The unexplained lines of the Nazca Desert: Why were they created?  

If you visit the Nazca desert in Peru, you will get to see geometric lines. Some are straight and some are in the shape of animals like cat, dog, fish, monkey, etc., carved on the hills and spread across hundreds of kilometres of area. These are Nazca Lines. But who made them and why? Archaeologists and historians all have been busy finding the answers since these ancient features were discovered in the 1920s. For them, determining how the Nazca Lines were created has been easier than why they were built. Let us tell you what has been found till now.  

What are Nazca Lines?  
The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs (handmade features created on the surface of the earth) created in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of humans and animals including a hummingbird, spider, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog and cat. Other shapes include trees and flowers. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 km, and the group covers an area of about 50 km2. The lines are typically 4–6 inches deep and their width varies considerably. However, the main concentration of designs is in a 10 by 4 km rectangle, where the most notable geoglyphs are visible.  

The number of known Nazca geoglyphs amounted to 358 in 2022 but new geoglyphs still continue to be found. For example, two small figures were found in 2011 including two in the shapes of a human head and an animal. One figure of a cat was discovered in 2020. 

When were they created?  
It is believed the Nazca Lines were created somewhere between 400 BC and 500 CE. Most of them were constructed more than 2,000 years ago by the people of the  Nazca culture (200 BC–500 CE) but some clearly predate the Nazca and are considered to be the work of the Paracas culture (400 BC- 200 BC) who lived before Nazca.   

How were they made? 
The geoglyphs were created by making depressions or shallow incisions on the desert floor, removing the upper layer of reddish-brown iron oxide-coated pebbles. This revealed a yellow-grey subsoil contrasting in colour and tone with the surrounding land surface, creating visible lines. The sub-layer contains high amounts of lime which, due to the moisture from the morning mist, hardens to form a protective layer preventing erosion by winds. 

How have they survived? 
Wondering, how the exposed designs have stayed intact for thousands of years? Well, the plateau is largely isolated and has a dry, rainless, windless and stable climate. That is why there has been very little erosion and these creations have been preserved naturally.  

When did they become public?  
The first mention of the Nazca Lines was done by Spanish conquistador, Pedro Cieza de León in his 1553 book. Here, he described them as trail markers. Although the lines were partially visible from nearby hills, Peruvian military and civilian pilots were the first to report them in the 20th century. In 1927 Peruvian archaeologist  Toribio Mejía Xesspe spotted them while he was hiking through the foothills. Paul Kosok, another American historian from Long Island University in New York, spotted them in 1941 from an airplane.  

The purpose of Nazca Lines  
Ever since their discovery, archaeologists, historians, and mathematicians have all tried to determine the purpose of the lines and they differ in their interpretations.  

Paul Kosok is credited as the first scholar who studied the Nazca Lines in-depth. He was joined by US archaeologist Richard P. Schaedel, and Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist from Lima. The team proposed that the figures were designed as astronomical markers on the horizon to show where the sun and other celestial bodies rose on significant dates. However, in 1967, the American astrophysicist Gerald Hawkins said that he found no correlation between changes in the celestial bodies and the design of the Nazca Lines. 

Some recent research, on the other hand, suggests that the Nazca Lines' purpose was related to water, a very important commodity in the dry lands of the Peruvian coastal plains. But these geoglyphs weren't used as an irrigation system or a guide to find water. Instead, they were part of a religious ritual for the gods in an effort to bring the much-needed rain. 

Though their purpose still remains a mystery, the Nazca Lines were designated in 1994 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.