The Nazca lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 50 miles between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, these are largely believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 B.C. and 700 A.D. There are hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks or orcas, llamas, and lizards.

The lines are shallow designs in the ground where the reddish pebbles that cover the surrounding landscape have been removed, revealing the whitish earth underneath. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes, and more than seventy are natural or human figures. The largest are over 656 feet across. Scholars differ in interpreting what the lines were for but generally ascribe religious significance to them. The dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau has preserved the lines to this day. Theories abound regarding these mysterious etchings, ranging from landing strips for aliens to a giant seismograph.

The most probable theory is that of María Reiche, a German researcher who dedicated her life to studying the lines. Ms Reiche believed that the lines were part of a vast astronomic calendar whose figures marked different solar phases. Ms Reiche, affectionately nicknamed the Angel of the Plains by the local inhabitants, was the first to discover the ancient technique of digging into the tough and dry desert floor and covering the track with stones brought from distant sites. The component of natural plaster existing in the area helped to preserve for thousands of years the drawings: the hummingbird, the spider, the condor and the monkey, among the more than 30 figures etched into the plain.

Tourist interests

Antonini Didactic Museum. A collection of archaeological pieces of the different stages of the Nazca culture as well as trophy heads, musical instruments like pan flutes, textiles, mummies, etc. are exhibited in this museum. These discoveries are the result of the excavations done in “Cahuachi”, the largest mud maid ceremonial center in the world. The museum also provides the chance to see the Bisambra canal, which shows the magnificent hydraulic engineering work of the Nazcas.

Paredones. It is an archaeological site that probably was an Inca administrative center. Formed by numerous rooms, terraces, and patio.

Cantalloc Aqueduct. It is an aqueduct built by the Nazca culture, which still works today. Flagstones and acacia trunks were used to build it and they have resisted the march of time.

Cahuachi Ceremonial Center. This complex of truncated adobe pyramids built by the Nazcas features a patio and a wide terrace with covered rooms. On top of the main temples, huge rooms with dozens of columns were found. The majority of these pyramids were abandoned during the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.

The Chauchilla Cemetery. Dating back to the Nazca culture around AD 1000, the mummies were, until recently, scattered haphazardly across the desert, left by ransacking tomb-robbers. Now they are seen carefully rearranged inside a dozen or so tombs, though cloth fragments and pottery and bone shards still litter the ground outside the demarcated trail.