Archaeologists have discovered 168 ancient carvings in the ground of a desert in Peru.
Scholars of Japan’s Yamagata University and Peruvian archaeologist Jorge Olano identified the previously unknown geoglyphs in the Nazca Province of southern Peru, according to a university news release earlier this month.
The manmade structures in question date from 100 B.C to 300 A.D — well over a thousand years before the New World became known to Western civilization.
The inscriptions, which range in size, depict a diverse range of living beings, including humans, killer whales, felines, snakes, camelids, and birds.
An international team of researchers from Japan and Peru have discovered 168 previously unknown geoglyphs (100 BC – 300 CE) on Nasca Pampa, near Nasca, including depictions of humans, birds, orcas, cats, snakes, and camel relatives.
© Yamagata University#drthehistories pic.twitter.com/oBA9braIrm
— Dr. M.F. Khan (@Dr_TheHistories) December 18, 2022
The ancient artwork was discovered through field surveys conducted with the use of drones between 2019 and 2020.
Scholars believe that the earth inscriptions were created through the removal of black stones from the ground, revealing sandy, white terrain below, which contrasted with the earth to make identifiable shapes.
The newly discovered geoglyphs are mostly situated alongside ancient trails.
The geoglyphs are situated in the same desert as the well-known Nazca Lines, much bigger ancient artwork that is visible to the naked eye of aerial travelers.
Photos of the Nazca lines (hummingbird, monkey, condor, ant) pic.twitter.com/gGa2q6I0xH
— ⋆ (@rottpop) December 15, 2022
The bigger Nazca Lines were created in a more labor-intensive process, which involved the removal of topsoil in the making of artwork that has endured for thousands of years.
The greater Nazca Lines are so big that it wasn’t until modern aviation that many of the structures became known to modern man, according to National Geographic.
Some lines run as long as 30 miles long.
The exact purpose of the Nazca Lines remains a mystery.
Some scholars believe their creation was intended as a religious ritual intended to ask the Nazca people’s gods to send water, according to National Geographic.
“It seems likely that most of the lines did not point at anything on the geographical or celestial horizon, but rather led to places where rituals were performed to obtain water and fertility of crops,” National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Johan Reinhard argued in “The Nasca Lines: A New Perspective on their Origin and Meanings.”
The archaeological record of the Nazca people comes to an end around 600 A.D, a development suggesting that the culture came to an end at the same time.
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