Nazca sign in peru. Nazca Desert: description, history, excursions, exact address

Mysterious drawings of the Nazca desert

Have you ever seen 120-meter monkeys and a condor? And the 180-meter lizard? And the “small” hummingbird, 50 meters in size? And the 46-meter spider? Who and why painted them on a huge canvas called the Nazca desert?Between the northern part of Chile and the south of Peru there is a plateau - a completely deserted plain, where the wind rarely walks, and it rains once every few years. This is the Nazca desert. It is 25 kilometers long and 8 kilometers wide. Over 100 geoglyphs were discovered here - giant images of famous plants and animals, simply geometric figures, a scattering of incomprehensible, unrelated straight lines, which turned the Nazca desert into a giant art gallery - another mystery of our planet. Who is the artist? Why was such a titanic work needed? After all, the drawings are difficult to grasp even from a bird's eye view! Then the question arises: what is the expediency of the work carried out? What value - economic, religious, military - did these drawings represent for people of antiquity? Or maybe not for people? This is where many theories and versions have appeared, trying to explain this. However, everything remains only at the level of assumptions, and the true purpose of the images remains a mystery of the Nazca desert.

All drawings are formed by light lines, resulting from the removal of fine gravel from the surface of the soil, darker than the ground below it. Basically, they depict animals - flying birds, a spider, a fish, a monkey. But there are also geometric patterns: straight stripes and symbolic figures, triangles, trapezoids, the meaning of which is difficult to unravel. In 1927, an airplane flew over the plateau in search of water sources. Water will be found there later, and then the Peruvian pilot discovered giant images. It is interesting that the mention of the Nazca lines dates back to the 16th century. In 1548, the book Chronicle of Peru appeared, written by the Spaniard Pedro Ciesa de Leon. Here the Nazca lines were called: "guide signs for wanderers." But only in the 20s of the twentieth century, the "father of Peruvian archeology" Julio Tello was the first to copy the drawings. True, they did not become the object of serious research. Archaeologists then suggested that these were the remains of an ancient irrigation system. Everything changed only when, interested in what he saw, Paul Kosok, an archaeologist from the University of Long Island (USA), who had previously studied ancient irrigation systems in Mesopotamia, arrived in Peru. Seeing Nasca from the plane, he was shocked. But then there was no sensation. The Second World War, and it was no longer up to the drawings. Only in 1946, when Kosok handed over his notes to Maria Reiche, who was interested in ancient observatories, did the “canonical” history of the drawings of the Nazca desert take shape, and Reiche became the main specialist on this problem, devoting 40 years to it. What did she install? The whole difficulty is not in creating the drawings themselves, but in the calculations. There are no approximate measurements here, since this could lead to a distortion of the proportions of the drawings, and, apparently, the ancient Peruvians possessed some kind of equipment that is not there today. Reflecting on the size and perfection of proportions, Reiche argued that it would have been possible for "ancient artists" to create this if they could fly. During her research, she discovered 60 figures and lines, and in 1986, the Peruvian pilot de la Torre saw previously unknown drawings in a little-explored area in the San Jose pampa: 87 photographs he took depicted images of animals, plants and people.

Nazca drawings date back to 500 BC. e. - 500 AD e. before the formation of the Inca Empire. The people living here at that time did not leave any written sources about themselves. All the facts known about them were obtained by studying the places of burials and objects found there. official science believes that this "gallery" refers to the pre-Inca Indian Nazca culture, which flourished in 300-900 AD. e. Historians and archaeologists believe that the drawings were made by hand, removing stones and laying them out in rollers along the edge of the figures. Poles and elliptical mirrors were used for marking, and giant images were made from small sketches. Indeed, such sketches have been discovered. Various hypotheses were expressed regarding the purpose of the figures: either totemic or ritual signs, and the lines, P. Kosok believed, were used as an astronomical calendar for household needs. Researcher D. Hawkins drew attention to the huge number of drawings of vessels with a convex bottom found in the area, which are difficult to use in everyday life. But, in his opinion, during religious holiday these vessels were inserted into the grooves of the pattern, and then something combustible contained in them was set on fire. After all, many ancient peoples, as you know, attached great importance to fire. In continuation of this idea, the Russian ufologist M. Gershtein suggested that this happened at night and contributed to the appearance of mirages in the sky. According to I. Koltsov, this desert was an ideal place for burials with "ensuring incorruptibility", and the vessels were the "receptacle of the soul" of the deceased. The drawings were chosen according to the importance of the person and her totem name (Spider, Monkey, Swan ...).

However, there is a very strange circumstance. Local residents take clean drinking water not from Lake Nazca, but from wells located exactly along the lines of the drawings, and irrigation system here, based on a system of artificial underground channels, two of which run directly under the bed of the Nazca River, is very perfect and productive. American scientists S. Maby and D. Proulks believe that some of the lines are indicators of underground water sources. Attention was drawn to the fact that the drawings in the desert and on clay vessels are almost identical. From this, it was concluded that the deities of natural forces - sky, earth and water - were pleased with these drawings-symbols in order to get a lot of water and a good harvest. On this, perhaps scientific evidence and end. The agricultural calendar hypothesis was criticized by astronomer D. Hawkins. It was not confirmed by computer calculations. In addition, according to estimates made on the basis of data from the Hawkins expedition, such a large-scale work would require 100,000 man-years, even if the entire estimated population worked 12 hours a day. And who would get their daily bread? A more reasonable version was proposed by the Englishman T. Morrison. He believed that the drawings and lines were symbols of various religious groups or peoples living in the Andes. They had a tradition of burying relatives and fellow tribesmen at the very edge of the roads, so that it would be easier to get to the graves. Here they prayed and meditated. In this regard, Morrison believes that the drawings of Nazca could serve as caste, religious and social symbols for local residents. However, ritual objects must first of all affect the feelings of people! This is where another mystery arises: drawings from the ground are not perceived, they can only be seen by rising into the air. In this regard, the American D. Woodman in 1977 put forward a hypothesis that the Indians were able to make balloons, rising into the air during ritual ceremonies. This allowed them to fully appreciate the mystical meaning of the drawings. There is confirmation of this. An image was found in one of the tombs in Nazca hot air balloon. Exploring this circumstance, the American B. Sporer came across an old legend of the Incas about a little boy who helped them in battle, flying over the enemy's fortifications and reporting on the location of enemy units. Images of flying people are on many Inca textiles. In addition, by examining four pieces of fabric found in a looted grave near the drawings, Sporer established that the ancient inhabitants of Nazca used in their fabrics a better weave than that used in the manufacture of parachutes, and stronger than modern balloon fabrics. .

Before proceeding to the next hypothesis, it should be noted that the Nazca complex is only part of the phenomenon. Ground figures similar in technique are found in the middle zone of the Andes along the entire Pacific coast of South America, and in this regard, they cannot in any way belong to one local Indian culture, which was the Nazca culture. You can, of course, assume that the drawings were created by hand, but if you take the overall picture, given that the sizes of the figures range from 30 to 300 meters with a contour line width of 15 centimeters to 3 meters ... And besides, it is difficult to assume that when creating such giant objects by hand, the rest of the surface would be absolutely intact. No such damage was found. In this regard, the radio physicist Alla Belokon claims that the drawings could only be made from the air with a stream of directed energy of an unknown nature, and some of their asymmetry resembles the distortions that are obtained when projecting at an angle to the surface. In addition, she believes that the distortions are three-dimensional in nature, and therefore, the drawings could not be a simple increase from sketches on a plane. The most fascinating hypothesis was put forward by the Swiss Erich von Däniken, who connected the images of Nazca with extraterrestrial civilizations. He suggested that they be considered landmarks of the spaceport, arranged by aliens. This idea is suggested by what was discovered on a 350-meter mountainside near the city of Paracas on the coast. Pacific Ocean image of a trident, named because of the similarity with the candlestick "Paracas Candelabra". From it, through the mountains and valleys to Nazca, a straight white line, visible only from a height, stretches along which images of bouncing creatures come across. This and a number of other lines are very reminiscent of runways. Däniken thinks Nazca could have served as a gas station spaceships, since the release of unknown energies was recorded here: several points were found where the compass needle “goes crazy”, and the pilots saw straight multi-kilometer lines from above, giving ultra-precise landmarks on the sides of the horizon. Be that as it may, the art gallery in Nazca is one of the most striking sights of our planet. But the mystery of the desert is not alone. At 1400 km from it, at the foot of Mount Satari, a giant, 120-meter statue of a man was discovered, surrounded by lines and signs similar to the Nazca drawings. There are also mysterious drawings in the USA (Ohio), in England, Kazakhstan, on Southern Urals, in Africa ( south of the lake Victoria), in Ethiopia and a number of other places. So, in 2003 in nature park Sajama in western Bolivia on the square 16 times greater desert Nazca scientists have discovered more than 400 geoglyphs drawn in lines 1-2 meters wide, and in some cases up to 20 kilometers long. In their opinion, giant drawings carry some important information to mankind, but, apparently, our consciousness has not yet “grown up” to the level of its perception. So questions about the most famous art gallery in the Nazca desert and others like it are still open to the curious.

How to get there

Main locality The Nazca area is logically called Nazca. It is most convenient to get here by bus, this indispensable Peruvian transport. Buses depart from all major cities in the country, the fastest way to Nazca is from the city of Ica, the center south coast Peru - the journey will take 2-3 hours and cost about 30-40 PEN. Buses from Cusco and Arequipa also arrive in Nazca; in the first case, you will have to spend about 14 hours on the road, in the second - “only” nine, both buses depart from the starting points at night, arriving at the place in the morning. A ticket from Cusco will cost about 90-100 PEN, from Arequipa - about 75-85 PEN. The trip from Lima will take about 6-8 hours depending on the route. If you want to see the Nazca lines, but are based in Lima, it is most convenient to purchase sightseeing tour in one of the agencies of the Peruvian capital. Tourists set off at 4 am, visiting the cities of Ballestas and Nazca itself (including its sights), as well as flying around the Nazca lines in a light aircraft. Return to Lima - around 10 pm the same day. The cost of the tour is about 800-900 PEN. Prices on the page are for June 2016.

What to ride

You can walk around the city of Nazca - it is very small. A taxi ride for any distance within the city will cost no more than 3 PEN, and the road to the airport (from where light motor vehicles with tourists take off) - no more than 4 PEN.

Nazca drawings. South America, Peru

What are the Nazca Lines, no one knows for sure. The only indisputable fact is that they are located in South America, in Peru, on the Nazca plateau in the southern part of the country. In 1994 they were listed world heritage UNESCO. This is where the indisputable facts end, leaving scientists with many unsolved mysteries.

The lines are giant geometric and figured geoglyphs (patterns) scattered over the plateau. They are applied to the surface in the form of furrows up to 135 centimeters wide and up to 40-50 centimeters deep. It is impossible to understand that this is a solid drawing, being on the ground: "the big is seen at a distance." That is why the Nazca Lines were opened only in 1939, when flights became possible.

Nazca drawings, spider

And since then, more than one scientist has been trying for years to answer the questions: “Who?” and for what?". Most researchers are inclined to the version that long before the Incas the patterns were left by the Nazca civilization, which inhabited the plateau until the 2nd century BC. n. e. But for what purpose? With equal success, it can be both the world's largest astronomical calendar (although scientists have not discovered how to use it), and signals for the landing of alien spacecraft.

The plots of the Nazca Lines are very diverse: flowers, geometric shapes, animals, birds and even insects. The smallest image is a 46-meter spider, the largest is a 285-meter pelican...

At the end of 2011 in South America two of our colleagues left - photographer Dmitry Moiseenko and radio-controlled helicopter pilot Stas Sedov. They had a task: to take pictures in the deserts of Nazca and Palpa in Peru, ancient city Inca civilization Machu Picchu and stone idols on Easter Island. Now we bring to your attention shootings from Nazca.

Chasing the Hummingbird

On the first day of filming, we were faced with the fact that not only is it not allowed to enter the desert by car, but also to enter on foot. We talked to the police and attendants at the observation towers - the passage is allowed with special passes from the local Ministry of Culture, which issues them only to archaeological groups. Some time ago, the entrance and entrance to the desert were free, which led to the fact that a large number of figures almost died under the wheels of off-road vehicles.

Nazca drawings, parrot and astronaut

For tourists, local authorities put up several towers with observation platforms: one of those that we found , is located right on the Pan-American highway near Nazca, the other is 30 kilometers towards Palpa. It can be seen by tourists from these towers, frankly, not very much. It is much better to look at the figures from small planes that fly over the desert from the local airport.

View from the tourist observation tower

The second day in Nazca did not work out from the very beginning. In the morning we planned to go to a distant point near Palpa and try to approach the figures through the desert. On the previous day on observation deck there was no one: no tourists, no watchman. It is logical to assume that at 6 in the morning there should not have been anyone there either. Naive...

We left at dawn, and here we are standing on the observation deck. But what a disaster! A couple of minutes ago it was clear on the horizon, and now on the road 400 meters away from us, as if out of thin air, a police jeep appeared. That's it, shooting becomes almost impossible, since from the site where tourists can be to the figures themselves - about 200-300 meters. It is possible to fly, but to remove something of high quality is unlikely to succeed.

After a couple of minutes of deliberation, we decided to try to fly anyway. We shot a couple of test spheres, landed and realized that luck was not with us today: all the figures came out very small and very far away. Well, we decided to try to negotiate with the police. We drive up to the jeep and see a sleeping patrolman. They did not wake up the vigilant policeman, but quickly rushed back to the observation deck. Then everything happened, as in films about scouts.

We loaded up with equipment and almost bellied moved towards the figures through the desert. Somewhere in the middle of the road, Dima noticed out of the corner of his eye that the policeman was no longer sleeping, but got out of the car and was watching us. Looks like we've been spotted! What to do? Run? We acted illogically - we decided to start filming right in front of the police. They took off, filmed several spheres, all the time looking at the policeman. There was no reaction. Maybe they didn't notice us? Using the hollows, we got closer to the figures. The terrain helped to hide from the police patrol.

We began to fly quite actively, all the while expecting menacing shouts from behind. About half an hour later I climbed from another ravine to the level of the plateau and found a completely empty road - the police jeep had left. He probably didn’t notice us after all - lucky! After that, they worked almost close to the figures. Almost the entire supply of batteries for the helicopter flew off, leaving a couple of pieces for lifting on the observation deck near Nazca.

Tired, but very satisfied, we wandered to our car. Dima decided to shoot a few last shots with his telephoto lens, and at the moment of changing lenses he left the keys inside the cabin.

I must say that the crime situation in Peru is not very good, and therefore the car alarm is designed so that if you do not start the engine after disarming the car, the doors will be blocked in a couple of minutes. If you start the engine — the doors are locked immediately.

As you may have guessed, while Dima was making the final shots, the car was locked with the keys inside.

So, we are in the desert, an hour's walk from the nearest village, and not a soul around. Tools and water are inside the car. We only have a helicopter and a camera with a large lens in our hands. They tried to squeeze the glass with their hands - it's useless. After several attempts, I suggested to Dima to break the glass of the back door. You can watch Dima's dramatic torment in the video: to beat or not to beat - that is the question!

I quickly imagined how the police find our dried corpses next to the intact car, and insistently asked Dima to finally solve the problem. And Dima solved it! After a little thought, he suggested breaking not the glass, but a small rear window and trying to get the keys through it. A few minutes later, having searched the neighborhood and found several pieces of steel wire (having dismantled the roof of the local "museum", similar to an ordinary bus stop), we made an impromptu fishing rod, with which Dima fished out our keys through the broken glass on the first attempt. Saved!

On the way to Nasca, we shot the Tree and Hands for the second time, and also tried to shoot the Lizard. We learned from the rangers the coordinates of the local Ministry of Culture and decided to try to get official permission to pass through the desert.

During the morning visit to the Minister of Archaeology, he was not there. The secretary with gestures (almost no one speaks English there) explained to us that we should come in after lunch.

What to do? Dima offered to fly over the desert in a small plane. He planned to shoot figures that could not be reached on foot, and I had to shoot a video of the process and, most importantly, find passages between the police cordons to one of the famous figures.

Nazca drawings, monkey

Flight. No, not like that: it was FLIGHT!!! I have already flown a lot of things, but there was no such amount of adrenaline even on a motorized hang glider. I will omit the details of how we bargained at the airport and how they then tried to stab us on almost every point of the agreements.

So, we are at the executive start. After the pilot began to rape the engine, adjusting the fuel mixture, I realized that the "entertainment" we have is not weak. And exactly when they began to taxi out, instead of standing at the beginning of the runway, the pilot taxied onto the dirt road, outside of it, gaining another ten meters for acceleration. The engine roared wildly , and our "Tsesna" rushed along the runway, picking up speed very quickly. Breakaway! But instead of a sharp rise, we began to climb literally a meter per second - it was not the most pleasant moment.

What is the difficulty of flying over Nazca? It is hot during the day, the air density is low, and strong winds blow. We often noticed tornadoes of various sizes in the desert. I filmed one of these tornadoes during takeoff.

In a few minutes we are already over the desert. Gained a height of 600 meters. Here is the first figure - Keith. If the co-pilot (girl) had not shown her hand, I would not have noticed him. Expecting to see large figures, the head does not immediately switch to the true size, and because of this, it is almost impossible to see them. Lines and trapezoids, on the contrary, are visible very well.

Nazca drawings, whale

Flying up to the next figure, the pilots laid a very steep turn, and we made several circles with some unimaginable rolls. At the same time, the plane was often thrown by gusts of wind. The feeling of a rollercoaster, only several times stronger. I was amazed at how Dima would quite calmly hang out of the open window with his telephoto and shoot, shoot, shoot... At the same time, he still managed to quite accurately drive the figures into the frame.

Nazca drawings, bird of paradise

There was confidence that along one of the country roads we could get close to the figure of the Hummingbird. During the flight, Dima wrote a track with GPS coordinates, according to which we hoped to quickly find her. 50 minutes of flight time passed unnoticed, during which my face changed its color several times: from earthy gray to green. We landed at the airport and fell out of the plane exhausted.

We went back to the ministry. The archaeologist, in my opinion, did not appear in the office, and his secretary, with a sigh, announced to us - "manyana", which meant: come in tomorrow. We decided after a short rest at the hotel to go in search of Hummingbirds.

This figure is slightly off the track. They decided to go to the desert in the evening, when tourist planes should already finish their flights. In addition to the pilots, there was practically no one to notice us - during the flight, I did not see any movement on country roads.

The beginning of the way to the mountains was not very difficult: a well-rolled primer. Unfortunately, from the air, I did not have time to spot the characteristic landmarks on the Hummingbird beam, so Dima and I had a rather emotional argument about which way to go and where to leave the car. Dima showed me his track recorded during the flight and pointed his finger in the direction completely opposite (in my opinion) from the figure. Relying on visual memory and insisting on my choice of direction, by a miracle (and in different words) I managed to convince Dima.

According to our assumptions, there were only 15-20 minutes of light time left. That's a hell of a lot, especially since we didn't know exactly where to go.

We climbed up the mountain, towards the desert. We got in. From what I saw, despair seized me: it was not a plateau, but just one of the spurs on the way to it. We had to go down a rather steep slope, consisting of a mixture of sand and stones, 70 meters down, cross a small gorge and climb again, already 100 meters. We will not have time! But pulling ourselves together, we quickly ran down the slope, tearing off piles of stones behind us ...

I vaguely remember how we crawled up the mountain. Somewhere in the middle of the ascent, I ran out of strength. Running through the mountains with a 15-kilogram backpack, equipment around your neck and a helicopter in your hands is not an easy task. Dima took out a camera and shot a short video.

Another 5 minutes of climbing - and we are on the plateau.

Climbed! Where is the figure? We looked at the track: we seem to be standing somewhere nearby, but nothing is visible on the ground. Found some lines that look like a hummingbird's tail. We take off, we shoot. After landing, Dima rushes to the camera - no, this is not Hummingbird. In the frame there is some strange "sun" and a huge landing strip for alien ships.

We go further into the desert. The sun begins to fall towards the horizon rather quickly. Only a few minutes of daylight remain. We stumble upon some regular trapezoid, or a line. And Dima says: "The area is called the Nazca Lines, since we did not find the Hummingbird, let's shoot the lines."

I take off, quite high. Let's take a sphere. And then Dima asks me to simply scroll the device around the axis, without shooting. I don’t usually do this - there is little flight time, but this time for some reason I didn’t refuse. I do not know why. The wind on the plateau was quite strong, the visibility was not very good, but I spun the helicopter and then Dima shouted right in my ear: "HUMMINGBIRD!!! Take off!!!"

Nazca drawings, hummingbird

It turned out that we were standing next to this figure (more precisely, a figure: the bird is very small), not noticing it at all. Moreover, if you come close to it, it is very clearly visible on the ground.

Nature rewarded us with an absolutely fantastic sunset. This was not the case in previous days: clouds in pink light, the moon giving its silver hue - we almost forgot why we came ...

Having come to their senses, they made several sorties near the Hummingbird, while the sun went below the horizon. It is difficult to put into words the strange sensations that we experienced on the plateau. Apparently those who chose the location of this "bird" knew something inaccessible to our understanding. Or maybe we were just overwhelmed with positive emotions, from the feeling of a successfully completed mission...

While I was collecting the equipment, Dima was running around the Hummingbird in a very excited state, trying to shoot video and ground shots in almost complete darkness.

One thought drilled through me on the way to the car - you must always fight, even when it seems that everything is already lost, that you didn’t have time, you didn’t find ...

Fortune favors the persistent!

Pampa Colorado Desert(Spanish Desierto de la Pampa Colorado; "Red Plain"), located south of the Nazca River, is more often called "Nazca Plateau"(Spanish: Nazca). This is a waterless and deserted desert plain, surrounded by low spurs of the Andes, stretching 450 km southeast of the Peruvian capital, (Spanish: Lima).

The vast, elongated plateau area of ​​​​about 500 km² extends from north to south for more than 50 km, from west to east - from 7 to 15 km. The valley has long been mistakenly considered lifeless. Flat terrain with undulating relief in places is separated from other flat areas by pronounced ledges.

Photo gallery not open? Go to site version.

The name "Nasca" also refers to ancient civilization, which flourished in the period from 300 BC. to 500 AD Perhaps it was this culture that created the mysterious "Nazca lines", the ancient ceremonial city of Cahuachi and the extensive system of "puquios" - unique underground aqueducts.

An important component of the region, in addition to the famous plateau, is the city of the same name, founded by the Spaniards in 1591. At the end of the last century, in 1996, the city of Nazca was razed to the ground by a strong earthquake. Fortunately, there were few victims (17 people died), since the rampant underground elements occurred at noon, but about 100 thousand people were left homeless. Today, the city has been rebuilt, modern high-rise buildings have been erected here, and its center is decorated with a wonderful square.

Climate

The sparsely populated area has a very dry climate.

Winter on the vast plateau lasts from June to September, during the year the temperature in the desert does not fall below +16°C. In summer, the air temperature is stable and stays around +25°C. Despite the proximity of the ocean, rains here are extremely rare. Winds are also practically absent here, surrounded by a plateau there are no rivers, lakes and streams. The fact that these lands once saw water flows is told by numerous channels of long-dried rivers.

Mysterious geoglyphs (Nazca Lines)

However, this Peruvian region is notable primarily not for the city, but for the mysterious geoglyphs - unusual lines, geometric shapes and bizarre patterns that adorn the surface of the plateau. For the modern scientific community, these drawings have been presenting more and more new mysteries for centuries. Dozens of minds have been struggling for many years in an attempt to answer numerous questions regarding mysterious images.

Map of figures

In total, about 13 thousand different lines, more than 100 spirals, over 700 geometric figures or areas (triangles, rectangles, trapezoids) and 788 images of people, birds and animals were found on the desert plain. Images of the plateau are long grooves of various widths, from 15 to 30 cm deep, dug in the upper soil layer - a mixture of clay and sand. The length of the most long lines reaches up to 10 km. The width of the drawings is also striking, in some cases reaching 150-200 m.

There are drawings here that resemble the outlines of animals - llamas, monkeys, killer whales, birds, etc. Single drawings (about 40) depict sharks, fish, lizards and spiders.

The figures amaze the imagination with their giant size, but people still have not been able to unravel their true purpose. The answer may lie in the depths of the desert. So, in order to find out who and why created these amazing arts, it is necessary archaeological excavations, which are forbidden to be produced here, because the plateau is protected by the status "Sacred Zone"(related to the Divine, heavenly, otherworldly, mystical). So, to this day, the origin of the Nazca drawings remains a secret behind seven seals.

The geoglyphs of the Nazca plateau in 1994 were included in the lists of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

But no matter how “sacred” the territory is, no one has yet canceled the dominant human trait - curiosity, which stimulates humanity to overcome any difficulties.

The first extremely curious person who became interested in these forbidden lands was Mejia Toribio Hespe(Spanish: Toribio Mejía Xesspe), an archaeologist from Peru, who in 1927 studied the "Nazca lines" from the foothills surrounding the lifeless plateau. In 1939, an unusual plateau gained worldwide fame thanks to a Peruvian scientist.

In 1930, anthropologists studied the mysterious desert area with mysterious lines, flying around the plateau in an airplane. The attention of archaeologists around the world was riveted to the desert in the early 40s of the XX century. So, in 1941, the American historian, professor of hydrogeology Paul Kosok (born Paul Kosok; 1896-1959) made several reconnaissance flights over the desert in a small plane. It was he who determined that gigantic lines and figures cover a vast territory stretched for 100 km.

Scientists were able to study the unique plateau more closely only in 1946, although this was not a purposeful attempt. Government program, funded by the authorities, and separate expeditions of enthusiastic researchers. It turned out that the ancient "designers" created the Nazca trenches by removing the dark surface soil layer (the so-called "desert tan") - clay saturated with iron oxide and manganese oxide. Gravel was completely removed from the line section, under which there was a light-colored soil with a rich lime content. In the open air, the limestone hardens instantly, forming a protective layer that is excellent at preventing erosion, which is why the lines are so catchy and have retained their original shape for 1000 years. With the technical simplicity of execution, such a solution required excellent knowledge of geodesy. The durability of the drawings was also facilitated by the usual calm here, the absence of precipitation and stable air temperature throughout the year. If the local climatic conditions were different, then, undoubtedly, the drawings would have disappeared from the face of the earth long ago.

They continue to puzzle more than one generation of researchers from around the world.

mystical civilization

Official science claims that all images were created during the heyday of ancient empire Nazca, which has a very developed culture. Civilization was founded by the archaeological culture (Spanish: Paracas), the indigenous Indians of southern Peru in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Many scholars agree that most of the lines and figures were created during a period of 1100 years, during the "Golden Age" of the Nazca civilization (100-200 AD). The ancient civilization sank into oblivion at the end of the 8th century, the reason for this, presumably, was the floods that befell the territory of the plateau by the end of the first 1000th anniversary. People were forced to leave their land, which was settled after several centuries.

If we assume that the mysterious drawings were created by the ancient people, then why and, most importantly, how the natives were able to do this remains a mystery. Even using modern technology, it is extremely difficult to draw a perfectly straight line on the surface of the earth, even with a length of 3-5 km.

According to the findings of scientists, all this was done in a short time. For a couple of centuries, the Nazca plateau has turned from a lifeless valley into the most bizarre territory on the planet, dotted with geoglyphs. The hollows and hills of the desert were crossed by unknown artists, but the lines remained perfectly correct, and the edges of the grooves were strictly parallel. How unknown craftsmen created the figures of various animals that can only be seen from the height of a bird's flight is completely unclear.

46 meter spider

For example, the image of a hummingbird reaches a length of 50 m, a condor bird - 120 m, and a spider, similar to relatives living in the Amazonian jungle, has a length of 46 m. ​​Interestingly, all these masterpieces can be seen only by rising into the air, or by climbing on high mountain, which are not observed nearby.

It is obvious that the people who inhabited the plateau during the period of the emergence of art did not have aircraft. How could people create drawings with jeweler's precision without being able to see the full picture of the work done? How did the masters manage to maintain the accuracy of all the lines? To do this, they would need a whole arsenal of modern geodetic equipment, not to mention the most perfect knowledge of mathematical laws, given that the images were created both on flat areas of the earth, and on steep slopes and almost sheer cliffs!

Moreover, in the region of the deserted Nazca valley there are hills (Spanish: Palpa), the tops of some are cut off like a giant knife on the same level. These huge sections are also decorated with drawings, lines and geometric shapes.

Maybe it is generally difficult for us to understand the logic of our distant ancestors. Children do not understand their parents, what is there to understand the motives of people who lived 1000 - 2000 years ago. It is possible that the images of the plateau have no practical or religious component. Maybe the ancient people created them in order to show their descendants what they are capable of? But why waste a lot of time and energy for self-affirmation? In general, questions, questions to which there are no answers yet.

Alien intervention?

Scientists who are sure that a person created the mysterious drawings are no more than those who believe that it could not have done without the intervention of aliens. According to the latter, the images on the plateau are alien runways. Such a version, of course, has the right to exist, it is only unclear why alien aircraft did not have a vertical take-off system and why it was necessary to make runways in the form of zigzags, spirals and terrestrial animals.

Another thing is also interesting: many scientists believe that complex drawings in the form of bizarre animals, birds and insects were applied much earlier than simpler geometric shapes, circles and lines. The conclusion suggests itself that at first unknown mysterious masters completed complex forms, and only then earthly people began to practice creating straight lines.

Other hypotheses

Maria Reiche (German: Maria Reiche; 1903-1998), a German mathematician and archaeologist, who since 1946 for more than 40 years (until her death at the age of 95) methodically and scrupulously studied the Nazca figures, believed that they the lines are a giant ancient calendar. In her opinion, many of the drawings are accurate images of the constellations, and the lines correspond to the movement of the sun or are oriented to the moon, the planets of the solar system and some of the constellations. For example, the drawing in the form of a spider, according to Reiche, reproduces a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. Based on her astronomical calculations, she was the first to announce the time of creation of the drawings - the 5th century BC. Later, radiocarbon analysis of a wooden marking peg found in the place of one of the geoglyphs confirmed the date indicated by M. Reiche.

There is another entertaining theory regarding mystical drawings. The famous American archaeologist Johann Reinhard, professor emeritus at the Catholic University of Santa Maria (UCSM, Peru), believes that the giant Nazca lines were built for some religious rites. The figures of animals, birds and insects were supposedly associated with the worship of deities. With the help of drawings, people pleased the Gods and asked them for water to irrigate their land. Some archaeologists are inclined to believe that the lines and bizarre drawings were sacred paths that local priests walked during ritual ceremonies. As in any pagan religion (the ancient people, obviously, was a novice of this faith), the cult of the gods occupies a central place not only in religion, but also in the life of people. But again the question arises: why did the ancient Peruvians decide to address the deities in this remote place where there has never been cultivated land?

There is also such a hypothesis that in ancient times Indian athletes ran along the giant lines and stripes, which means that South American sports Olympiads were held on Nazca. Straight lines, of course, could be used as treadmills, but how can you run in a spiral and on the images of birds or, for example, a monkey?

There were also publications that huge triangular and trapezoidal platforms were created for some kind of ceremonies, during which sacrifices were made to the gods and mass festivities took place. But why, then, the archaeologists, who have searched all the surroundings of the plateau, have not found a single artifact confirming this version?

There is even such an absurd idea that gigantic work was done solely for the purpose of a kind of labor education. So that the idle ancient Peruvians were busy ... Another hypothesis says that all the drawings are a giant loom of the ancient people who laid out the threads along the lines. It was also claimed that this is a colossal encrypted map of the world, which so far no one has been able to decipher.

AT last years more and more often voices began to be heard that the incredible drawings were just the result of someone's falsification. But then, over the course of decades, a whole army of counterfeiters had to tear their veins over the manufacture of the largest fake in the history of mankind. Yes, it was still necessary to keep everything a secret. The question is what for?

Today, unfortunately, the main attention of scientists from all over the world is focused not on the Nazca drawings shrouded in mystery, but on a serious environmental threat hanging over the mysterious plateau. Deforestation, harmful emissions into the atmosphere, environmental pollution - all this is not at all in better side changes the stable climate of the desert. Increasingly, it rains, leading to landslides and other troubles that have a devastating effect on the integrity of the images.

If nothing is done in the next 5-10 years to overcome a serious threat, amazing drawings will be lost to humanity forever. Then there is no doubt that the answers to the countless questions that concern us will NEVER be received. We will never know WHO and WHY created these unique creations.

Archaeological sites of the region

The capital and main ceremonial center of the Nazca civilization was ancient settlement Cahuachi. The city was a concentration of adobe residential buildings and outbuildings. In the center of it rose a pyramidal structure - Big Temple, built on a hill about 30 m high. Around the main Temple there were squares, palaces and tombs.

In addition to Cahuachi, several other large architectural complexes ancient civilization. The most unusual of them is Vosque Muerto (Spanish for “Dead Forest”) Estaqueria, which is a row of 240 pillars up to 2 m high, mounted on a low platform. To the west and south of the platform, smaller pillars are installed, moreover, they are lined up not in rows, but in chains. Near the "dead forest" there was a stepped hill with 2 rows of terraces.

On the territory of Estakeria there are many burials in which preserved parts of robes were found. Based on the fragments found, the clothes of the Nazca people were recreated: long capes with a wide border and traditional South American ponchos - a rectangular canvas with a slit for the head. It is noteworthy that the color range of fabrics is unusually extensive, numbering up to 150 various shades.

The culture of the ancient civilization impresses with its unique polychrome vessels of excellent quality, while the Indians were not familiar with the potter's wheel. Cups, vases, figured jugs and bowls were painted with paints of 6-7 colors, which were applied before firing.

The secrets of Nazca do not end there. If the surface of the valley is decorated with gigantic drawings that are still incomprehensible to the human mind, then even more unimaginable puquios (Spanish Puquios; from Ketch. source, spring) lurk in its bowels - ancient aqueduct systems near the city of Nazca. Of the 36 giant puquios, which are granite pipes of underground water pipes, most of so far it is functioning normally. The current Peruvian Indians attribute the creation of the puquios to a divine creator (Quechua Wiraqucha, Spanish Huiracocha or Viracocha). Who, when and why created these titanic water structures under the ancient Nazca plateau is also from the realm of eternal mysteries.

Curious facts

The Nazca lines still cause a lot of controversy regarding who created them and when they appeared. Strange inscriptions, clearly visible from a bird's eye view, resemble geometric shapes, even stripes, and even representatives of the fauna. The dimensions of the geoglyphs are so large that it is not possible to understand how these images were drawn.

Nazca Lines: Discovery Story

Strange geoglyphs - inscriptions on the surface of the earth, were first discovered in 1939 on the Nazca plateau in Peru. American Paul Kosok, flying over the plateau, noticed strange drawings resembling birds and animals of enormous size. The images intersected with lines and geometric shapes, but stood out so clearly that it was impossible to doubt what they saw.

Later, in 1941, Maria Reiche took up the study of strange inscriptions on the sandy surface. However, take a photo unusual place succeeded only in 1947. Maria Reiche devoted more than half a century to deciphering strange symbols, but the final conclusion was never provided.

Today, the desert is considered a protected area, and the right to explore it has been transferred to the Peruvian Institute of Culture. Due to the fact that the study of such a vast location requires huge investments, further scientific work on deciphering the Nazca lines has been suspended for the time being.

Description of Nazca drawings

When viewed from the air, the lines on the plain are clearly visible, but walking through the desert, it is unlikely that it will be possible to understand that something is depicted on the ground. For this reason, they were not discovered until aviation became more developed. Small hills on the plateau distort the pictures, which are caused by trenches dug across the entire surface. The width of the furrows reaches 135 cm, and their depth is from 40 to 50 cm, while the soil is identical everywhere. It is due to the impressive size of the lines that they are visible from a height, although they are hardly noticeable in the process of walking.

Among the illustrations are clearly visible:

• birds and animals;
• geometric figures;
• chaotic lines.

The sizes of the printed images are quite large. So, the condor spread over a distance of almost 120 m, and the lizard reaches 188 m in length. There is even a drawing resembling an astronaut, whose height is 30 m. trench seems impossible.

Hypotheses of the origin of lines

Scientists from different countries tried to figure out where the lines were pointing and who laid them. There was a theory that such images were made by the Incas, but studies have shown that they were created much earlier than the existence of the people. The approximate period that dates back to the appearance of the Nazca lines is considered to be the 2nd century BC. e. It was at this time that the Nazca tribe lived on the plateau. In a village belonging to the people, sketches were found that resemble drawings made in the desert, which once again confirms the guesses of scientists.

Maria Reiche deciphered some of the symbols, which allowed her to put forward a hypothesis that the drawings reflect a map of the starry sky, which means they were used for astronomical or astrological purposes. True, this theory was later refuted, since only a quarter of the images fit the known astronomical bodies, which seems insufficient for an accurate conclusion.

At the moment, it is not known why the Nazca lines were drawn and how the people, who did not have writing skills, managed to reproduce such inscriptions on an area of ​​​​350 square meters. km.

The Nazca Desert is located in the south of Peru, 450 kilometers from Lima. This is the region of residence of the pre-Inca civilization of Nazca (I-VI centuries AD).

The Nazca people waged wars and engaged in trade, but the main activity for them was fishing and farming. In addition, the Nazca were excellent artists and architects - we can judge this from the found ceramics of this culture and the ruins of ancient cities. There is a lot of evidence of the high level of development of this civilization, the main of which, of course, are the Nazca Lines - huge geoglyphs in the desert, visible only from a bird's eye view.

What to see

Nazca lines

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

The area of ​​the territory where the Nazca Lines are located, occupies 500 km2 and is located in the desert, where it rains for only half an hour a year. It is this fact that 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 they can only be properly examined 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 over the valleys in small planes. It was he who drew attention to the strange lines that form into huge drawings. The sight that unfolded shocked and astounded him. Professor Kosok and other scientists have devoted many years to the study of these lines. They managed to discover the relationship between the location of the lines with 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 set up a gigantic observatory here.

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

How to watch
In Nazca, there are several companies that make sightseeing flights in small planes over the desert. Such, because due to the number of people who want to see the Lines of Places, it may not be at the last moment at the right date.

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 soles (20 rubles), but you can only see 2 drawings.

Palpa Lines

Unlike the Nazca drawings, the Palp Lines consist more of human and geometric designs. According to archaeological research, the Palpa Lines date back to an earlier period than the Nazca Lines. Flying over the Palp Lines, you can see the image of the Pelican, the image of a woman, a man and a boy, whom archaeologists have nicknamed "The Family". One of the Palp Lines is an image of a Hummingbird - similar to one of the geoglyphs of the Nazca Lines. Another 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. To date, the city remains:

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

There was a necropolis near the city, where scientists found untouched graves with various items that were customary to put 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 Chauchilla necropolis 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 due to the arid desert climate, as well as the embalming technology used by the Nazca: the bodies of the dead people were wrapped in cotton cloth, painted with paints and impregnated with resins. It was the resins that helped to avoid the decomposing action of bacteria.
The necropolis was discovered in 1920, but officially recognized archaeological site and taken under protection only in 1997. Prior to that, he suffered for many years from marauders who stole a significant part of the treasures of Nazca.

2 hour guided tour - 30 Sols

Entrance ticket to the Necropolis - 5 soles

San Fernando Nature Reserve (Bahía de San Fernando)

About 80 km from Nazca there is a nature reserve very similar to Paracas. Here you can also see penguins, sea lions, dolphins, various birds. And besides, the Andean fox, guanaco 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 Nazca were a very advanced civilization. In the desert, where the river only fills with water for 40 days a year, the Nazca farmers needed a system that would allow them to have water throughout the year. They solved this problem by creating a magnificent system of aqueducts. One of them - Cantayoc Aqueducts are 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, the average daily temperature stays around 27C. June to September are the coldest months of the year when the daytime temperature is only 18C.

How to get to Nazca

Nazca is located 450 kilometers south of Lima. You can get here on your own 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.