Association "Dr. Maria Reiche - Lines and Figures of the Nasca Culture/Peru"

Youth

In Peru

The Lines

Working at the Pampa

Nasca

Protection for the desert

About 2000 years ago the Nasca indios created a unique monument at the try plateau between the Pacific ocean and the Andes. An area of several hundred square kilometers is covered with thousand of lines, large biomorph figures and various geometric shapes drawn in the rock strewn desert. Only from the air you are able to see the drawings in their entirety. Even the figures, which are up to 300 meters long, can be only recognized from a higher point, like a ladder.
The kind of surface of this coastal desert explains the kind of manufacturing. If you take away the top layer – the reddish, oxidized rubble – you uncover the light-yellow subsoil. Because of this light subsoil the lines and geoglyphs stand out full of contrast from their surroundings.

But neither the meaning of this two-dimensional human work nor the exact time of creation is interpreted so far.
Since Maria Reiche started her investigations, scientists of different sciences are dealing with the solution. The explanations reach from a gigantic star-observatory over sacred streets and ritual places to irrigation systems.