The Lines of Nazca!A Modern Day Mystery! |
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Ever since their first sighting in the early 1930s by commercial Trans-Andean aviators, the lines of nazca, which conist of giant ground drawings that cover over 400 square miles of southern Peru's desert coast, have remained an enigma!
Nothing can be said about the Nazca Lines without mentioning Maria Reiche; a German who came to Peru to teach the German Consul's children, and who stayed to devote her life to the study of The Nazca Lines. She has dedicated over 50 years of her life to carefully studying the lines. It is her conclusion that the Lines of Nazca was probably done simply as prayers to the ancient Gods asking help with farming, fishing, and other daily activities. |
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The Nazca desert lies between the rivers Grand and Nazca, some 400 km. South of Lima, Peru. This desert contains numerous furrows, which are 10 to 30 cms deep, and seem to run without purpose in all directions across the Pampa (desert). In 1939, Dr. Paul Kosok, visiting from New York's Long Island University, was studying what he thought to be an ancient irrigation system. One day he flew over the area and noticed the lines he had previously thought to be irrigation channels actually had the shape of a bird and had nothing to do with irrigation! While further examining the lines from the air, he noticed that the sunset coincided exactly with the direction of one of those lines! As the date was June 21st, the winter solstice, he concluded that he had found the "biggest astronomy book in the world".
The Nazca Lines are a mystery. Even to this day, we do not know the actual purpose behind what Dr. Kosok found. What we do know is that about 2,000 years ago, a Pre-Inca civilization traced on a desert plain designs which can only be understood from the air. These lines, created by the removal of desert rock to reveal the pale pink sand beneath, have been preserved due to a complete lack of rain and special winds that cleared, but did not erase, the designs. All are of such size and proportions that a complete view can only be obtained from the air. When viewed from the air they become complex outlines of animals, men, as well as lines of geometrical figures.
But, if the figures and lines can be seen only from the air, why were they made, and for whose observations? From these questions are derived the esoteric theories which attribute the creation of the lines to extraterrestrial beings - the lines being markers for astronauts arriving from outer space and, in some cases, actually serve as landing strips. This was the theory put forward by Erich Von Daniken in his book, "Chariots of the Gods".