, the mystery of the Peruvian plateau remains unsolved for the modern world.

History of discovery

The Nazca Desert (Peru) is famous for the huge paintings located on the plateau. These drawings, created by unknown creators, belong to the greatest achievements of world culture and are an undoubted monument of art throughout our planet.

For the first time ground giant paintings noticed by pilots in 1927. But the Nazca geoglyphs became known to the scientific community only twenty years later. It was then that the American historian Paul Kosok published a series of photographs of amazing and mysterious drawings that were made from the air.

Creation technology

Nazca paintings are created by removing debris, brown stones and volcanic pebbles covered with a thin coating of black color from a light subsoil consisting of a mixture of calcite, clay and sand. That is why the contours of giant figures are clearly visible from a helicopter or airplane.

From the air, all the lines against the background of the soil look lighter, although from the ground or from low mountains such patterns merge with the ground and cannot be distinguished.

Lines and geometric shapes

All the images that can be observed in the Nazca Desert have a different shape. Some of them are stripes or lines, the width of which ranges from fifteen centimeters to ten meters or more. Such soil depressions are quite long. They can stretch from one to three or even more kilometers. The stripes can also smoothly expand along their length.

Some Nazca lines are elongated or truncated triangles. This is the most common view on the plateau. Moreover, their sizes are very diverse and range from one to three kilometers. Such triangles are often called trapezoids. Some Nazca drawings are large areas with a rectangular or irregular shape.
On the plateau you can also see quadrangles familiar to us from geometry, such as trapezoids (with two parallel sides). There are about seven hundred such creations with clear forms in the desert.

Many lines and platforms have some depth of the arcuate profile up to thirty centimeters or more. Moreover, all these grooves have clear boundaries that resemble a border.

Features of the Nazca Lines

The Peruvian desert geoglyphs are widely known for their straightforwardness. The imagination of travelers is literally amazed by the lines stretching for many kilometers along the plateau, easily overcoming all the features of the relief. In addition, Nazca figures have peculiar centers, usually located on hills. At these points they converge and diverge different kinds lines. Often, depressions in the ground are connected to each other, combining in various combinations. It happens that figures and lines overlap each other.

The location of the trapezoids also turns out to be interesting. Their bases, as a rule, are turned towards the river valleys and are located below the narrow part.

It is also surprising that:

• the edges of all lines have the highest accuracy, the spread of which is within only five centimeters over a length of several kilometers;
• the visibility of the contours is maintained even when the figures are superimposed on each other;
• there is a strict limitation on the width of the figures for significant strip lengths;
• the visibility of the stripes is maintained even when the soil characteristics change;
• there is a similarity in the configuration and arrangement of ray-shaped figures with optical schemes;
• the geometry of the figures is preserved even with complex terrain;
• there are lines of an astronomical nature, indicating the cardinal directions or the days of the equinoxes.

Various drawings

A unique decoration of large-scale areas of the Nazca plateau are zigzags and whip-shaped figures. Among the 13,000 lines, 800 sites and hundreds of different spirals in the amazing and mysterious Peruvian desert, you can see meaningful drawings. These are three dozen figures of animals and birds, including:

• a lizard 200 meters long, crossed by a ribbon of an American highway, whose builders did not notice the drawing;
• a bird with a snake neck stretching 300 m;
• hundred-meter condor;
• eighty meter spider.

In addition to these images, you can see fish and birds, a monkey and a flower, something similar to a tree, as well as a thirty-meter figure of a man, made not at all on a plateau, but as if carved out on one of the steep slopes of the mountain.

From the ground, all these drawings are nothing more than individual strokes and stripes. You can admire the giant images only by rising into the air. These greatest secrets history, the mysteries of the past have not yet been clarified by scientists. How ancient civilization, which does not have aircraft, was able to create such complex drawings, and what are their purposes?

Features of Nazca drawings

Outline images of birds and animals have different sizes, ranging from 45 to 300 m. Width contour line drawings - from 15 cm to 3 m. All semantic images that can be seen on the Nazca plateau are concentrated along its edge, located above the valley of the Ingenio river.

Among the features of these drawings are:

• execution of one continuous line that does not intersect or close anywhere;
• the beginning and end of the soil excavation are located on the site;
• the “output” and “input” of the contours are two parallel lines;
• there is an ideal pairing of curved patterns and straight lines, which, as scientists have established, are made according to the strict laws of mathematics, which explains their harmony and beauty;
• mechanical execution (except for the image of a monkey), which deprives the figures of animals of any emotional coloring;
• the presence of asymmetry, which is explained by the imperfection of the work to enlarge the sketches;
• the presence of secant lines parallel to one of the contour segments, which is explained by the complex execution of the internal space of the figure.

Assumptions and versions

Who is the author of the amazing creations located in the Nazca desert? For now, scientists can only build their own versions and put forward various hypotheses. So, there are many supporters of the assumption extraterrestrial origin geoglyphs. They suggest that the wide lines served as landing strips for extraterrestrial civilization. However, this hypothesis has many opponents who put forward their own very powerful argument - the nature of the drawings. Yes, they are impressive and far from earthly in size, but their plot suggests that they were made by people, and not by aliens.

However, even in this case, many unresolved mysteries remain. How were masters unknown to us able to create such gigantic images that are only visible from the air? Why did they do this? What techniques were used to maintain the proportions of the giant models?

Hypotheses about the origin of paintings on the Nazca plateau are varied, and some of them are simply fantastic. However, among the existing versions there are some that are worthy of special attention.

So, according to some scientists, the entire system of Nazca lines is a huge calendar. Paul Kosok was one of the first to put forward this assumption. This American scientist was the first to discover the mysterious accumulation of various shapes and lines. His whole life after that was devoted to solving the mystery of the Peruvian desert. One day Kosok noticed that the setting sun had set directly at the intersection of the horizon with one of the straight lines. He also discovered a stripe indicating a winter confrontation. There is also Kosok’s assumption that certain drawings correspond to certain cosmic bodies. This hypothesis has existed for a long time. Moreover, it was supported by many famous scientists from all over the world. However, it was later proven that the percentage of coincidence of Nazca drawings with certain planets is extremely small to consider this system a calendar.

There is another very plausible version. According to it, the Nazca lines indicate the location of an extensive system of underground water channels. This hypothesis can be confirmed by the fact that the location of ancient wells coincides with strips dug in the ground. But it is possible that this is just a coincidence.

Or maybe the purpose of the Nazca lines is of a cult nature? Excavations by archaeologists have discovered ancient human burials and altars in the places where the drawings were made. However, all ritual objects were always erected in such a way that they could evoke certain emotions and influence a person. Drawings, viewed only from above, do not evoke any feelings in those on the ground.

Be that as it may, whoever created these amazing figures had the ability to somehow move through the air and was remarkably oriented in space. Maybe ancient people knew how to build hot air balloons and fly on them?

All existing hypotheses have not yet brought humanity closer to solving the mystery of the Nazca Desert. Maybe scientists will soon answer the question about the origin of these amazing lines? Or maybe this mystery will remain unsolved...

Peru. The mystery of the Nazca desert has been solved?

The world-famous Nazca desert with its mysterious patterns, lines and geometric shapes is located in the south of Peru, 400 km from Lima and 50 km from the Pacific coast. This is one of the driest places on our planet, receiving only about 2.5 cm of precipitation per year - less than the Gobi Desert.

Discovery of Nazca Desert Drawings

The mysterious Nazca lines and designs were accidentally discovered during a flight by a Peruvian pilot in 1927. The first to try to uncover the secret of the Nazca Desert was the American archaeologist Paul Kozok, who arrived in Nazca in 1939. They found that the giant drawings were made by removing a 20-centimeter layer of brown, sun-burnt stones and soil, under which a much lighter soil was hidden.

A giant astronomical calendar?

All the drawings could be divided into three groups: in one - geometric shapes, in the other - lines, zigzags and spirals, in the third - giant images of birds, insects and animals. Paul Kozok hypothesized that the Nazca drawings were a giant astronomical calendar. This idea came to him when he saw that on the day of the summer solstice the sun set directly behind the end of one of the straight lines included in huge drawing birds.

Kozok's research was continued by his assistant, the German mathematician Maria Reiche. We can say that this tireless woman devoted her entire life to the Nazca desert and confirming the hypothesis of her teacher Paul Kozok. For more than 40 years, Reiche cataloged lines and designs, took measurements, and even conducted aerial photography with the help of the Peruvian Air Force. The researcher died in 1992, until the end of her life she believed that the Nazca Lines were a giant astronomical calendar.

1968 - an unexpected blow to the Kozok and Reiche hypothesis was dealt by the American astronomer Gerald Hawkins, who analyzed the Nazca lines using a computer and concluded that 80% of geometric figures have nothing to do with the movement of celestial bodies - since J. Hawkins became widely known After the publication of his book “The Solution of Stonehenge” in 1965, in which he argued that the famous building of the ancients in England was a kind of observatory, his opinion turned out to be decisive for many.

But, as Maria Reiche rightly believed, when making calculations in his research, Hawkins did not take the terrain into account at all, and this led him to an erroneous conclusion. Today, many of the researchers do not rule out that some of the lines are in one way or another connected with astronomical observations of the ancient inhabitants of Nazca, although skeptics say that out of almost 1000 straight lines, some can certainly simply by chance point to celestial bodies on certain days.

A giant map of groundwater distribution?

Relatively not so long ago, a message appeared in the foreign press that the secret of the Nazca drawings had finally been revealed. The author of the new hypothesis was David Johnson, a former high school teacher from New York State. It is interesting that Johnson was absolutely not interested in the mysterious drawings of Nazca, but searched for water in this desert using such an exotic method as dowsing. Johnson was especially drawn to the ancient irrigation canals, some of which still flowed.

Locals They told him that the main sources of water for the canals were two small rivers, but Johnson immediately noticed: the canals run parallel to the rivers and they could not take water from them. He soon came to the conclusion that the sources of water were geological faults. Water flowing from the Andes accumulated in areas of cracks in the bedrock and flowed down into the valleys along faults underground.

At first, Johnson did not connect this idea with the Nazca lines, but he began to notice that as soon as he discovered aquifers, there were always traces of ancient desert inhabitants and their geometric designs. One day in July 1996, he climbed one of the hills, looked at two broad lines stretching towards the horizon, abutting the dark crevices of the nearby mountains, which he believed to be formed by geological faults, and then it dawned on him. As Johnson said, he sat on the top of a hill and said to himself: “My God, I know what the Nazca lines mean, they trace underground water sources on the surface!” In other words, the lines and geometric shapes on the surface of the desert are a giant map of the distribution of groundwater.

Although some scientists had long assumed that the Nazca paintings were somehow related to water, the main treasure of these arid places, many of them were skeptical of Johnson's idea. But Helaine Silverman, an archaeologist at the University of Illinois, asked her colleagues at a 1999 conference on Nazca to “keep their eyes open” while Johnson’s hypothesis was being tested.

Johnson's hypothesis has been tested for several years by Steve Mabee, a hydrogeologist at the University of Massachusetts. “We make maps of our water flows, maybe the Nazca people did the same thing, only they “drew” them on the earth’s surface,” says Mabi. He has already found evidence that alternative water sources in the faults Johnson found actually exist. And in all cases, Mabey established the “marking” of these faults with lines on the surface.

Are the Nazca Lines related to sacred rituals?

Johann Reinhard, an anthropologist, was the first to put forward the theory that the Nazca lines are associated with sacred rituals that are dedicated to causing rain. He discovered a ritual that could explain the Nazca Lines. Archaeological finds near some of the broad lines (" landing strips Daniken") confirm their connection with water. Sea shells (a symbol of water in the Andes) and pottery drinking vessels were found. Reinhard also sees sacred symbols in images of animals, so the spider and monkey in these places were considered associated with fertility, and therefore with water.

Another of the researchers, Entosh Aveni, believes that he has already discovered the hidden logic in the mosaic of the Nazca Lines. He removed all the images of animals, spirals and geometric shapes from the map and left only straight lines on it. It turned out that all the lines converged into sun-like patterns, which he called “ray centers.” Together with a colleague, he was able to identify 62 ray centers and about 800 straight lines. In fact, each of the “ray centers” was located on the top of some hill. According to Aveni and some experts, the lines may have served as paths and led people to the tops of the hills ("ray centers"), where they performed rituals related to water.

Other researchers are also trying to solve the mystery of the Nazca Desert. It has been established that the ancient Nazcans beheaded their enemies by mummifying their heads, and had very interesting religious ideas about nature and the world around them. Images of animals almost identical to the giant paintings in the desert were found on Nazca ceramics.

Markus Reindel decided to take the unbeaten path and chose a different starting point: “If we want to decipher the Nazca geoglyphs, we need to find the people who created them.”

Archaeological expeditions

Reindel conducted a surface survey of the mountain slopes in the vicinity of the town of Palpa, 40 km from Nazca, and at a depth of 30 cm he found the upper part of the wall there. Excavations have confirmed that these are walls ancient city, which was located in close proximity to the legendary drawings.

After the first expedition, the archaeologist drew a detailed plan of the city and reconstructed some of its history. 1900 years ago, on the flat part of the valley, in the interfluve of the Rio Grande, Rio Palpa and Rio Viscas rivers, there was a strange structure - settlers erected a wall 400 m long and 100 m wide. Meter-high walls made of brick blocks rose to a height of 12 m, symbolizing power and wealth. The basis of the wealth of the “Nazca people” was agriculture, which flourished thanks to an extensive irrigation system.

The surplus of agricultural products created the conditions for such social stratification a society in which some segments of the population did not directly participate in food production. Reindel believes that they had a kind of nobility - the highest social stratum. An indirect confirmation of this assumption can be the complex system of irrigation canals, the construction of which required competent planning and management of the work.

And to create drawings in the desert, orders, plans and guidance were also needed from the rulers in power, whether they were called kings, chiefs, high priests or something else. The surroundings of Palpa on Reindel's plans are covered with lines, triangles and spirals, reaching almost to the settlement itself.

A German archaeologist is searching for the original meaning of the mysterious Nazca paintings in the Rio Grande Valley. The former inhabitants of these places “populated” the surrounding rocks with thousands of images of various animals and humanoid creatures. Small images carved on rocks (petroglyphs) date back to the 4th century BC. e. Later they were repeated in enlarged form on the flat surfaces of mountain slopes. Drawings ranging in size from 10 to 20 m were clearly visible from afar.

“It is from here that the tradition of land drawings must have developed,” Reindel suggested. “As they grew larger, they became more sweeping and abstract and no longer occupied rocky slopes, but vast surfaces of the desert plateau.”

The scientist’s reasoning is very logical, but the question arises: why are these giant schematic drawings Are they in places where no one can see them? In addition to the previous “cosmic” interpretations of the Nazca drawings, one more hypothesis can be cited. After many years of observations in the basins of the nearest rivers, the American David Johnson made an unexpected conclusion: “The Nazca Lines are a clear text carved into the terrain to indicate to the inhabitants of the region where the accessible sources are located.” water".

Markus Reindel has no reason yet to refute or confirm this and other hypotheses. He pins his hopes on subsequent seasons of excavation and intends to reach individual buildings that lie away from the settlement - directly on the extensions of the Casca lines or directly below them. Archaeologists have not yet discovered such buildings. Excavations inside the walled area will also continue: Reindel wants to find the temple of the “Nazca people.” The next stage will be the search for the creators of the Nazca Lines, and the ultimate goal is to unravel the mysterious signs.

In our opinion, all these hypotheses should be considered as a whole. After all, many of the scientists may probably be right. Some Nazca lines may serve as an astronomical calendar, marking periods of greatest drought or rain, others may serve as ceremonial paths for rituals associated with bringing rain, and others may project underground aquifers to the surface. All the lines together created a real puzzle for scientists...

The explanation of giant images of animals, birds and insects, in our opinion, may be even simpler. Can you see a spider or a hummingbird from a high hill? Unlikely. The ancient inhabitants of Nazca also understood this, but they were only interested in the rain clouds that flew above them at a great height. These giant images were intended for the heavenly deities who control the rains, so that they would see them and take pity on the animals, giving them, and at the same time people, life-giving moisture. Is this the answer to the mysterious Nazca signs?

The Nazca geoglyphs in Peru, created many centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, are the most important evidence of the existence of a mysterious ancient culture in Peru. These lines and geoglyphs, drawn in one continuous line, are located on the Nazca plateau and reach tens of meters in length, so they are only visible from the air.

The German scientist Von Daniken, in his book “Answer to the Gods,” claims that these lines were created as signals for the landing of alien spaceships. And the German doctor of archeology Maria Reiche called these patterns a strange confirmation of the existence of the ancient Peruvian cult:

“The Nazca Lines are nothing less than the documented history of ancient Peruvian science. The ancient inhabitants of Peru created their own alphabet to describe the most important astronomical events. The Nazca Lines are pages of a book written in this strange alphabet.”

You can watch from the air various figures such as large giant spiders, lizards, llamas, monkeys, dogs, hummingbirds, etc., not to mention zigzag and geometric designs. There are many unanswered questions regarding these lines. For example, how they remain intact after hundreds of years, or how they were created in such sizes, accurately recreating all the proportions

In 1927, Mejia Hespe, a student of the famous Julio Tello, the father of Peruvian archaeology, reported mysterious, incomprehensible geoglyphs on the territory of the Peruvian plateau. Initially, this was not given any importance; scientists were studying other more significant areas, such as Machu Picchu

In the same year, US researcher Paul Kosok arrived in Peru, who was very attracted ancient history Peru. On one of his first trips to the south of the country, he stopped at the top of a plateau and saw vast lines on both sides of the road. After careful examination, he was amazed to discover that one of the figures depicted the ideal flight form of a bird. Kosok spent almost 20 years studying the Nazca Lines; in 1946, he returned home, offering to study the drawings of the Nazca tribes to the German doctor of archeology Maria Reiche. Maria devoted her whole life to this work

Maria Reiche studied Nazca lines for 50 years. She explained how these lines were used by ancient Peruvian astronomers - they were a giant solar and lunar calendar, buried in the sand, legends and myths of the local people

The lines themselves are applied to the surface in the form of furrows up to 135 centimeters wide and up to 40-50 centimeters deep, while white stripes form on the black rocky surface. The following fact is also noted: since the white surface is heated less than the black one, a difference in pressure and temperature is created, which leads to the fact that these lines do not suffer in sandstorms.

The hummingbird has a length of 50 meters, the spider - 46, the condor stretches from beak to tail feathers for almost 120 meters, and the lizard has a length of up to 188 meters. Such enormous sizes of the drawings are admirable; almost all the drawings are made on this huge scale in the same manner, when the outline is outlined by one continuous line. The true form of the images can only be observed from a bird's eye view. There is no such natural elevation nearby, but there are average size hills. But the higher you rise above the plateau, the smaller these drawings become and turn into incomprehensible scratches.

Other animals captured by Nazca include a whale, a dog with long legs and a tail, two llamas, various birds such as herons, a pelican, a seagull, a hummingbird and a parrot. Reptiles include alligator, iguana and snake.

All geoglyphs are located on the map, with detailed names. Click to enlarge

So who created it anyway? Nazca geoglyphs? Locals or aliens? This is a giant solar and moon calendar or spaceship landmarks? It is impossible to know the answers to these questions, since the Nazca lines are one of the biggest secrets in the world.