The Nazca lines are large drawings made in the desert soil of southern Peru. They were created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people who dug or scraped the ground, removing small rocks to expose darker soil underneath. There are two main time periods for the Nazca lines: the Paracas phase, from 400 to 200 BC, and the Nazca phase, from 200 BC to 500 AD. In the 21st century, archaeologists used drones to discover hundreds of new figures, and they believe more may still exist.

Most of the lines are straight, but some show pictures of animals and plants. All the lines together are more than 1,300 km (800 miles) long, and they cover an area about 50 km (19 square miles) in size. The lines are usually 10 to 15 cm (4–6 inches) deep. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown pebbles to show a lighter-colored soil below. The width of the lines varies, but more than half are about 33 cm (13 inches) wide. In some areas, they are as narrow as 30 cm (12 inches), and in others, they are as wide as 1.8 m (6 feet).

Some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air, about 500 meters (1,600 feet) above the ground. However, they can also be seen from nearby hills or high places. These shapes are usually made with one continuous line. The longest shapes are about 370 meters (400 yards) long. The dry, windless climate of the desert has helped preserve the lines for many years. However, rare weather changes can sometimes alter their appearance. By 2012, the lines were reported to be damaged because of people living on the land.

The figures vary in complexity. Many are simple lines or geometric shapes, and more than 70 are animal shapes, such as a hummingbird, spider, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, cat, and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers. Scholars do not agree on the exact purpose of the designs, but most believe they have religious meaning. In 1994, the Nazca lines were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Location

The high, dry plateau extends over 80 km (50 mi) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana, about 400 km (250 mi) south of Lima. The main highway, PE-1S Panamericana Sur, runs next to it. The largest group of designs is found in a 10 by 4 km (6 by 2 mi) rectangle, south of the small village of San Miguel de la Pascana. In this area, the most noticeable geoglyphs can be seen.

Recorded history

The first written record of the Nazca Lines was made by Spanish explorer Pedro Cieza de León in his book from 1553. He called them trail markers. In 1569, Luis Monzón reported seeing ancient ruins in Peru, including the remains of "roads."

Although the lines could be seen from nearby hills, the first people to report them in the 1900s were Peruvian pilots. In 1927, Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe saw them while hiking. He talked about them at a meeting in Lima in 1939.

American historian Paul Kosok is known as the first person to study the lines carefully. While in Peru in 1940–41 to learn about ancient irrigation systems, he flew over the lines and noticed one shaped like a bird. Another observation helped him see how lines pointed to the horizon during the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.

Kosok began studying how the lines might have been made and what their purpose could be. He worked with Richard P. Schaedel, an American archaeologist, and Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist from Lima, to learn more. They thought the figures might have been created as markers for the stars and sun to show where they rose on important dates. Many scientists, including archaeologists, historians, and mathematicians, have studied the purpose of the lines.

Learning how the lines were made has been easier than understanding why they were created. Scholars believe the Nazca people used simple tools and equipment to build them. Archaeologists found wooden stakes at the ends of some lines, which supports this idea. One stake was dated using carbon dating, which helped scientists determine the age of the designs.

In the early 2000s, Joe Nickell, an American researcher, recreated the figures using tools and methods the Nazca people might have used. His work showed that the lines were made by humans, not "ancient astronauts" as some had claimed. Scientific American praised his work for its accuracy compared to the original lines.

Most of the lines are created by digging shallow trenches in the ground, 10 to 15 centimeters deep. These trenches remove reddish-brown pebbles covered in iron oxide, exposing light-colored clay beneath. This clay contrasts with the surrounding land, making the lines visible. The clay contains lime, which hardens with morning mist to protect the lines from wind and erosion.

The Nazca people used this method to create hundreds of large, simple figures of animals and humans. The entire project covers nearly 450 kilometers and includes the largest figures, which can be up to 370 meters long. Some figures have been measured: the hummingbird is 93 meters long, the condor is 134 meters long, the monkey is 93 by 58 meters, and the spider is 47 meters long. The dry, calm climate of the Nazca region has helped preserve the lines.

In 2011, a team from Yamagata University in Japan found two new small figures. One looks like a human head and is from the early Nazca period or earlier. The other is an animal but has not been dated. Since 2006, the team has found about 100 new geoglyphs. In 2012, the university announced a new research center to study the area for 15 years.

A 2019 article in Smithsonian magazine describes work by Japanese researchers who identified some bird images in the geoglyphs. They believe some birds shown are not native to the desert but are from other habitats. They think the choice of these birds might be connected to the purpose of creating the geoglyphs.

In 2019, Yamagata University and IBM Japan announced the discovery of 143 new geoglyphs, including one found using computer learning methods. In 2020, a cat-shaped line was found on a steep hill, which had not been noticed before because erosion made it hard to see. Drones are now helping find more sites.

By 2022, 358 Nazca geoglyphs were known. Drones are now being used to help researchers find more. In 2024, a team from Yamagata University and IBM Research used artificial intelligence to find 303 new geoglyphs, including parrots, cats, monkeys, killer whales, and even severed heads.

The field study happened from September 2022 to February 2023, with permission from Peru’s Ministry of Culture. It took 1,440 hours of work and confirmed 303 new geoglyphs. Researchers also sorted 1,309 potential candidates into three groups. A total of 1,200 hours were spent checking images from the AI model.

Speculation regarding purpose

Anthropologists, ethnologists, and archaeologists have studied the ancient Nazca culture to learn about the purpose of the lines and figures.

Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche suggested that the lines might have been used for astronomy and cosmology, similar to other ancient monuments. They believed the lines acted as an observatory, showing where the sun and other celestial objects rose or set during solstices. Many ancient cultures in the Americas and other regions built earthworks that combined astronomy with religious beliefs, such as the late Mississippian culture at Cahokia and Stonehenge in England. Newgrange in Ireland has tombs that allow light to enter during the winter solstice.

Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni, experts in archaeoastronomy, said in 1990 that there was not enough evidence to support the astronomical explanation. Maria Reiche claimed some figures represented constellations. By 1998, Phyllis B. Pitluga, a student of Reiche and an astronomer, concluded the animal figures showed "heavenly shapes." According to The New York Times, Pitluga said the figures were not constellations but "counter constellations," which are dark areas in the Milky Way. Anthony Aveni criticized her work for missing some details.

Alberto Rossel Castro (1977) proposed the geoglyphs had multiple purposes. He grouped them into three types: tracks for irrigation and dividing fields, lines that acted as axes for mounds and cairns, and lines linked to astronomy.

In 1985, archaeologist Johan Reinhard shared data showing that the Nazca people worshipped mountains and water sources for many years. He believed the lines and figures were part of religious practices tied to water, which was important for farming. He thought the lines were sacred paths leading to places where gods were worshipped, and the figures were symbols of animals and objects meant to ask gods for water. The exact meanings of many geoglyphs are still unknown.

Henri Stierlin, a Swiss art historian, linked the Nazca Lines to ancient textiles found in Paracas culture mummies. He suggested the lines and trapezes might have been used as large looms to make long strings and textiles typical of the area. He said the smaller, less common figurative patterns were for rituals. This idea is not widely accepted, but some scholars note similarities between textile patterns and the lines, which they believe came from shared culture.

The first organized study of the geoglyphs was done by Markus Reindel and Johny Cuadrado Isla. Since 1996, they have recorded and excavated over 650 sites. They compared the geoglyphs to pottery from the same cultures. As archaeologists, they believe the figurative designs date to between 600 and 200 BC.

David Johnson argued that some geoglyphs followed paths of underground water sources, which ancient aqueducts (or puquios) used to collect water.

Nicola Masini and Giuseppe Orefici studied Pampa de Atarco, near Pampa de Nasca. They believe the geoglyphs are connected to temples at Cahuachi. Using satellite and drone technology, they found five groups of geoglyphs, each with specific shapes and purposes. One group had meandering patterns for ceremonies, and another had radial lines aligned with the winter solstice and equinox sunset, suggesting a calendar use. They believe the geoglyphs were used for events tied to the farming calendar and helped unite people with shared beliefs.

Other theories suggest the lines showed water flow or were part of rituals to bring water. Animals, birds, and plants might symbolize fertility. Some think the lines could act as an astronomical calendar.

Phyllis Pitluga, an astronomer, used computers to study star positions. She said the giant spider figure is a distorted image of the constellation Orion. She also claimed three lines leading to the figure tracked the movement of Orion’s Belt stars. Anthony Aveni criticized her work for not considering other lines in the figure.

Swiss writer Erich von Däniken believed the Nazca Lines were landing sites for alien spaceships. In his 1968 book Chariots of the Gods?, he claimed ancient astronauts visited Earth and built civilizations. He cited stories from Sanskrit texts about a spacecraft landing and people watching "golden-skinned beings" mine metals and leave. He said Native Americans later saw the Nazca Lines as places to invite gods to return, but they never came.

At the time, scientists like Maria Reiche called von Däniken’s ideas absurd. They proved the lines could have been made with simple tools available to the Nazca people. Von Däniken’s books were criticized for lacking credibility and for not giving credit to earlier authors who had similar ideas. Despite this, his books attracted many visitors to the site.

Preservation and environmental concerns

Conservationists who want to protect the Nazca Lines are worried about problems like pollution and erosion caused by cutting down trees in the area.

— Viktoria Nikitzki of the Maria Reiche Centre

In mid-February 2007, after heavy rains and mudslides, Mario Olaechea Aquije, an archaeological expert from Peru’s National Institute of Culture, and a team of specialists checked the area. He said, "[T]he mudslides and heavy rains did not seem to have caused major harm to the Nazca Lines." He also mentioned that the nearby Southern Pan-American Highway suffered damage, and "the damage to the roads shows how delicate these figures are."

In 2012, people who lived on the land without permission damaged a Nazca-era cemetery and allowed their pigs to enter some areas.

In 2013, machines used in a limestone quarry destroyed a small part of a line and caused other damage.

In December 2014, Greenpeace activists placed a banner inside one of the geoglyphs, harming the site. Greenpeace apologized after the event, but one activist was fined for their role in the damage. This incident also brought attention to other damage caused by off-road vehicles from the Dakar Rally in 2012 and 2013, which is visible in satellite images outside the World Heritage area.

In January 2018, a truck driver was briefly arrested but released because there was no proof of intentional harm. The driver left large tire marks across an area about 46 meters by 107 meters (150 by 350 feet), damaging three geoglyphs.

In 2025, the Ministry of Culture reduced the size of the Nazca Lines reserve by 42%, from about 5,600 square kilometers to roughly 3,200 square kilometers, based on new archaeological research. This decision faced criticism due to concerns about informal mining in the area. The ministry later reversed its choice.

Palpa glyphs

The Paracas culture may have helped create the Nazca Lines. In 2018, archaeologists used drones to find 25 geoglyphs in the Palpa province. These geoglyphs are believed to belong to the Paracas culture. Many of them are about 1,000 years older than the Nazca Lines. Some of the geoglyphs show big differences in their subjects and locations, such as being drawn on hillsides. Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, one of the people who discovered them, says many of the new geoglyphs show images of warriors. The Paracas culture is also linked to a famous geoglyph called the Paracas Candelabra.

Chinchas glyphs

Further north from the Nazca, in the Palpas region and along the Peruvian coast, other symbols from the Chincha culture have also been found.

Images

Here are images of some of the Nazca lines.

• The Spider (la Araña)
• The Tree (el árbol)
• The Hummingbird (el colibrí)
• The Condor (el cóndor)
• The Whale (la ballena)
• The Astronaut (el astronauta)
• The Pelican
• The Dog (el perro)
• The Monkey (el mono)
• The Heron (la garza)
• Phytomorphic glyphs
• The Hands (las manos)
• The Parrot (el loro)
• The Lizard (la lagartija)
• The Snail (el caracol) or The Spiral (el espiral)
• The Flower (la flor)