Nazca Lines

Declared "Archaeological World Heritage Site" by UNESCO (1994).

The Nazca Lines are located in the arid Peruvian coastal plain, some 400 km south of Lima, the geoglyphs of Nazca and the pampas of Jumana cover about 450 sq. km.

The Nazca Lines, which were scratched on the surface of the ground between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500, are among archaeology's greatest enigmas because of their quantity, nature, size and continuity.

The geoglyphs depict living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary beings, as well as geometric figures several kilometers long. They are believed to have had ritual astronomical functions.

Source: UNESCO

Nazca Lines

Maximum cultural expression of the Nazca civilization.

Unique place in the world, full with mystery and mysticism, wonderful traces of immense figures and lines of spectacular perfection. Diverse scientific theories have been placed on these lines. Some theories only explain its possible construction associated to extraterrestrial beings.

The great constructions of observatories of astronomical cycles, well-known as the Nazca Lines, were used by the farmers to know and control the meteorological agrarian cycles, aside from their possible religious significance (Maria Reiche's theory).

The Nazca Lines are traced on San José and Socos desert plains, between the 419 and 465 km. of the South Pan-American Highway, with an extension of 450 square km., near the Nazca city.

These lines form drawings of several kilometers in length and approximately 0.4 and 1.1 km in width, with animal, geometric and trapezoidal forms; some of which can only be seen in all their magnitude from an airplane. The figures of the spider, the monkey, the dog, the small lizard, the hummingbird, the condor, and the astronaut, among others, stand out.

The Nazca Lines were investigated scientifically for the first time by the Prof. German Paul Kosok, along with the Peruvian archeologists Julio C. Tello and T. Mejía Xesspe, denominated these lines as 'the biggest astronomy book of the world '. María Scholten carried out investigations to determine the mathematical unit of measure that was used in the construction. Their main investigator was Dr. Maria Reiche.

The Nazca Lines were discovered accidentally from an airplane in flight in 1927. By the end of the 1980's new lines were discovered.

On the Pan-American Highway some observation towers can be found, which allow a limited vision of the lines. The only possible way to appreciate them in all their magnitude, given their gigantic size, is flying over the area on a light plane.

You can see the Nazca Lines and geoglyphs in a over flight, from Nazca, Ica, Paracas / Pisco or from Lima