Michael Ferrer

Anthropology 350

Professor Giesso

Final Research Paper

The Nazca Lines

The Nazca Lines have been a mystery for over half a century since their discovery.

These lines or geoglyphs are located throughout the Nazca Valley, both within the areas of Nasca

and the Pampas. I must point out that the civilization was named Nazca as in with the context on

the “z” when referring to the peoples. The “s” as in the Nasca was utilized for the further context

of identifying the region where these people and the geoglyphs were located at. Since their

discovery, several archaeologists, anthropologists, mathematicians, astrophysicists, astrologists,

physicists and among other scientists have conducted ongoing studies and research, for many

years they have wondered what was the purpose of these lines also known as geoglyphs.

Scientists have gone through many lengths to understand and find the true meaning of these lines

and as to the culture that created two thousand years ago who surprisingly disappeared without

trace from history.

The lifestyle of these people is shrouded in obscurity, but thanks to the findings of

archaeologists, they have been able to gather ancient pottery, textiles and among other artifacts

that date back to the peoples of Nazca and as far back as to their predecessors or ancestors. In

relative terms as to their religion, it has been found that they worshipped gods represented in the

form animals, which in fact were animals that these peoples hunted back when the Valley of

Nazca was luscious and teeming with life, until the severe weather finished with nearly every

natural resource these people used in their daily life.

When food and other resources became scarce they were forced from one settlement area

to the next. The Nazca culture engaged in religious ceremonies on daily basis, but in times of

great hardship for example there was a drought they would go to the area where the Nazca lines

were located and perform “prayer walks”, sacrificing animals to their individual gods in order to

ask them for their help depending on the difficulties they were facing.

In terms of the ancient Nazca warfare, it can be said that the societies that lived in these

times might have been in war in order to gain more territories, took prisoners for sacrifices for

the purpose of religious ceremonies and even placed these sacrificial victims inside of tombs,

they would take the severed heads of conquered enemies as a very powerful religious symbol

and as a symbol of triumph over their enemies. Through war distinguished individuals would be

granted ranks within their society. Finally, in class we have talked about several topics that are

correlated with my research topic and they will be thoroughly applied in this paper.

Research Questions

During my research I came up with a set of questions that helped me develop this

research on the topic at hand. The first question would be what was the purpose of building

these geoglyphs or lines? The Nazca Lines are spread all over the Nazca Region which are

located in two areas: the Nasca and the Pampas. The geoglyphs have the forms of different

animals and have many amusing geometric shapes which were perfectly carved on the soil of the

Pampas. Archaeologists have different theories as to the building of these geoglyphs and some

of these are: runways or pathways for UFOs or unidentified flying objects, served as an

astronomical or astrological calendar pointing the precise location of celestial bodies or stars, a

stage for performing religious ceremonies such as the “prayer walks” to appease the rain gods, as

suggested and observed by Maria Reiche and her colleagues these lines served as a calendar to

keep track of the lunar and solar eclipses as well as the summer and winter solstice.

Others suggest that these lines were made by means of underground water canals built

long ago by the peoples of Nazca in order to cause irrigation as the water resources came from

up the frozen highlands of the Andes.

The second question that I developed was who were the peoples that built the Nazca

Lines or geoglyphs? The culture of the peoples of Nazca started on what is classified as the Early

Intermediate Period and parts into five other periods which will be mentioned on the next

research question. Thanks to artifacts found by archaeologists we have been able learn about

their lifestyle, religion, society, and warfare.

These people lived throughout the Valley of Nazca which covered area of Pampas, and

Nazca. The atmosphere in which they lived in was the Valley of Nasca which used to be

abundant with several river streams, different types of plants and animals that the people of

ancient Nasca hunted or domesticated and these included: sea lion, “orca” or killer whales, birds

as the eagle, owl, seagulls (probably), shellfish, lobsters, crayfish, rabbits, guanaco, and among

others.

A few of the animals that they might have domesticated were animals such as the llama,

the alpaca, and the guanaco. Plants used as food sources were: wild berries, sweet yams, and

maize or corn which in fact was used better said its fibers were used to make textiles for both

men and women. From the animals they hunted some of these represented their gods some of

the most prominent animal gods were: the owl, winged-monkey, canines such as the coyote or

maybe even the wolf and among others.

Ceramic artifacts were made as in for example pottery was made with an identifiable

symbol for instance the corn god. A ceramic vessel was made in the likeness of corn to invoke

the corn god to make their corn harvest and other agricultural resources they depended on to

flourish. Their religion played a very prominent role in their lifestyle.

The third of the questions is which were the time periods or eras in which these people

lived in by looking back two thousand years ago? The beginning of the Nazca culture initiated

during the Early Intermediate Period and separated into five other periods which are: Proto

Nazca Period (1100 BC- 1 AD), Early Nazca Period ( from period 2-4 to 1-450 AD), Middle

Nazca Period ( from period 5 to 450-550 AD), and last but not least the Late Nazca Period ( from

period 6-7 to 550-750 AD). It is not well-known as to why these people lasted such short

amounts of time because there are very little indications to their sudden disappearance, but

strangely enough it can be put into account that by the time that the Spanish “conquistadores”

reached South America the Nazca culture had already vanished without a trace.

There have been several ideas or theories as to what might have finished such a complex

yet diverse culture. It has been suggested that they might have died by a plague of a deadly

disease, their society might have been absolved by the rapid spreading flames of war.

Archaeologists found in the Pyramid of the Sun which was built by the Moche civilization,

several human sacrifices which might have been an indication that these people were facing a lot

hardships and sacrificed all these people both voluntarily and involuntarily in a desperate attempt

to appease their gods in order for their situation to improve, but in the end this was not enough as

the Moche civilization ended disappearing.

Could the same scenario that fell in the Moche civilization fall on the peoples of Nazca?

Not much is known except for what little human remains have been found by archaeologists up

until this point it is very hard to tell the reason as to why the great civilization of the Nazca

disappeared so unexpectedly from pages of history.

The forth question would be what were some of the contributions that the people of

Nazca did within their society? The contributions that the peoples of Nazca do for their society

were set of different things that are classified in a set of ways: through their religion, engineering

feats such as the geoglyphs throughout the Nazca Valley, the amazing pottery which helps us

interpret and understand their way of life and what happened in it, their impressive textiles which

have been in perfect condition which have dated back 2000 years, but yet the condition in which

they have been found makes these textiles seem as if they had been made in today’s time. Their

warfare though not much is known except for what the ceramic pottery has told archaeologists

while under observation, it tells of battles in which the Nazca soldiers take their severed heads

and use them or present them as “trophy heads” which are seen as a symbol of dominance and

respect within the Nasca culture.

War might have provided them with more territories to expand their society, but it also

could have played the role of gathering sacrificial victims, which were POWs or prisoners of war

in which after their capture in battle would have been brought to a temple, lined up and would be

executed one by one in a religious ceremony in which their blood would be offered to the gods as

a sacrifice to appease their demand of blood. They would be executed in several manners which

were quite gruesome things such as: beheading or a smooth cut to the throat. The peoples of

Nazca built great temples but not a whole lot like other ancient civilizations did before or close

to their time.

These temples would built at the top of hills in order to overlook the horizon of the

coming sun where they believed would be most appropriate to build their temples as they

believed the gods would be able to observe them closely and clearly while out in the open of the

valleys which was sanctified as hollowed ground and at times only the religious officials would

be allowed in, though the peasants would be permitted to enter these temples of great festivities

or celebrations, or maybe in time of great grief and need of the gods’ assistance. But the people

of Nazca’s greatest contribution to their society would be famous geoglyphs as they would serve

and provide the people with an area with great span of religious ceremonies and among other

things.

These geoglyphs according to experts could have served as grounds for religious

ceremonies in which the people would be visiting constantly and these geoglyphs might have

overseen a lot of religious activity back in its time. There are those who suggest that these

geoglyphs served as a means of runways for extraterrestrial aircrafts as it has been observed by

those that follow this theory that the lines or geoglyphs are so perfectly aligned that this theory

seemed to sort of fit for grounds of extraterrestrial beings visiting the Earth back in ancient times

as claimed by the followers of the famous Von Danikens theories.

But archaeologists have been able to find evidence which supports the claim of these

geoglyphs serving as grounds for religious ceremonies, they were able to find through the

geoglyphs broken fragments of pottery dating back to different timelines and cultures which

seems as a clear indication that these people might have performed religious ceremonies within

the geoglyhps. There are other theories that claim that the geolyphs at the Pampas and Nazca

areas correlate with the precise position of celestial bodies.

Then there is another theory that claims that the Nazca Lines might have served as a

calendar to keep track of the different seasons, a calendar that locks onto the summer and winter

solstice and that they also might have narrowed down the possible occurrence of both solar and

lunar eclipses.

The fifth question states that what was their legacy? In today’s time how have the Nazca

Lines been applied if in any way justifiable? It is very hard to tell what the people of Nazca’s

legacy was as they did not keep any written records which could be used to find a possible

answer as to what would their legacy be, but it can be assumed that by examining the ceramic

pottery that connects to lives of these peoples and the stories they tell about them. The pottery

and geoglyphs teach us about their religion, the pottery in particular is a sense a gateway into the

past which tells us what these people did, where they lived, what they did, what animals were

used as food resources and which might have been domesticated, what plants were eaten and

used for medicinal purposes, what life back in their time, what problems they were facing, it

explains in apart about their warfare, religious ceremonies, and probably reveal as to why or how

these people might have perished. The Nazca lines after their makers disappeared seemed as of

no importance to the world until they were discovered by aviators during the early 1920s

resulting in the discovery of a long forgotten and a once very vivid culture of pre-Hispanic

indigenous peoples.

The Nazca lines or geoglyphs have been applied in today’s times by means of a trading

card game made a Japanese corporation known as Konami in trading card game called “Yu-Gi-

Oh!” and created an animated series which is a series that has used the ancient civilizations of

Ancient Egypt and the Ancient Nazca by means of being part of their main stories which have

successfully been promoted for a decade, yet interestingly enough presented in their plot that

Nazca lines or geoglyphs as seals on the ground which contain the once evil gods known in the

story as the Earthbound Immortals. These earthbound gods threatened the peoples of the Inca

Empire and the diverse peaceful cultures of the Nazca Region, the religious individuals turned to

their god who presided on the fabled dragon star and pleaded to it to help them defeat and lock

away these evil and dark forces. The dragon star responds by appearing in its dragon form which

divided its power into five dragons to help it defeat the seven earthbound gods represented on the

Nazca Lines. The Crimson Dragon which was pure embodiment of their god along side with its

servants were able to defeat the earthbound gods and seal away their evil forever in what became

to be known as the Nazca Lines.

Further in the animated series plot the earthbound gods would be invoked by evil

individuals offering the souls of servants of these individuals as well as devoted slaves in order

to call forth the earthbound gods into the urban area where the great battle would take place with

the Crimson Dragon which had chosen the descendants of ancient Inca guardians to battle the

upcoming dark forces of the earthbound gods. When the earthbound gods were successfully

invoked and summoned through the cards in which they had been materialized the earthbound

gods’ powers their geoglyphs would appear within the urban area in which they would be called

forth. First, the Nazca geoglyph would appear in land or sky and would burst into flames giving

it the shape of the earthbound god then a portal that linked to the gods’ life source would appear

and the souls of anyone who was inside the Nazca Lines would be consumed resulting in the rise

of the earthbound gods from their concealment in the Nazca Lines.

Going into the sixth research question it was why do the lines/geoglyphs still captivate

and attract so much attention in today’s times? The Nazca Lines still captivate us today because

the purpose of their creation has not been found yet but there are several theories that help us

understand as to what they might have been made for and who actually made them. The theories

of which I am to speak of will be mentioned much further in the paper which will be discussed in

great detail.

The seventh research question would be when were the Nazca lines/geoglyphs

discovered? What happened after their discovery? The Nazca Lines or geoglyphs were

discovered by two aerial photographers during the early 1920s as they were flying over the skies

of the Nazca Valley and the area of the Pampas, they discovered set of what seemed like a

pattern of different lines and figures and as they raised their altitude they were able to see the

gigantic geoglyphs giving shape to different animals such: a monkey, spider, condor,

hummingbird, a giant spaceman pointing towards the sky, a lizard, a killer whale, a serpent, and

among others.

As these aviators continued to fly over the Nazca Valley they continued to take several

photographs which served the purpose for later research and a greater understanding of the

length and magnitude of these massive geoglyphs. Several years after the Nazca Lines were

discovered by these aviators, the lines attracted much attention worldwide. It attracted

archaeologists, anthropologists, physicists, mathematicians, and among other experts whom were

highly interested of seeing and learning more from these geometric phenomena, as well as to find

the meaning, purpose of why these lines or geoglyphs were actually built. Though it has been

one the biggest question to answer as the culture that created them has been observed to be quite

complex.

The peoples who built the Nazca Lines did not leave any written accounts behind, only

pottery, delicate yet astonishing textiles found in conditions within perfection, tombs, settlement

areas, temples and the geoglyphs themselves. The studies and research that would be later

involved after the discovery the Nazca Lines would be the close study as to purpose of the

geoglyphs themselves which has brought in several theories as to their purpose, studies of the

culture, lifestyle, warfare, and religion of the people who built, find further evidence as to why or

how did the peoples of the Nazca culture disappear out of thin air without a trace as to their

vanishing.

The eighth research question would be why do the lines/geoglyphs still captivate and

attract so much attention in today’s times? Why now? How the Nazca Lines involve through

their discovery and further study and research which has spawned the following subjects that are

involved with the Nazca Lines until this very day: mathematics, astrology and astronomy,

physics are subjects that could be involved with these geoglyphs. There have been several

theories as to the true purpose of the creation of the Nazca Lines and these propose several

things. One of the initial ones was that the geoglyphs or Nazca Lines seemed to look like a

runway or a space which had been made with the lines in order for outer space aircrafts could

land.

But when experts took a more serious and plausible study while observing the Nazca

Lines some have proposed that the lines might have been used for the sole purpose of serving for

the people as areas to perform religious ceremonies and among them would have been sacrifices

of animals and maybe even humans in honor to the rain gods to grant them a rainy climate as it

was observed by archaeologists and other experts that in the Nazca Valley there occurred several

strong droughts for over a hundred years, meaning that river streams dried up depleting the

people and animals of their supply of water which would also result in the deaths of the animals

and plants that would have been used by the peoples of Nazca. Which would have been a

possible indication as that people had been forced to move from one area to the next until they

found a settlement area which would have been able to provide them with their primary

resources to survive shelter, food and water and if all else failed they would turn towards their

gods performing religious ceremonies to ask for their aid.

And it is believed by many that this would be the proper theory to follow as evidence has

been found that show indications of people gathering and performing the “prayer walks” which

would be when the people would bring in pottery chant prayers to their gods while walking and

then break the ceramic pots on the area of where the Nazca Lines or geoglyphs were located and

sometimes sacrificial ceremonies would be performed on a separate stone platform where the

sacrificial ceremonies were performed as remains of crayfish and remains of other animals have

been found..

Another theory brought in by other experts would be that the peoples of Nazca utilized

the geoglyphs by means of pointing out celestial bodies in the skies. Another theory explains

that the geoglyphs at the Pampas might have been used to keep track of the seasons as these were

times of growing their crops, Also along side with this theory there was another idea that the

geoglyphs would be used to track the possible occurrence of lunar and solar eclipses as well as

the summer and winter solstices.

In conclusion, I have seen the Nazca Lines as a rather interesting phenomenon since it is

such a complex issue to be solved both by archaeological, anthropological and historical means.

The true reason as to why they were actually created for is not known unless we follow the

several theories that are involved in the studies and research that experts have conducted in the

past years. The culture of Nazca as whole is completely shrouded in anonymity if were it not for

the pottery, textiles and other priceless artifacts we would not understand as to whom these

civilizations were and as to what they did during their lifetime. Another big question was how

was it that the peoples who built such elaborate and magnificent geoglyphs which represented

acute yet unique aspects of their culture.

Thanks to the dedicated studies, surveys and research of notable researchers such as

Maria Reiche have contributed greatly to a better understanding as to what these geoglyphs were

and what could have been their purpose as she dedicated nearly her entire life to researching and

studying the Nazca lines or geoglyphs. Reiche later donated her research towards the

significance of it being world classified by Reiche herself as a world heritage by means of a

complex yet fascinating culture which can tell us about the lifestyles, religion, culture of the

peoples that lived during these times through the discovery of artifacts that provide us with a link

to these ancient cultures’ past, as each great civilization has a beginning and an end, but yet there

is something that these ancient civilizations identified with in the which made them stand out

from above all the others.

For example, Ancient Egypt has its pyramids which were built at an incredible scale and

it is well known for its colossal temples and well conserved tombs. As Peru, the Nasca Lines

which have captivated the world ever since its discovery in the 1920’s which represent the great

effort that these people might have gone through to build them, but yet they have not yielded

much information as to what the real purpose of their design really was yet religion is strongly

tied in. Among the other researchers or archaeologists or anthropologists that have studied the

Nazca culture and Nasca Lines or geoglyphs would be Anthony Aveni, Donald A. Proulx,

Helaine Silverman, Ruben Garcia, Anita Cook, Markus Reindel and among a few others.

Now I would like to state that, I have come to agree with two theories in terms of the real

reason as to why the Nazca geoglyphs were built and as to what may be the cause to the sudden

disappearance as to the people who came up with the creation of these massive geologic feats. I

believe that in fact were used by means of religions purposes, in which as it has been mentioned

before that they performed countless religious ceremonies, it is also very convincing to me that

these lines might have been used to keep a close full eye on the coming change of the seasons

when in times of harvesting crops, they can also serve as a method of tracking down solar and

lunar eclipses and just as easily serve as a calendar for watching closely the summer and the

winter solstice. It might have also been possible that during the summer and winter solstice the

peoples of ancient Nazca would have been engaged in religious ceremonies and festivities, which

might have also been a time of gathering between the townspeople and their friends or families.

Bibliography

- Rituals of the Nasca Lines. By: Curry Andrew, Archaeology, May/Jun 2009, Volume 62,

Issue 3.

- Solving the Mystery of the Nasca Lines. By: Aveni, Anthony F., Archaeology, May/Jun

2000, Volume 53, Issue 3.

- Maria Reiche: Protecting lines to the past. By: Malatesta, Parisina, Amercas, Mar/Apr

97, Volume 49, Issue 2.

- Ancient Peruvian geoglyphs might have been prayer walks. By: Geddes, Linda, New

Scientist, January 24, 2009. Volume 201, Issue 2692.

- Abandoned by the Gods. By: Kenneth Miller and John Miller, Archaeology

- Nasca Lines: A mystery wrapped in an enigma. By: J.R. Castrejon-Pita, and Sarmiento-

Galan, R. Castrejon-Garcia, Archaeology, 2003, American Institute of Physics.

- Paracas and Nasca: Regional Cultures on the Southern Coast of Peru. By: Donald A.

Proulx, Archaeology, Handbook of South American Archaeology.

- Ritual Use Of Trophy Heads in ancient Nasca society. By Donald A. Proulx, University

of Massachusetts. Originally published in Ritual Sacrifice in Ancient Peru, edited by

Elizabeth Benson and Anita Cook. Austin: University of Texas Press. Pp. 119-136.

2001.

- Spirits in the Sand. By: Hall, Stephen S., National Geographic, March 2010, Volume

217, Issue 3.

- Pre-Inca mining in the Southern Nasca Region, Peru. By: Jelmer W. Eerkens, Kevin J.

Vaughn and Moises Linares Grados, Archaeology and Anthropology, Antiquity 83,

(2009): 738-750.

Images of the Nazca Lines

How the research was done

- Looked how the concepts of the course could be applied to my research topic or subject.

Analysis or Answers to Research Questions

- Relate questions and how it systematically relates to the course, research topic, articles

and or books, personal readings and field museum visits.

Conclusion

- What did I learn?

- Do agrees or disagree with the theories of the researches that observed and observed the

Nasca Lines or geoglyphs and Nasca cultures.