Looking at the huge drawings on the surface of the Earth, photographs of which were taken from the air, the question arises: could people have done this? The most mysterious place on the planet is considered the Nazca plateau, which surprised scientists 100 years ago with its mysterious drawings. Until now, scientists have put forward various theories about the appearance of these drawings, but none of them gave an exact answer about the origin of these masterpieces.

Let's follow the scientists' research a little and try to find some explanation for these drawings.

The Nazca plateau or pampa, as it is called, is located 450 km from the capital of Peru - Lima. Its length is 60 km and 500 sq. meters is covered with various mysterious lines that make up mysterious drawings. The drawings present in this area are images of geometric shapes, animals, insects and amazing people appearance. The drawings can only be seen from the air, as they are huge images.

When examining the area, it was found that the drawings were dug into sandy soil to a depth of 10-30 cm, and the width of some lines could be up to 100 meters (!). The lines of the drawings can be several kilometers long, while literally not changing from the influence of the shape of the terrain. The lines rise and fall from the hills, but their continuity and perfect evenness are not broken. The question immediately arises: who is the creator of such a picture in the desert - peoples unknown to us or aliens from distant space? But scientists have not yet been able to find an answer to this question.

To date, scientists have been able to accurately determine the age of this “painting.” Scientists carefully examined the remains of plant and organic origin found in the places of the drawings and found that the drawings were created in a period of time starting from 350 BC. to 600 BC

But this fact is not an accurate proof of the date of appearance of the drawings, since these objects could have come here after the creation of the drawings. There is also another scientific theory that says that the drawings are the work of the Nazca Indians, who could have inhabited this region of Peru (even before the arrival of the Incas). After the disappearance of this people, not a single historical mention of them remained on Earth, except for burials. And therefore scientists cannot say for sure about the involvement of a given people to the drawings.

Let's look at historical sources that mention Nazca drawings. They were first mentioned by Spanish researchers in their manuscripts, which date back to the 15th – 17th centuries. In our time, these information sources have attracted the attention of modern scientists, but the most interesting discoveries became available during the creation of the first aircraft, since the lines of the drawings form a single whole and reveal their secret only from a bird's eye view.

The first scientist to discover the Nazca paintings themselves was the Peruvian archaeologist Mejia Xesspe, who saw part of them from an elephant in one of the mountains in 1927. They began to really explore Nazca in the 40s, when the first photographs of drawings taken from an airplane appeared. These studies were led by the American historian Paul Kosok. But in fact, in anticipation of the first photographs of the Nazca drawings, they were discovered by pilots who were searching for water sources in the desert. We were looking for water, but found the most mysterious riddle of our planet.

Kosok at one time put forward one of the many theories that suggested that the drawings were nothing more than a huge astronomical calendar. For clarity, he cited similar drawings from the starry sky. It turned out that some lines show the direction of the constellations and indicate the point of sunrise and sunset. Kosok's theory was developed in the work of mathematician and astronomer Maria Reiche, who devoted more than 40 years to systematizing and studying the Nazca paintings. She managed to find out that the drawings in the Nazca desert were made by hand.

The first figures drawn were birds and animals, and then various lines were drawn on top of these drawings. The scientist also managed to find sketches, which were later realized in full size. Ancient “artists” used coordinate poles to more accurately navigate the terrain and draw up accurate drawings. These landmarks were located at some points of the figures. If the figures can only be observed from a high altitude, then the conclusion suggests itself that the people who put them on the surface of the earth could fly. Thus a new theory emerged that the creators of the Nazca paintings were an extraterrestrial civilization or created an airfield for aircraft.

It subsequently turned out that Nazca is not the only place that has such images. 10 km from the plateau (near the city of Palpa) there are similar drawings and lines, and at a distance of 1400 km near Mount Solitari there is a huge statue of a man surrounded by lines and drawings similar to the Nazca drawings. On the territory of the Western Cordillera in the immediate vicinity of Nazca there are two painted labyrinths of a spiral shape, with in different directions turns. What’s most surprising is that a cosmic ray hits this area 1-5 times a year and illuminates this area for 20 minutes. There is even a claim by local residents that if you get into this beam, you can be cured of various diseases. Similar patterns were found in various countries world - Ohio (USA), England, in Africa, Altai and Southern Urals. They are all different, but one thing they have in common is that they are not intended for earthly viewing.

While conducting excavations in the Nazca territory, scientists found new mysteries for themselves. Drawings were found on the shards, which showed evidence that the inhabitants of this area knew about penguins. Scientists could not find another explanation for the found drawing of a penguin on one of the shards. Archaeologists also managed to find many underground passages and tunnels. Part of these structures is an irrigation system, and the other part belongs to underground city. There are tombs and ruins of underground temples here.

One of the theories is the hypothesis of the origin of the Nazca paintings associated with the activities of alien civilizations. This hypothesis was first put forward by the Swiss writer Erich von Däniken. He claimed that aliens visited our planet in the Nazca region, but he is not sure that the drawings were their work. According to his theory, the drawings are intended to summon aliens who have left our planet. The triangles informed the alien pilots about the presence of crosswinds, and the rectangles informed the landing site.

Straight lines in the form of recesses could be filled with a flammable substance and serve as an indicator of the direction of the landing strips. This theory is fantastic and is not taken seriously in scientific world, but even the writer managed to sow doubts in scientific theories origin of the Nazca paintings. This is where the theory of energy flows arose, which testifies to the connection between humanity and alien intelligence. One example is a huge image of the “Paracas candelabra,” a design on a mountainside on the Peruvian Paracas Peninsula.

Scientists believe the candelabra is a source of information about our planet. The left side of the picture contains information about the earth's fauna, and the right side about the flora. The general image is made in the form of a human face. Where the top of the drawing is located, the ancient inhabitants of Nazca installed a pointer, which is a scale of civilization development. According to the same theory, there is an opinion that our civilization was created by aliens from the constellation Leo. Perhaps the composition of straight lines was created by aliens to mark the runway for their ships.

There is other evidence for this theory. Scientists from England were able to study the components of the muscle mass of Inca mummies. And the results were simply amazing. The blood of the Incas had no analogues with the blood groups of the inhabitants of the Earth historical period. This blood type is a very rare combination...

But of course, the truth is born in a dispute. And that’s why those who reject all alien theories found it. In the early 80s, a group of students, taking wooden shovels with them, created an “elephant” that resembles the Nazca drawings. But their conviction did not have much influence, and in our time there are many supporters of alien participation in the creation of huge drawings.

Options for theories of the appearance of large drawings on Earth:
Drawings of animals were created as a memory of global flood.
Nazca drawings are one of the ancient zodiac calendars.
The drawn figures are created for ritual ceremonies of the water culture, and the lines represent the direction of the aqueducts.
The trajectory of the drawings was used for sprint races (though this is hard to believe).
Nazca lines and drawings are an encrypted message, a kind of code. It contains the number Pi, radian degrees (360°), decimal system calculus, etc.
The drawings were drawn by shamans under the influence of strong hallucinogens (admittedly, the theory is funny).

No matter how many different theories about the origin and purpose of the Nazca drawings are put forward, the mystery remains unrevealed. In addition, this mysterious plateau presents humanity with new mysteries. New researchers are constantly being sent to this area of ​​Peru. This area is accessible to both scientists and tourists, but will a person be able to open the curtain of mystery that hides the true purpose of the drawings from us?

Palpa plateau

The Palpa Plateau is located on the territory of the state of Peru ( South America). It is 20 km north of the Nazca plateau, and its area is half its size. This natural formation is remarkable for its geoglyphs (a geometric figure made in the earth’s soil and having a length of at least 4 meters), but it is much less popular among people than its southern neighbor. This is explained by the fact that Nazca was the first. The mysterious drawings on it have been studied since 1946. Palpa became known to the general public in 1993, thanks to Erich von Daniken (born 1935).

He is Swiss and is a ufologist by training. In 1968, he published a bestseller called Chariots of the Gods? Unsolved mysteries of the past". The book's circulation was 60 million copies. This figure once again emphasizes the enormous interest people have in the mysteries and secrets of the past.

It was this man who drew public attention to the mysterious geoglyphs of Palpa, which in terms of quality and workmanship were significantly superior to the corresponding images on the Nazca Plateau. It seemed that craftsmen with higher qualifications worked in the north. At the same time, there is a strong opinion that Palpa’s drawings are much older than similar creations by Nazca. Therefore, the ancient civilization living in these places lost certain skills over time. This conclusion raises many questions to which no one has answers.

Flat top of a hill. Nature could not create this

What catches your eye first are the unusual hilltops. They are completely flat. It seems that all the irregularities on them are cut off by some unknown mechanism. At the same time, the slopes have the usual rugged natural relief. Mysterious lines and stripes are located on the flat tops. They intersect and overlap each other. This suggests that first some stripes were created, and then others were applied to them.

The width of some stripes reaches several hundred meters, and the length reaches 20 km. The edges are perfectly parallel. But it’s not just the geometric shapes that amaze. There are anthropomorphic geoglyphs on the plateau. These are images that resemble people. There are currently eight of them. There are also images of animals and birds available. All of them have different sizes and are made with high craftsmanship.

Anthropomorphic geoglyph

The main attraction of the Palpa plateau is, perhaps, its very complex geometric images. Even at first glance, you can feel that these creations contain some hidden information. But what kind, for whom and why? This is not clear.

You can consider, for example, a drawing consisting of three circles. They are located next to each other. The outer two have small diameters, and the central circle is significantly larger than them. The circles are connected to each other by lines and thus represent a single composition. The length of this image is a kilometer.

Circle images

The composition includes two triangles superimposed on each other to form a star with six points. In the center of the star there are two circles of different diameters. The smaller circle lies within the larger one. The latter, in turn, has two rectangles intersecting each other. They depict a square, and in its center there is an image resembling a star with 16 rays. There are small pits around these geometric designs. round shape. Some circles are made not of solid lines, but of similar round holes.

A kilometer away from these geoglyphs, complex in shape, there are other drawings that are no less complex and original. Together they also form a composition called a “sundial”. In the center there is a zigzag, turning into a spiral. It forms six turns, corresponding in shape to circles. Nearby there are stripes and lines randomly crossing each other. At the very edge of the composition there is a drawing that resembles a human head in its outline. It is crowned with horns, and a snake is depicted below it.

Complex geometric image "Sundial"

The image of this reptile is not typical for the Palpa plateau. It is also uncharacteristic of the paintings on the Nazca plateau. The Incas loved to depict snakes. They drew them wherever possible. They especially liked to paint poisonous creatures on the walls of residential buildings and palaces. This civilization associated the snake with wisdom and longevity.

Another geoglyph raises many questions. It is called "Table". And indeed, from above he very much resembles her. The table is located on a flat top and consists of 15 longitudinal and 36 transverse lines. Moreover, the lines are dotted, and crosses are formed at the places where they intersect. Nearby is an image of a person. It is crossed by many fine lines. And they, in turn, are covered by a circle. There are eight squares along it. What kind of composition this is and for what purpose it was made is a complete mystery.

The drawings are huge, so you can see them only by taking off in the air on an airplane, helicopter or on hot-air balloon, if you have one at hand. Why did the ancient civilization make such images? Even the artists themselves could not see the drawings in full, unless they had some kind of aircraft.

This is puzzling, but what amazes modern people even more is the accuracy of the images. The same circles have an ideal shape. It can be assumed that the ancient masters used ordinary rope. A peg was driven in, a rope was taken in hand, tied to it, and the man drew a perfect round line on the ground. Thus, masterpieces were created in those distant times.

The explanation is good, but it all comes down to the soil of the plateau. The climate in this area is dry, there is no rain, and there is no wind either. A trace left on the ground can retain its shape for centuries. It is not for nothing that geoglyphs have survived to this day. If the ancient masters used the usual modern people tools were then located in close proximity to the lines and figures. Accordingly, the soil should contain traces of ancient people.

But nothing like this is observed near geoglyphs. The soil is pristinely flat. It seems that no human has ever set foot on it. So how were images made on the ground? I couldn't ancient master fly to the work site by air, and then hang in a special cradle above the ground and create masterpieces whose age is estimated at a thousand years. No reasonable explanation for this comes to mind.

Maybe the aliens portrayed themselves

Only one version suggests itself - an alien one. Representatives from another planet visited Earth, came into contact with local residents and for some reason painted mysterious drawings on the ground. Naturally, some technologies unknown to modern man were used. Apparently for aliens the drawings on the ground were very great importance, since the appropriate area with the most suitable climate was selected.

But the Palpa and Nazca plateaus are by no means the only ones of their kind. Old residents of these places claim that if you go east into the mountains, you can find several more plateaus with mysterious geoglyphs. In their form, they are more intricate and incomprehensible. People of science and tourists, however, so far gravitate only to the Nazca plateau. It is the most popular and popular all over the world. The Palpa plateau and the unknown highland plains in the east are not yet of interest to anyone. However, it's a matter of time. Their turn will come. But will this help solve the mystery? mysterious drawings? There is no clear and precise answer here.

We continue our series of stories about mysterious ancient objects. Today we will tell you about the Nazca geoglyphs in Peru, created many centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire, and which are the most important evidence of the existence of the mysterious ancient culture on the territory of Peru. These lines and geoglyphs 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 landing spaceships aliens. And the German doctor of archeology Maria Reiche called these patterns a strange confirmation of the existence of the ancient Peruvian culture:

“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.”

From the air you can observe various shapes such as large giant spiders, lizards, llamas, monkeys, dogs, hummingbirds, etc., not to mention zigzags 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 sites, 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 entire life to this work.

Maria Reiche studied the 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 are formed 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.

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

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

So who created the 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 largest

The Nazca Desert is located in the south of Peru, 450 kilometers from Lima. This is the region inhabited by the pre-Incan Nazca civilization (1st-6th centuries AD).

The Nazca people waged war and traded, but their main activities were fishing and farming. In addition to this, the Nazca were wonderful artists and architects - we can judge this from the found ceramic products of this culture and the ruins of ancient cities. Many evidences of the high level of development of this civilization have been preserved, the main of which, undoubtedly, are the Nazca Lines - huge geoglyphs in the desert, visible only from a bird's eye view.

What to see

Nazca Lines

Giant paintings in the desert depicting animals and various items- Nazca Lines - were discovered in 1926. Researchers suggest that the geoglyphs were created in 300-800 by the Nazca civilization. They were called “the largest calendar in the world”, “the most gigantic book about astronomy” - their exact purpose remains unknown.

The area where the Nazca Lines are located covers 500 km2 and is located in the desert, where it rains only half an hour a year. It is this fact that has allowed geoglyphs to survive to this day.

These drawings were first described in 1548, but for many years no one paid serious attention to them. Perhaps this was due to the fact that you can only get a good look at them from a height, and they began to fly airplanes over the desert much later. In the early 1940s, during the construction of the Pan-American Highway, an American professor invited to study coastal hydrology regularly flew small planes over the valleys. It was he who drew attention to the strange lines forming huge drawings. The sight that unfolded shocked and amazed him. Professor Kosok and other scientists have devoted many years to studying these lines. They were able to discover a connection between the location of the lines and the sun on the days of the summer and winter solstices, as well as indications of the moon, planets and bright constellations. It seemed that the Nazca civilization had built a giant observatory here.

The technique for creating geoglyphs was very simple: the top darkened layer was cut off from the soil and folded here, along the resulting light strip, creating a roller of a darker color framing the lines. Over time, the color of the lines has darkened and become less contrasting, but we can still see the drawings left by the Nazca civilization.

How to watch
Nazca has several companies that fly sightseeing flights in small planes over the desert. This is because due to the number of people wishing to inspect the Line of seats on the desired date in last moment it may not turn out to be.

An alternative way to see the lines is to go up to the observation deck on the Panamericana Highway (El Mirador). The cost of lifting is 2 sols (20 rubles), but you will only be able to see 2 drawings.

Palpa Lines

Unlike the Nazca drawings, the Palpa Lines consist more of human images and geometric designs. According to archaeological research, the Palpa Lines belong to more early period than the Nazca Lines. Flying along the Palpa Lines you can see the image of a Pelican, an image of a woman, a man and a boy, whom archaeologists nicknamed “The Family”. One of the Palpa Lines is an image of a Hummingbird - similar to one of the Nazca Lines geoglyphs. The Other Line is read by archaeologists as an image of a Dog near the Square. Near the city of Palpa you can see the famous image of the Sundial and Tumi - a ritual knife.

Ruins of Cahuachi

The most important and powerful city of the Nazca civilization was Cahuachi - a city in the Nazca Valley, 24 km from modern city Nazca. Excavations are still underway here. Today all that remains of the city are:

• The Central Pyramid is 28 meters high and 100 meters wide, consisting of 7 steps. Religious ceremonies were held here.
• Step Temple 5 meters high and 25 meters wide
• 40 buildings made of adobe (unbaked brick)

Near the city there was a necropolis, in which scientists found untouched burials with various objects that were customary to be placed in graves (dishes, fabrics, jewelry, etc.). All finds can be seen in the Antonini Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueológico Antonini) in Nazca.

Necropolis of Chauchilla (El cementerio de Chauchilla)

The Necropolis of Chauchilla is located 30 km from the city of Nazca. This is the only place in Peru where you can see the mummies of an ancient civilization directly in the graves where they were found. This cemetery was used from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD, but the main burials date back to 600-700 years. The mummies were well preserved thanks to the arid desert climate, as well as the embalming technology used by the Nazcas: the bodies of deceased people were wrapped in cotton cloth, painted with paints and soaked in resins. It was the resins that helped avoid the decomposing effects of bacteria.
The necropolis was discovered in 1920, but was officially recognized as an archaeological site and taken under protection only in 1997. Before that, he suffered for many years from looters who stole a significant part of the Nazca treasures.

2-hour guided tour - 30 Soles

Entrance ticket to the Necropolis - 5 Soleils

San Fernando Nature Reserve (Bahía de San Fernando)

About 80 km from Nazca there is a reserve very similar to Paracas. Here you can also see penguins, sea lions, dolphins, and various birds. And in addition, Andean foxes, guanacos and condors are found in San Fernando.

It is difficult to get here and there are almost no tourists here.In San Fernando you can spend time alone with nature and the Pacific Ocean!

Cantayoc Aqueducts

The Nazcas were a very advanced civilization. In desert conditions, where the river is filled with water only for 40 days a year, Nazca farmers needed a system that would allow them to have water throughout the year. They solved this problem by creating a magnificent aqueduct system. One of them is the Cantayoc Aqueducts, which are located less than 5 km from the city of Nazca and are a chain of spiral wells.

When to go

Nazca is located in the desert, where it is almost always dry and sunny. December to March is the hottest time in this region, with average daily temperatures hovering around 27C. June to September are the coldest months of the year, with daytime temperatures as low as 18C.

How to get to Nazca

Nazca is located 450 kilometers south of Lima. You can get here by car along the Panamericana Highway, or by one of the many buses that go in this direction. The bus trip will take 7 hours.

Beneath the Nazca Plateau means a plain located on a hill. This area, as a rule, has a flat or undulating, slightly dissected topography. From other plain spaces of Nazcaseparated by obvious ledges. This natural formation is located in Peru, in its southern part, 450 km southeast of Lima, the capital of the country. However, this territory is notable not for its unusual location, but for its Nazca paintings., located over an area of ​​80 kilometers. These images or as they are also called the Nazca Lines, made in a bizarre form: from the outlines of animals, spiders and birds, to geometric shapes. Drawings in the Nazca Desertare one of the most important mysteries for the modern research community. Dozens of activists struggle every day in so far aimless attempts to answer at least some questions regarding the mysterious images.

Nazca is a geoglyphic territory.

The plateau is vast and extends for many kilometers. This valley was considered lifeless for a long time, however, the researchers were wrong, but more on that later. Nazca coordinates, where the geoglyphs are located: 14° 45′ south latitude and 75° 05′ west longitude. The Nazca plate has an elongated shape. From north to south the length reaches approximately fifty kilometers, from west to east from 5 to 7 kilometers. The Nazca area is practically uninhabited by people and has an extremely dry climate.

Winter in the vast Nazca area lasts from June to September. This is because in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons do not coincide with those in the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, the temperature in Nazca never drops below 16 degrees Celsius. In summer, the temperature is stable and stays around 25 degrees Celsius. Rain, despite the close location of the ocean, is a rarity for Nazca. There is also virtually no wind. There are no rivers, streams or lakes in the Nazca region and there cannot be such conditions. The presence of water in these lands is signaled only by the numerous channels of the Nazca rivers that dried up a long time ago and no less numerous dried up canals.

No less important component of this region than the Nazca Valley is the city with the corresponding name. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1591. In 1996, the city was completely destroyed by a strong earthquake. But, fortunately, there were few casualties, since the tremors began at noon and people were prepared. In total, 17 people died during the Nazca earthquake. And about 100 thousand people were left homeless. To date, the city of Nazca has been completely rebuilt. On its territory were built multi-story houses, and the center of the city of Nazca is now decorated with a beautiful square.

However, this area is notable not for its city or plain, but for its mysterious geoglyphs, lines and drawings, which are believed to have been made by skillful human hands. However, the last statement is very, very controversial. Exists popular theory regarding Nazca, according to which the lines on the plateau were not drawn by man, but by an alien intelligence or some other unknown forces.

Stunning drawings in the Nazca desert.

In total, specialists discovered 13 thousand various lines and stripes on the plateau. In science, these drawings have their own name - geoglyphs (geometric figures of bizarre shape, made in the earth's soil and having a length of at least four meters). In our case, the drawings in the Nazca Desert are shallow and long grooves of varying widths dug in the soil, which is a mixture of sand and clay. Shallow by Nazca standards - this is from 15 to 30 cm. But the length of individual lines reaches several kilometers: the longest reach 10 kilometers in length. The width of the drawings in the Nazca desert is also striking: In some cases, it ranges from 150 to 200 meters.

In addition to lines, all sorts of figures were found on the territory of the plateau, well known to every person from geometry - triangles and quadrangles. Some Nazca Desert designs are trapezoidal because they only have two parallel sides. There are about seven hundred such creations of unknown origin on the plateau. There are also figures that resemble animals: monkeys, birds, killer whales, llamas and other inhabitants of flora and fauna. Single drawings in the Nazca desert depict fish, spiders, lizards and sharks. There are not many of them in total, no more than forty.

The figures are amazing enormous in size, but people are unable to understand their true purpose. Obviously, the answer may lie in the depths of the plain, which means that in order to understand who created the drawings in the Nazca desert and why, it is necessary to begin excavations. The problem is that archaeological excavations are prohibited here, since the plain has the status of a sacred zone. So the mystery of the drawings in the Nazca desert remains unsolved. And something tells me that it will remain like this for a very, very long time, until the scientific community comes to its senses.

Mysterious Nazca Lines.

However, no matter how sacred this land is, human curiosity has never stopped at anything and is not going to stop. The first person suffering from the “vice” of curiosity found himself in these forbidden lands in 1927. He was an archaeologist from Peru, Mejia Toribio Hesspe. He studied the Nazca Lines from the foothills surrounding the plateau.

In 1930, a mysterious plot of land where Nazca lines, anthropologists studied from a bird's eye view, flying around on an airplane. They, in fact, confirmed the fact of the presence of lines in Nazca. To study closely unique creations archaeologists got the opportunity only in 1946. But this was not a targeted government or research program with appropriate funding, but individual expeditions of enthusiastic scientists.

It turned out that our distant ancestors or alien entities made the Nazca lines and small trenches by removing the surface of a clay soil layer rich in iron oxide. The gravel has been almost completely removed from the Nazca Lines section, and there is soil underneath it light color. As a result, the Nazca lines became so catchy and at the same time durable.

The light soil of the local lands surrounding the paintings on the Nazca plateau boasts high content lime In the open air, it hardens almost instantly and forms a durable protective layer that perfectly prevents erosion. For this reason, the mysterious Nazca Lines have been preserved in their original form for thousands of years, according to at least, this is the opinion of researchers. The longevity of the Nazca lines was also facilitated by the absence of winds as such, precipitation and stable air temperatures. If the climate had been different, these drawings would have disappeared from the face of the earth long before they were discovered.

However, they exist and their presence has puzzled more than one generation of researchers, archaeologists and simply scientists from all over the world. Official science, which has long formed its attitude towards the Nazca lines, claims that all these geoglyphs, lines and drawings were created during the Nazca civilization. This ancient empire is believed to have existed in the period from 300 BC to 800 AD. A significant part of scientists agree that most of the drawings were created during this period of 1100 years. It is believed that the Nazca Civilization had a very developed culture, the golden age of which dates back to 100-200 AD.

The Nazca Plateau and its mystical civilization.

The Nazca civilization sank into oblivion presumably at the end of the 8th century. The reason for this was allegedly the floods that the Nazca plateau encountered towards the end of the first millennium. The waters flooded and destroyed the agricultural lands of the ancient people. Some people died of hunger, the rest were forced to leave the poor land. A few centuries later, the Nazca plateau was inhabited by the Incas. However, this was already a completely different, and a different culture, whose customs certainly did not include drawing giant lines on the ground.

Well, let's say ancient people Nazca plateau really created mysterious creations on this earth, but why were they created, and most importantly, how could the aborigines make trenches several kilometers long on rough terrain. Even using modern techniques and devices, it is extremely difficult to draw an ideal straight line along the ground, say, 5-8 kilometers long.

In accordance with the theory of scientists, they did all this once or twice. Over the course of some centuries, the Nazca Plateau has turned from a lifeless valley into the most bizarre and richest territory in geoglyphs on the whole Earth. The first settlers crossed ravines and hills, but at the same time their geometric lines, Nazca geoglyphs, remained perfectly correct, and the edges were strictly parallel, which seems incredible. In addition to the stripes and trenches in the Nazca plateau, unknown artists also created figures of various animals. From the air they appear, although bizarre, but easily recognizable. Again, how the first people in these lands managed to depict, say, a hummingbird with such accuracy is categorically unclear.

The mentioned hummingbird, by the way, like many Nazcas, reaches fifty meters in length. Another picture bird, the condor, is 120 meters long. And the spider, similar to its relatives living in the Amazon jungle, boasts a length of 46 meters. It is noteworthy that all these masterpieces of the Nazca plateau can only be seen by rising high into the air or climbing some mountain, which, unfortunately, is not nearby. From the ground and small hills, these patterns are indistinguishable and appear as a simple series of lines and trenches. Of course, you can make out individual silhouettes and strokes, however, full picture visible only from the air.

Obviously, the civilization that inhabited the Nazca plateau did not have any aircraft. Neither balloons, neither airplanes, nor even rockets existed in prehistoric times. So how could they recreate their drawings with such precision, without being able to evaluate the work done and find flaws in order to correct them?! This remains as much a mystery as the functionality of the images of the Nazca Plateau. Why were they created? Is it really just for the sake of aesthetic beauty or maybe for some religious purposes? Question, question and another unanswered question.

It is generally difficult for modern people to understand logic distant ancestors. We don’t understand people who lived a hundred years ago; how can we understand the motives of those who lived thousands, two thousand years ago. It is quite possible that all the lines and images of the Nazca Plateau have no practical component at all? The ancient people created them to show that they were capable of this. But why was it necessary to spend so much effort and time on self-affirmation?! Wouldn’t it be easier to start another war; in ancient times this seemed to be a much more common practice?!

Nazca drawings and related theories.

There are no less scientists who are confident that a person is behind the creation of mysterious drawings on the territory of the plateau than those who believe that Nazca drawings were created by an alien race. In their opinion, all the images and lines on the plateau are nothing more than runways. The version involving Peru, the Nazca Plateau, of course, has the right to life; it remains unclear why there were no alien spaceships vertical take-off, or why create runways in the bizarre shape of earthly animals? If you wanted to stand out in this way, why not make a couple of Nazca drawings in the shape of the fauna that live in your world? However, it is better not to focus on this, because theories and guesses regarding the motives of alien creators seem even more elusive than the motivation of the first people.

It is better to pay attention to this: Nazca drawings in the form of animals, birds and insects were created much earlier than simple triangles and other geometric shapes. This is not a confirmed fact, the theory is still under development, however, even now most scientists agree that this is so, complex drawings The Nazcas were created earlier simple images and trenches. Be that as it may, a simple conclusion suggests itself: did the unknown masters at first make more complex shapes, apparently created in several stages, and only then other people began to practice drawing straight lines and trapezoids. Or maybe over the long centuries it took to create the drawings for which the desert is famous Nazca on the map, did the masters of ancient civilization lose technology or simply forget how to create complex images? All these are just more questions, the answers to which, apparently, we will not get very, very soon, if ever.

At the same time, there are a few people in the scientific community who believe that all Nazca drawings were made in the same period. But what scientists agree on is the idea that certain representatives of the ancient Nazca people had knowledge of astronomy.

For example, Maria Reiche (1903-1998), a German mathematician and archaeologist who worked on mysterious lines for almost 50 years, once claimed that the Nazca drawing in the form of a huge spider is very reminiscent of a star cluster in the constellation Orion. Three straight lines lead to the figure; they presumably served to track changes in the declinations of the three brightest stars in Orion's Belt: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

There is another very interesting theory involving the Nazca figures. Archaeologist Johan Reinhard, who is American by birth, believes that the lines and figures of the animals were part of religious rites or, at least, were built for some religious purposes. The figures of animals, insects and birds were supposedly associated with the worship of gods. With the help of Nazca drawings, people asked the celestials for water to irrigate their lands. It’s not entirely clear how exactly this ritual took place, but it doesn’t matter; what’s more important is whether it took place at all? It is obvious that the ancient people were novices of the pagan faith and, as in any such religion, the cult of the gods occupies a central place not only in religion, but also in Everyday life of people. It is likely that the Nazca civilization actually carried out certain rituals to worship its deities, but it is almost impossible to prove this.

Today, the attention of researchers from all over the world is not focused on the Nazca drawings or even on the mysteries surrounding them. While people are speculating and guessing, a serious environmental threat looms over the plateau. Deforestation and environmental pollution do not change better side balanced and practically unchanged climate of the plain. The Nazca Plate is facing problems: it rains more and more often, landslides and other misfortunes occur, one way or another affecting the integrity of the images. This is a very serious threat and if nothing is done in the next 5-10 years, or maybe less, the Nazca drawings will be lost forever, and then there is no doubt that answers to the questions posed by the research community will never be obtained. We will certainly never know who and why created this, without exaggeration, wonderful and unique phenomenon.