Thanks to the latest advances in space archaeology and aerial drone surveys, archaeologists have discovered 50 new examples of Nasca and Paracas lines in Peru.
Some of the discovered lines date from the Nasca culture, however, many ancient lines and geoglyphs are believed to date from between 500 BCE to 200 CE and provide crucial insight into the Paracas and Topara culture.
While the Paracas culture developed in this region between about 1200 BCE and 100 BCE, the Topará culture is thought to have “invaded” from the north at approximately 150 BCE.
The two cultures then coexisted for one or more generations, both on the Paracas Peninsula and in the nearby Ica Valley, and their interaction played a key role in the development of the Nazca culture and ceramic and textile traditions. Peruvian Ministry of
Culture archaeologist Johny Isla, the Nasca lines’ chief restorer and protector said:
“This means that it is a tradition of over a thousand years that precedes the famous geoglyphs of the Nasca culture, which opens the door to new hypotheses about its function and meaning,”
Volunteer “citizen scientists” from the GlobalXplorer initiative, founded by 2016 TED Prize winner and space archaeologist Sarah Parcak had initially flagged potential looting sites within the region and shared the data with Peruvian archaeologists.
A Peruvian ground team examined the target sites with the support of the Sustainable Preservation Initiative and funded with photographic aerial and drone surveys by the National Geographic Society.
The drone study revealed many new lines and geoglyph figures that had been reduced to faint depressions in the soil.
Source Credit : National Geographic
Header Image Credit – CC LIcense – Unukorno
