The Nazca Lines are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
The shallow etchings were made well over 2,000 years ago by Indians who
cleared the stony surface, exposing the whitish soil underneath.
Scientists continue to debate their purpose, offering such theories as a
calendar, a map of underground water supplies, ancient "message in the
bottle" for the future generations
- even landing strips for space aliens.
Nazca is a city and a system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru,
and the name of the region's largest existing town in the Nazca
Province. It is also the name applied to the Nazca culture that
flourished in the area between 300 BC and AD 800.
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The high, arid plateau stretches more than 80 kilometres (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana about 400 km south of Lima. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD. The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, orcas, and lizards.
Nazca, Perú: Nazca is known primarily for the "lines" or
"geoglyphs" in the desert, large depictions of animals and other designs
etched into the surface by an ancient culture for reasons that continue
to baffle scholars. Adding to the mystery is the fact that these
designs can only be fully appreciated from the air (and except for a few
amateur archeologists and UFO fanatics, no one believes this lost
culture had developed flying machines). The Nazca lines are one of nine
areas in Perú to receive World Heritage Site designation.
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| Nazca Lines seen from SPOT Satellite |
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| Satellite picture of an area containing lines. North is to the right. (Coordinates: 14°43′S 75°08′W) |
The Nazca lines,
which are found in a thirty-mile area of the desert, truly are a
remarkable sight. The hummingbird, for example, is approximately 250
feet long. Some of the straight lines run for miles. Other designs
include a dog, a 300-foot monkey, various other birds, and a collection
of spirals, triangles and trapezoids. Seeing the Nazca lines in person
only deepens the mystery of how and why they were constructed. It is
believed they were created between 900 BCE and 630 CE by three different
groups of the Paracas people. They were drawn by moving surface stones
and gravel aside to reveal the lighter soil underneath. But how the
designers were able to create such complex figures and perfectly
straight lines without aerial reconnaissance remains a mystery. No one
really knows why the lines and figures were created. Speculation has
included rituals related to astronomy, as well as elaborate tracks for
terrestrial foot races
Another interesting sight near Nazca is the cemetery. Human bones are scattered all about, cast aside by grave robbers (huaqueros)
who have looted the graves for the artifacts they once contained and
discarded everything else. In the graves, the mummified remains of the
ancient residents are remarkably well preserved, given that they are
exposed to the open air. In many cases, textiles and lengths of human
hair (up to six feet long) have survived. The climate is so dry (less
than a quarter of an inch of rain per year) that moisture is not a
problem. Although the area can be quite windy, the heat reflecting off
the desert floor creates a "cushion" of stagnant air that shields the
surface from the winds
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| The Hummingbird |
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| The Condor |
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| The Heron |
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| The "Giant" |
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| The Spider |
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| The Pelican |
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| The Dog |
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| The Hands |
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| The Monkey |
Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe was the first to
systematically study the lines in 1926. However, since the lines are
virtually impossible to identify from ground level, they were only first
brought to public awareness with the advent of flight—by pilots flying
commercial planes over Peru in the 1930s. American professor Paul Kosok
investigated and found himself at the foot of a line on June 22,
1941—just one day after the winter solstice. At the end of a full day
studying the lines, Kosok looked up from his work to catch the sunset in
direct alignment with the line. Kosok called the 310 square mile
stretch of high desert “the largest astronomy book in the world”.
Kosok was followed by the German Maria Reiche who became known as the
Lady of the Lines. Reiche studied the lines for 40 years and fought
unyieldingly for her theories on the lines’ astronomical and calendrical
purpose (she received a National Geographic grant in 1974 for her
work). Reiche battled single-handedly to protect the site; she even
lived in a small house near the desert so she could personally protect
the lines from reckless visitors.
Maria Reiche, the most famous Nazca-Researcher, prefers the astronomical
theory. She theorizes that the lines could point in the direction of
the rising of important stars or planets and events like sun solstices.
Formations like the spider and the monkey could show star constellations
like Orion and Ursa Mayor.
Clay pottery and debris has been found along the lines, suggesting
food or water was carried to the location either for its construction,
ceremonial use, or perhaps both. Radiocarbon dates, based on ceramic and
wood remains which were left at the Lines by the Nazcan people has been
dated to an era between 300 BC and AD 800. The pottery shards of the
style and type of the Nazca culture, further establishing these recent
dates as most probable.
Bray Warwick also tried to determine the site's age by examining the
stones along the figures. In the heat, the upper exposed side of the
stones form a patina of manganese oxide, traces of iron and clay
minerals. Below, the stones are covered with mushrooms, lichens and
cyanobacterias. Stones in proximity to the lines were used to analyze
this organic matter by C-14-Method. Analysis revealed values between 190
B.C. and 600 A.D.
The second piece of evidence is the alleged resemblance of the Nazca
geoglyphs to certain features found on Nazcan pottery. This is an
important issue because it potentially offers proof that the Nazcans had
either designed the images or at least viewed them from the air, since
the exact shapes could not otherwise have been known.
Erich von Däniken -
Cargo-Cult
Erich von Däniken's theory is the most famous approach to solve
the mystery of Nazca. He had the idea that long time ago
visitors from other stars visited the earth and naturally Nazca. At this
place they landed, during the landing stones was blown away by the power
of rocket propulsion. By approaching more the power was increasing and
the cleaned band broader. In this way the first trapezes emerged. Later
the Aliens
disappeared and left confused people. Like in the modern cargo cults
they tried to call the Gods back by drawing lines, figures and trapezes.
Never Däniken said the formations was made by Aliens. He
discovered the
GGF/Mandala/Zodiac and the mirror - Formation and compares
them with modern VASIS or PAPI-Signs.
more reference:
http://sciencedoing.blogspot.in/2013/01/high-civilizations-of-former-times.html
#share courtesy: wikipedia.org, nationalgeographic.com, google.com
The simple and logical explanation could be made for this flow of human mass that this also follows the Haeckel's Biogenetic Law (Theory of Recapitulation), i.e. Ontogeny repeats Phylogeny. (With different formulations, such ideas have been applied and extended to several fields and areas, including the origin of language, biology, cognition and mental activities, anthropology, education theory and developmental psychology.) 
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