Nazca lines are mysterious earth drawings (hieroglyphs and geoglyphs) created between 400 and 650 CE by the indigenous peoples who lived on the plains northwest of what is now known as the Nazca Valley, a dry, windless, desert plateau high in Peru.
There are literally hundreds of stylized figures including insects and wildlife such as spiders, monkeys, several whales, fish and birds, dogs, religious or ceremonial symbols and plants.
The lines and figures are very large and most figures can only be recognized when viewed high in the air by plane, helicoptor, hot air balloon or satellite. In fact, they were not discovered until the 1920's when people in commercial airplane flights reported seeing many odd-looking "landing strips" on the desert floor below.
The figures can appear to look somewhat differently depending upon the angle of the plane and photographer's camera as these two illustrations demonstrate:
These websites have large arial photographs of many of the lines and provide more information about the history of Nazca and current preservation of the ancient lines. There are also tourist, tour information and recommendations to assist planning a trip to personally view these mysteries.
These books and videos provide fascinating visual images and both scientific and not-so-scientific explanations or theories as to the possible reasons and uses of the lines and designs.
Dog A
Dog B
