Ancient Aliens: Nasca Lines in Perú

Most everyone is familiar with them, even if you didn’t know what they were called or know much about them. The Lineas de Nasca are a bunch of lines and shapes out in the high deserts of southern Perú.

Lineas de Nasca

If you were walking on the ground and came across one of these giant geoliths, you might see it but you would not recognize it for what it was. It wasn’t until WWII, when planes started flying over the area, that we realized these lines formed shapes and patterns.

Those that form pictures are most famous but there are many straight lines and simple geometric shapes as well. Current estimates are that there are some 160,000 of these lines and shapes that have been discovered and documented so far.

Since the Nasca and Palpa civilizations vanished and left little behind, archaeologists have to piece together the mystery of how and why they were built.

At first, they were thought to be attempts at digging irrigation canals. Being west of the Andes mountains, this area is among the driest on earth. Few rain clouds can make over the imposing mountain range.

The fact that the lines run in many different directions defied explanation until the more complex shapes were discovered.

Current theory is that these were made as offerings to the gods. Potentially a combination of entertainment to please the fickle gods and also giant, outdoor worship spaces. There is now a great deal of very solid evidence backing this theory.

Less understood is how they were made.

For example, many of these lines are laser beam straight — at least one of them for over four miles — across very rough, uneven terrain. Or the more complex shapes which are so large you can only identify them from the air.

Some of the combinations of very simple straight lines are now thought to depict threads on a loom, being woven into fabric. Others have been shown to map constellations and connect stars. (This latter discovery has led conspiracy theorists to speculate that the Nasca Lines were created by aliens and are a sort of star map.)

The lines themselves are just tiny ditches, rarely more than a few inches deep, carved into the desert floor. It is because this terrain is so arid that they have lasted so long and are so well preserved.

The Nasca culture lived in this area from roughly 100BC to about 700CE. The less-famous Palpa culture is even older. Both made these giant geoliths.

(Note: All photos of Nasca Lines, including my own, are heavily edited to bring out the contrast. While the lines are easily seen with the naked eye, they generally do not show up well in photos. This is due to low contrast between the lines and the unaltered surrounding desert.)