The Nasca Lines:
A Case Study of Cult Archaeology
Location of Nazca

      The term Nazca lines refers to groups of ordered lines constructed 1500-2000 years ago by the Nazca culture in Peru.  They are located in the Pampa region of southwestern Peru; the 300 hundred line figures stretch over approximately 400 square miles of desert and are most clearly visible from the air.  They measure up to 1.2 miles in length. 

      Nazca lines are separated into two different kinds of designs: one group depicts pictorial figures (animals, birds, humans) and the other portrays abstract geometrical patterns (spirals and zigzags) called geoglyphs.  While other geoglyphs have been found in Egypt, Malta, California, Mississippi, Chile, and Bolivia, the Nasca lines are cited as the most famous and mysterious due to their number, characteristics, and size.  This has led to myriad hypothesis of their origin; these possible explanations will be examined below from first a cult archaeological and then a real archaeological perspective.


The Cult Archaeology Explanation  |  The Real Archaeology Explanation  |  Gallery of Nasca Line Images  |  References



The Cult Archaeology Explanation

 
      The Nazca Lines were made by removing hundreds of thousands of rocks to expose the light colored sand beneath.  It is a simple process, but one that is complex in its sheer magnitude and architectural design.  There obviously was a grand architectural plan behind the construction of the Nazca Lines.  This design required expansive knowledge of geometry, architecture, and the cosmos.  What most likely happened was that alien visitors came to this valley and saw that it would make an outstanding landing area as it is virtually flat and stretches out for miles; at this point they made contact with the primitive people in the region and instructed them to construct the Lines.  With alien technology, alien tools, alien expertise, and human laborers, the construction of this vast site was relatively easy.


      The straight Nazca Lines are likely an alien airfield while the geometric designs and animals and plants depicted were most likely signals to the heavenly visitors.  Even today, the lines are visible from satellites orbiting the earth.  The parallel lines and interval intersections are laid out in such a way that told otherworldly visitors that this is a suitable place to land.  It is not possible to say for certain that this was an airfield, "because there is no prehistoric iron.  Metals corrode in a few years; stone never corrodes" (Von Daniken 1968:33).  But it is also not possible to say that the lines weren't laid out to tell the "gods" that this is a great place to land.  Classical archaeologists say that the Nazca Lines were Incan roads.  This idea is ridiculous as these roads vary in size, they run in erratic directions, and they lead nowhere.  The only way to truly witness the beauty of the geometric and animal designs is from thousands of feet in the air.  From the ground the Nazca people would only see areas of light sand and areas of dark stones with no interrelation and no sense of the overall picture.  It would be absurd to think that people would create these immense designs with no audience.  The people in the Nazca region obviously knew that there were aliens above and this was their way of communicating with them.
 

      The Nazca Lines were obviously built by a highly advanced culture, but the people of the Nazca region living thousands of years ago were not skilled enough to build them.  Without modern equipment such as surveying tools and bulldozers to move the stones the lines would have taken decades to complete.  The people in this region were constantly struggling for survival in the harsh desert environment and to suggest that hundreds of individuals would work for tens of years to produce immense designs with no purpose is preposterous.  "Naturally typical Nazca pottery and ceramics are found here, too.  But it is surely oversimplifying things to attribute the geometrically arranged lines to the Nazca culture for that reason alone" (Von Daniken 1968: 32).  Now we do not know exactly who built the lines, but the fact that they are only visible from thousands of feet in the air, required manpower and technical expertise beyond that of the indigenous people, and that they resemble an airport landing strip makes it very probable that alien contact produced the Nazca Lines.

Return to Top  |  The Real Archaeology Explanation  |  Gallery of Nasca Line Images  |  References


The Real Archaeology Explanation
 

      Despite the elaborate nature and magnitude of size of the Nazca lines, true archaeology has discerned and recognized the feasibility of their construction by ancient Nazcans.  The ground in which the etchings were fashioned is dessert terrain, covered with layers of pebbles that contain ferrous oxide.  The top layer, exposed to sunlight for many centuries, chemically reacted to produce a dark color.  In contrast, the layers underneath maintain their naturally lighter color.  Thus by manipulating the removal of the top layer of pebbles, a contrast between light and dark layers can be obtained.  The images were preserved by chance due to the Nazcan climate, whose combination of dryness and flat stony ground (which 
minimizes wind effects) prevented their destruction by rain or wind erosion.  Simple use of string or a line of sticks for sightlines, as shown to the left, allowed for the preciseness observed in the lines.

      Many suggestions have been made as to what function the Nazca lines served for the Nazcan people.  Discarding one-sided cult archaeological explanations, several valid hypothesis have been put forth to explain their existence.  Maria Reiche, the first and most famous Nazca researcher, developed an astronomical theory that suggested the Nazca lines aligned with positions of the sun, moon, stars, and constellations.  This theory was rejected in 1968 by Gerald Hawkins’ research that found any astronomical correlation was due to chance and not intention.  With the end of Reiche’s hypothesis also went the associated astronomical calendric theory.  Other hypothesis which have been proposed but are not well supported today include Anthony Aveni’s water-cult explanation, Georg von Breunig’s sports stadium account, Hermann Bossi’s code hypothesis (connected to Stonehenge and crop circles as well), Henri Stierlin’s concept of a giant loom, and Albrecht Kottmann’s writing system notion.  There is no consensus as of yet, but it seems the different kinds of lines might have served different purposes; the straight lines have been suggested to be some sort of ceremonial roads, and the triangles/trapezoids seem to mark underground water veins.  The role of the spirals and animal figures, however, still remains very much in debate.

     Because the figures are only clearly visible for what they represent from the air and not from the ground, some cult archaeologists have argued that the Nazcans would not have been capable of constructing them.  True archaeologists have disproved this argument easily, pointing to mountain ranges that surround the lines, showing how easily the figures can be viewed from these elevated heights.  The picture at right illustrates both the surrounding mountains as well as the ability to see the lines from them.  Theories that require alien assistance to make these pictures are insulting to ancient Nazcan peoples; their popularity lies in allowing people today to feel superior as if they are more advanced than past people, but this idea of populations progressing through time is most definitely not valid.


Return to Top  |  The Cult Archaeology Explanation  |  Gallery of Nasca Line Images  |  References


Gallery of Nasca Line Images
Pictorial Figures  |  Geoglyphs

Pictorial Figures
 


Astronaut
 Bird
 Candelabra
 Flower





Dog
 Hummingbird
 Leech Man
 Manos (Man)





Monkey
 Spider
 Tree
 Whale
 
Geoglyphs
 

Straight Lines
 Radiating Lines
 Spiral
 Trapezoid


Return to Top  |  The Cult Archaeology Explanation  |  The Real Archaeology Explanation  |  References


 References
 
Chang, G.  "Nazca Lines."  Discovery Channel.  October 12, 1999.
http://exn.ca/mysticplaces/deitiesandpilgrimages.asp

Crystal, E.  "Nasca Lines."
http://www.crystalinks.com/nasca.html

"Nazca."
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/south/cultures/nazca.html

Von Daniken, E.
1968   Chariot of the Gods? Unsolved Mysteries of the Past.  New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1968.  pp. 32-35.

WorldMysteries.com. "Nazca Lines - Theories."
http://www.world-mysteries.com/mpl_1_2.htm
 
This page was created as an assignment for Archaeology 301: Myth and Reality at the University of Notre Dame.
Please feel free to email either Mary Aimonovitch or Colin Quinn if you have any questions on this topic.