The Nazca lines
Enormous figures scraped into the Peruvian desert, visible properly only from above.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 999 years
- Known to
- ± 100 years
- Era
- Classical, Holocene
Between roughly 500 BCE and 500 CE the Nazca remove the dark oxidised surface stones of the coastal plain to expose pale ground beneath, creating straight lines running for kilometres, geometric figures, and outlines of animals up to 370 metres across. The desert's stability has preserved them. Explanations centre on ritual walking, water and astronomy; the shapes can be laid out from the ground with stakes and cord, so no aerial viewpoint is needed to make them.