Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines /ˈnæzkɑː/ are a group of very large geoglyphs formed by depressions or shallow incisions made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.[1] They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE.[2]

Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Aerial photograph of one of the Nazca lines, taken in July 2015. In this photo appears the line named "The monkey"
LocationNazca Desert, Peru
CriteriaCultural: i, iii, iv
Reference700
Inscription1994 (18th session)
Area75,358.47 ha
Coordinates14°43′S 75°08′W
Location of Nazca Lines in Peru

Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants, made up of lines. The individual figurative geoglyph designs measure between 0.4 and 1.1 km (.2 and .7 mi) across. The combined length of all the lines is over 1,300 km (808 mi), and the group cover an area of about 50 km2 (19 sq mi). The lines are typically 10 to 15 cm (4 to 6 in) deep. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown iron oxide-coated pebbles to reveal a yellow-grey subsoil.[3][2] The width of the lines varies considerably, but over half are slightly over one-third meter (just over 1 foot) wide.[1][4] In some places they may be only a foot (30.5 cm) wide, and in others reach 6 feet (1.8 m) wide.[1]

Some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air (~1,500 ft, 457 m), though they are visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places.[5][6][7] The shapes are usually made from one continuous line. The largest ones are about 370 m (1,200 ft) long.[8] Because of its isolation and the dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau, the lines have mostly been preserved naturally. Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs. As of 2012, the lines are said to have been deteriorating because of an influx of squatters inhabiting the lands.[9]

The figures vary in complexity. Hundreds are simple lines and geometric shapes; more than 70 are zoomorphic designs of animals such as a hummingbird, spider, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers.[2] Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general, they ascribe religious significance to them.[10][11][12][13] They were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.

Location

The high, arid plateau stretches more than 80 km (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana, approximately 400 km (250 mi) south of Lima, roughly matching the main PE-1S Panamericana Sur. The main concentration is in a 10 by 4 km (6 mi by 2 mi) rectangle, south of San Miguel de la Pascana hamlet. In this area, the most notable geoglyphs are visible.

Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture.

History

The first published mention of the Nazca Lines was by Pedro Cieza de León in his book of 1553, and he mistook them for trail markers.[14]

In 1586, Luis Monzón reported having seen ancient ruins in Peru, including the remains of "roads".[15] Although the lines were partially visible from the nearby hills, the first to report them were Peruvian military and civilian pilots.

In 1927 the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe spotted them while he was hiking through the foothills. He discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939.[16]

Paul Kosok, an American historian from Long Island University, is credited as the first scholar to study the Nazca Lines at length. In Peru in 1940–41 to study ancient irrigation systems, he flew over the lines and realized one was in the shape of a bird. Another chance observation helped him see how lines converged at the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. He began to study how the lines might have been created, as well as to try to determine their purpose. He was joined by archaeologist Richard P. Schaedel from the United States, and Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist from Lima, to help determine the purpose of the Nazca Lines. They proposed one of the earliest reasons for the existence of the figures: to be markers on the horizon to show where the sun and other celestial bodies rose on significant dates. Archaeologists, historians, and mathematicians have all tried to determine the purpose of the lines.

Determining how they were made has been easier than determining why they were made. Scholars have theorized the Nazca people could have used simple tools and surveying equipment to construct the lines. Archaeological surveys have found wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines, which supports this theory. One such stake was carbon-dated and was the basis for establishing the age of the design complex.

Refuting the hypothesis of Erich von Däniken [17] that the lines had to have been created by "ancient astronauts", prominent skeptic Joe Nickell has reproduced the figures using tools and technology available to the Nazca people. Scientific American called his work "remarkable in its exactness" when compared to the existing lines.[18] With careful planning and simple technologies, Nickell proved that a small team of people could recreate even the largest figures within days, without any aerial assistance.[19]

Most of the lines are formed on the ground by a shallow trench with a depth between 10 and 15 cm (4 and 6 in). Such trenches were made by removing the reddish-brown iron oxide-coated pebbles that cover the surface of the Nazca Desert. When this gravel is removed, the light-colored clay earth exposed in the bottom of the trench produces lines and contrasts sharply in color and tone with the surrounding land surface. This sub-layer contains high amounts of lime which, with the morning mist, hardens to form a protective layer that shields the lines from winds, thereby preventing erosion.

The Nazca "drew" several hundred simple, but huge, curvilinear animal and human figures by this technique. In total, the earthwork project is huge and complex: the area encompassing the lines is nearly 450 km2 (170 sq mi), and the largest figures can span nearly 370 m (1,200 ft).[8] Some figures have been measured: the hummingbird is 93 m (305 ft) long, the condor is 134 m (440 ft), the monkey is 93 by 58 m (305 by 190 ft), and the spider is 47 m (154 ft). The extremely dry, windless, and constant climate of the Nazca region has preserved the lines well. This desert is one of the driest on Earth and maintains a temperature near 25 °C (77 °F) year round. The lack of wind has helped keep the lines uncovered and visible.

The discovery of two new small figures was announced in early 2011 by a Japanese team from Yamagata University. One of these resembles a human head and is dated to the early period of Nazca culture or earlier, and the other, undated, is an animal. In March 2012, the university announced a new research center would be opened at the site in September 2012 to study the area for the next 15 years. The team has been conducting fieldwork there since 2006, when it had found approximately 100 new geoglyphs.[20][21]

A June 2019 article in Smithsonian describes recent work by a multidisciplinary team of Japanese researchers who identified/re-identified some of the birds depicted.[22] They note that birds are the most-depicted animals in the Nasca geoglyphs, and believe that some of the bird images that previous researchers assumed to be indigenous species more closely resemble exotic birds found in non-desert habitats. They speculated that "The reason exotic birds were depicted in the geoglyphs instead of indigenous birds is closely related to the purpose of the etching process."[23]

The discovery of 143 new geoglyphs was announced in 2019 by Yamagata University and IBM Japan,[24] one of which was found using machine learning based methods.[25]

Purpose
Nazca Lines seen from SPOT Satellite

Anthropologists, ethnologists, and archaeologists have studied the ancient Nazca culture to try to determine the purpose of the lines and figures. One hypothesis is that the Nazca people created them to be seen by deities in the sky.

Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche advanced a purpose related to astronomy and cosmology, as has been common in other cultures: the lines were intended to act as a kind of observatory, to point to the places on the distant horizon where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set in the solstices. Many prehistoric indigenous cultures in the Americas and elsewhere constructed earthworks that combined such astronomical sighting with their religious cosmology, as did the late Mississippian culture at Cahokia and other sites in present-day United States. Another example is Stonehenge in England.

Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni, experts in archaeoastronomy, concluded in 1990 that the evidence was insufficient to support such an astronomical explanation.[26]

Maria Reiche asserted that some or all of the figures represented constellations. By 1998, Phyllis B. Pitluga, a protégé of Reiche and senior astronomer at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, had concluded that the animal figures were "representations of heavenly shapes." According to The New York Times, Pitluga "contends they are not shapes of constellations, but of what might be called counter constellations, the irregularly-shaped dark patches within the twinkling expanse of the Milky Way."[27] Anthony Aveni criticized her work for failing to account for all the details.

Alberto Rossell Castro (1977) proposed a multi-functional interpretation of the geoglyphs. He classified them into three groups: the first appeared to be tracks connected to irrigation and field division, the second are lines that are axes connected with mounds and cairns, and the third was linked to astronomical interpretations.[28]

In 1985, archaeologist Johan Reinhard published archaeological, ethnographic, and historical data demonstrating that worship of mountains and other water sources predominated in Nazca religion and economy from ancient to recent times. He theorized that the lines and figures were part of religious practices involving the worship of deities associated with the availability of water, which directly related to the success and productivity of crops. He interpreted the lines as sacred paths leading to places where these deities could be worshiped. The figures were symbols representing animals and objects meant to invoke the aid of the deities in supplying water. The precise meanings of many of the individual geoglyphs remain unknown.

Henri Stierlin, a Swiss art historian specializing in Egypt and the Middle East, published a book in 1983 linking the Nazca Lines to the production of ancient textiles that archeologists have found wrapping mummies of the Paracas culture.[29] He contended that the people may have used the lines and trapezes as giant, primitive looms to fabricate the extremely long strings and wide pieces of textiles typical of the area. According to his theory, the figurative patterns (smaller and less common) were meant only for ritualistic purposes. This theory is not widely accepted, although scholars have noted similarities in patterns between the textiles and the Nazca Lines. They interpret these similarities as arising from the common culture.

The first systematic field study of the geoglyphs was made by Markus Reindel and Johny Cuadrado Island. Since 1996, they have documented and excavated more than 650 sites. They compared the iconography of the lines to ceramics of the cultures. As archeologists, they believe that the figurative motifs of geoglyphs can be dated to having been made between 600 and 200 BCE.[30]

Based on the results of geophysical investigations and the observation of geological faults, Johnson argued that some geoglyphs followed the paths of aquifers from which aqueducts (or puquios) collected water.[31]

Nicola Masini and Giuseppe Orefici have conducted research in Pampa de Atarco (at about 10 km south of Pampa de Nasca), which they believe reveals a spatial, functional and religious relationship between these geoglyphs and the temples of Cahuachi.[32] In particular, using remote sensing techniques (from satellite to drone based remote sensing), they investigated and found "five groups of geoglyphs, each of them characterized by a specific motif and shape, and associated with a distinct function."[33] They identified a ceremonial one, characterized by meandering motifs. Another is related to calendrical purpose, as proved by the presence of radial centers aligned along the directions of winter solstice and equinox sunset. As have earlier scholars, the two Italians believe that the geoglyphs were the venues of events linked to the agriculture calendar. These also served to strengthen social cohesion among various groups of pilgrims, sharing common ancestors and religious beliefs.[34]

Alternative explanations
Satellite picture of an area containing lines: north is to the right (coordinates: 14°43′S 75°08′W)

Other theories were that the geometric lines could indicate water flow or irrigation schemes, or be a part of rituals to "summon" water. The spiders, birds, and plants may be fertility symbols. It also has been theorized that the lines could act as an astronomical calendar.[35]

Phyllis Pitluga, senior astronomer at the Adler Planetarium and a protégé of Reiche, performed computer-aided studies of star alignments. She asserted the giant spider figure is an anamorphic diagram of the constellation Orion. She further suggested that three of the straight lines leading to the figure were used to track the changing declinations of the three stars of Orion's Belt. In a critique of her analysis, Dr. Anthony F. Aveni noted she did not account for the other 12 lines of the figure.

He commented generally on her conclusions, saying:

I really had trouble finding good evidence to back up what she contended. Pitluga never laid out the criteria for selecting the lines she chose to measure, nor did she pay much attention to the archaeological data Clarkson and Silverman had unearthed. Her case did little justice to other information about the coastal cultures, save applying, with subtle contortions, Urton's representations of constellations from the highlands. As historian Jacquetta Hawkes might ask: was she getting the pampa she desired?[36]

Jim Woodmann[37] theorized that the Nazca lines could not have been made without some form of flight to observe the figures properly. Based on his study of available technology, he suggests a hot-air balloon was the only possible means of flight at the time of construction. To test this hypothesis, Woodmann made a hot-air balloon using materials and techniques he understood to have been available to the Nazca people. The balloon flew, after a fashion. Most scholars have rejected Woodmann's thesis as ad hoc,[19] because of the lack of any evidence of such balloons.[38]

Preservation and environmental concerns

People trying to preserve the Nazca Lines are concerned about threats of pollution and erosion caused by deforestation in the region.

The Lines themselves are superficial, they are only 10 to 30 cm deep and could be washed away... Nazca has only ever received a small amount of rain. But now there are great changes to the weather all over the world. The Lines cannot resist heavy rain without being damaged.

— Viktoria Nikitzki of the Maria Reiche Centre[39]

After flooding and mudslides in the area in mid-February 2007, Mario Olaechea Aquije, archaeological resident from Peru's National Institute of Culture, and a team of specialists surveyed the area. He said, "[T]he mudslides and heavy rains did not appear to have caused any significant damage to the Nazca Lines". He noted that the nearby Southern Pan-American Highway did suffer damage, and "the damage done to the roads should serve as a reminder to just how fragile these figures are."[40]

In 2012, squatters occupied land in the area, damaging a Nazca-era cemetery and allowing their pigs to have access to some of the land.

In 2013, machinery used in a limestone quarry was reported to have destroyed a small section of a line, and caused damage to another.[41]

In December 2014, Greenpeace activists irreparably damaged the Nazca Lines while setting up a banner within the lines of one of the famed geoglyphs. The activists damaged an area around the hummingbird by grinding rocks into the sandy soil. Access to the area around the lines is strictly prohibited[42][43] and special shoes must be worn to avoid damaging the UN World Heritage site. Greenpeace claimed the activists were "absolutely careful to protect the Nazca lines".[44] This is contradicted by video and photographs showing the activists wearing conventional shoes (i.e. not special protective shoes) while walking on the site.[45][46] Greenpeace has apologized to the Peruvian people,[47] but Luis Jaime Castillo, Peru's vice minister of cultural heritage, called the apology "a joke", because Greenpeace initially refused to identify the vandals or accept responsibility.[48] Culture Minister Diana Alvarez-Calderon said that evidence gathered during an investigation by the government would be used as part of a legal suit against Greenpeace. "The damage done is irreparable and the apologies offered by the environmental group aren't enough," she said at a news conference.[42] Facing increasing pressure, Greenpeace later released the identities of four of the activists involved.[49] One of the activists, Wolfgang Sadik, was eventually fined and given a suspended prison sentence for his role in the incident.[50]

The Greenpeace incident also directed attention to other damage to geoglyphs outside of the World Heritage area caused in 2012 and 2013 by off-road vehicles of the Dakar Rally,[51] which is visible from satellite imagery.[52]

In January 2018, an errant truck driver was arrested but later released for lack of evidence indicating any intent other than a simple error. He had damaged three of the geoglyphs by leaving substantial tire marks across an area of approximately 150 by 350 feet (46 m by 107 m).[53]

Palpas glyphs

The Paracas culture is considered by some historians to be the possible precursor that influenced the development of the Nazca Lines. In 2018, drones used by archaeologists revealed 25 geoglyphs in the Palpa province that are being assigned to the Paracas culture. Many predate the associated Nazca lines by a thousand years. Some demonstrate a significant difference in the subjects and locations, such as some being on hillsides.[54] Their co-discoverer, Peruvian archaeologist Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, indicates that many of these newly discovered geoglyphs represent warriors.[55] The Paracas is the same group which some believe created the well-known geoglyph known as the Paracas Candelabra.

Chinchas glyphs

Further north from the Nazca, Palpas region and along the Peruvian coast are other glyphs from the Chincha culture that have also been discovered.[56]

Images
  • The Spider
  • The Tree
  • The Hummingbird
  • The Condor
  • The Whale
  • The Giant
  • The Pelican
  • The Dog
  • The Monkey
  • The Heron
  • Phytomorphic glyphs
  • Hands
  • The Flower

See also

Notes
  1. Sebastian Dorsch; Jutta Vinzent (2017). SpatioTemporalities on the Line: Representations-Practices-Dynamics. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. pp. 97–. ISBN 978-3-11-046578-5.
  2. "Nazca Lines". Guía Go2peru. 2017-02-22. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
  3. "The Nasca Lines Are One of Peru's Mysteries". 2010-11-08. Retrieved 2018-10-29.
  4. Anthony F. Aveni (1990). The Lines of Nazca. American Philosophical Society.
  5. Gardner's Art Through the Ages: Ancient, medieval, and non-European art. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich; 1991. ISBN 978-0-15-503770-0.
  6. Hinman, Bonnie (2016).Mystery of the Nazca Lines. ABDO; ISBN 978-1-68077-242-5. pp. 6–.
  7. Anthony F. Aveni (2000). Between the Lines: The Mystery of the Giant Ground Drawings of Ancient Nasca, Peru. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-70496-1. pp. 88–.
  8. Golomb, Jason. "Nasca Lines – The Sacred Landscape". National Geographic. National Geographic. Retrieved 23 August 2016.
  9. Taj, Mitra (August 15, 2012). "Pigs and squatters threaten Peru's Nazca lines". Reuters. Retrieved August 15, 2012.
  10. Helaine Selin (2013). Nature Across Cultures: Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures. Springer Science & Business Media; ISBN 978-94-017-0149-5. pp. 286–.
  11. Richard A. Freund (2016). Digging Through History: Archaeology and Religion from Atlantis to the Holocaust. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-0883-4. pp. 22–.
  12. Mary Strong (2012). Art, Nature, and Religion in the Central Andes: Themes and Variations from Prehistory to the Present. University of Texas Press. ISBN 978-0-292-73571-2. pp. 33–.
  13. Religion and the Environment. Palgrave Macmillan UK; 2016. ISBN 978-0-230-28634-4. pp. 110–.
  14. page 141 Pedro Cieza de León, La Chronica del Peru (The chronicle of Peru), (Antwerp, (Belgium): Martin Nucio, 1554), p. 141. Note: Cieza discussed the Nazca region of Peru and said that "y por algunas partes delos arenales se veen señales, paraque atinen el camino que han de lleuar" ("and in some parts of the desert are seen signals, so that they [i.e., the Indians] find the path that has to be taken").
  15. Luis Monzón (1586) "Descripcion de la tierra del repartimiento de los rucanas antamarcas de la corona real, jurisdicion de la ciudad de Guamanga. año de 1586." in: Marcos Jiménez de la Espada, ed., Relaciones geográficas de Indias: Peru, volume 1 (Madrid, Spain: Manuel G. Hernandez, 1881), pp. 197–216. On page 210, Munzón notes seeing ancient ruins, including "y hay señales de calles" ("and there are signs of streets"). Munzón asked elderly Indians about the ruins. They told him that before the Incas, a people whom "llamaron viracochas" ("they called viracochas") inhabited the area, and "A éstos les hacian caminos, que hoy dia son vistos, tan anchos como una calle" ("To those [places] they made paths, that are seen today, as wide as a street").
  16. Mejía Xesspe, Toribio (1939) "Acueductos y caminos antiguos de la hoya del Río Grande de Nazca" (Aqueducts and ancient roads of the Rio Grand valley in Nazca), Actas y Trabajos Cientificos del 27 Congreso Internacional de Americanistas (Proceedings and scientific works of the 27th international congress of American anthropologists), 1: 559–569.
  17. von Däniken, Erich (1969). Chariots of the Gods? (1989 ed.). London: Souvenir Press, Ltd. pp. 30–32. ISBN 978-0-285-62911-0.
  18. Nickell, Joe (2005). Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past, The University Press of Kentucky ISBN 978-0-8131-9137-9, pp. 13–16
  19. Katherine Reece, "Grounding the Nasca Balloon" Archived 2013-10-08 at the Wayback Machine, Into the Hall of Ma'at website
  20. "Team finds more Peru geoglyphs". Japan Times. Jan 20, 2011. Archived from the original on 2012-07-15. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  21. "University to open center at Nazca Lines". Japan Times. March 22, 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-03-26. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  22. "Scientists Identify Exotic Birds Depicted in Peru’s Mysterious Nazca Lines"
  23. Eda, Masaki; Yamasaki, Takeshi; Sakai, Masato (20 June 2019). "Identifying the bird figures of the Nasca pampas: An ornithological perspective". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 26 (August 2019): 101875. doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2019.101875.
  24. "143 New Geoglyphs Discovered on the Nasca Pampa and Surrounding Area". Yamagata University. 15 November 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  25. https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/19/20970578/nazca-lines-ai-machine-learning-143-new-geoglyphs-ibm-japan-yamagata-university
  26. Cameron, Ian (1990). Kingdom of the Sun God: A History of the Andes and Their People. New York: Facts on File. p. 46. ISBN 0-8160-2581-9.
  27. Robert McG. Thomas Jr, "Maria Reiche, 95, Keeper of an Ancient Peruvian Puzzle, Dies", The New York Times, 15 June 1998
  28. Rossel Castro, Albert (1977) Arqueología Sur del Perú, Lima: Editorial Universo
  29. Stierlin (1983)
  30. Reindel and Wagner, 2009
  31. Johnson et al. (2002).
  32. Masini et al. 2016
  33. Masini et al. (2016). p. 239; Masini & Lasaponara
  34. Masini et al. (2016). p. 277
  35. Brown, Cynthia Stokes (2007). Big History. New York: The New Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-59558-196-9.
  36. Aveni, Anthony F. (2006). Between the Lines: The Mystery of the Giant Ground Drawings of Ancient Nasca, Peru . Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-70496-8 p. 205
  37. "The Theory of Jim Woodman - Science in the Sand". Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  38. Haughton (2007)
  39. "Shafik Meghji, Flooding and tourism threaten Peru's mysterious Nazca Lines", The Independent, July 17, 2004. Accessed April 02, 2007.
  40. Living in Peru. "Peru: Nazca Lines escape mudslides", Living in Peru, February 20, 2007. Accessed April 02, 2007.
  41. Manuel Vigo (2013-03-14). "Peru: Heavy machinery destroys Nazca lines". Peru this Week. Archived from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
  42. Kozak, Robert (2014-12-14). "Peru Says Greenpeace Permanently Damaged Nazca Lines". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-02-03.
  43. Neuman, William (12 December 2014). "Peru is Indignant After Greenpeace Makes Its Mark on Ancient Site". The New York Times. Retrieved 13 December 2014.
  44. Briceno, Franklin (December 9, 2014). "Peru Riled by Greenpeace Stunt at Nazca Lines". Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  45. "Video of Greenpeace Nazca Lines Protest". Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  46. Vice News: "Drone Footage Shows Extent of Damage From Greenpeace Stunt at Nazca Lines" By Kayla Ruble December 17, 2014
  47. "Greenpeace sorry for Nazca lines stunt in Peru". December 11, 2014. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
  48. "Greenpeace Won't Name Activists Linked to Damage". 16 December 2014. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014.
  49. "Greenpeace identifies four suspects linked to protest at famed Nazca Lines site". January 21, 2015. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  50. "Greenpeace activist fined, sentenced for damaging Nazca Lines in Peru". May 20, 2017. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  51. Dube, Ryan; Kozak, Robert (29 December 2014). "Peruvians Spar Over Protecting Ancient Sites". The Wall Street Journal.
  52. Hesse R. "Combining Structure-from-Motion with high and intermediate resolution satellite images to document threats to archaeological heritage in arid environments". Journal of Cultural Heritage 16 (2015), pp. 192–201
  53. Rosenberg, Eli (Feb 1, 2018). "A truck driver inexplicably plowed over a 2,000-year-old site in Peru, damaging the designs". Washington Post.
  54. Greshko, Michael, Exclusive: "Massive Ancient Drawings Found in Peruvian Desert", National Geographic, 5 April 2018
  55. www.reuters.com
  56. www.pnas.org

References
  • Aveni, Anthony F. (ed.) (1990). The Lines of Nazca. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0-87169-183-3
  • Feder, Kenneth L. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. 6th ed., Oxford University Press, 2008.
  • Haughton, Brian (2007). Hidden History: Lost Civilizations, Secret Knowledge, and Ancient Mysteries. Career Press. ISBN 1-56414-897-1
  • Johnson, Emma (2007). The 'Mysterious' Nazca Lines. PARA Web Bibliography B-01.
  • Johnson, D. W., Proulx. D. A., Mabee, S. B. (2002). The correlation between geoglyphs and subterranean water resources in the Rio Grande de Nasca drainage. In Silvermann H. & Isbell W. H. (Ed.), Andean Archaeology II: art, landscape, and society. New York, Kluwer Academic, pp. 307–332.
  • Kosok, Paul (1965). Life, Land and Water in Ancient Peru, Brooklyn: Long Island University Press.
  • Lambers, Karsten (2006). The Geoglyphs of Palpa, Peru: Documentation, Analysis, and Interpretation. Lindensoft Verlag, Aichwald/Germany. ISBN 3-929290-32-4
  • Masini, Nicola, Orefici, Giuseppe, Danese, M., Pecci, A., Scavone, M., Lasaponara, R. (2016). Cahuachi and Pampa de Atarco: Towards Greater Comprehension of Nasca Geoglyphs. In: Lasaponara R., Masini N., Orefici G. (Eds). The Ancient Nasca World New Insights from Science and Archaeology. Springer International Publishing, pp. 239–278.
  • Masini, N.,Lasaponara, R.(2019), Satellite and close range analysis for the surveillance and knowledge improvement of the Nasca geoglyphs. Remote Sensing of Environment, 236, Article number 111447
  • Nickell, Joe (1983). Skeptical Inquirer The Nazca Lines Revisited: Creation of a Full-Sized Duplicate.
  • Reindel, Marcus, Wagner, Günther A. (2009) (Eds.) New Technologies for Archaeology: Multidisciplinary Investigations in Nasca and Palpa, Peru. Springer, Heidelberg, Berlin
  • Reinhard, Johan (1996) (6th ed.) The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on their Origin and Meaning. Lima: Los Pinos. ISBN 84-89291-17-9
  • Sauerbier, Martin (2009). GIS-based Management and Analysis of the Geoglyphs in the Palpa Region. ETH doi:10.3929/ethz-a-005940066.
  • Stierlin, Henri (1983). La Clé du Mystère. Paris: Albin Michel. ISBN 2-226-01864-6
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