Giant images on the Nazca plateau in Peru. The mysterious Nazca plateau

Beneath the Nazca Plateau means a plain located on a hill. This area, as a rule, has a flat or undulating, slightly dissected topography. From other plain spaces of Nazcaseparated by obvious ledges. This natural formation is located in Peru, in its southern part, 450 km southeast of Lima, the capital of the country. However, this territory is notable not for its unusual location, but for its Nazca paintings., located over an area of ​​80 kilometers. These images or as they are also called the Nazca lines, made in a bizarre form: from the outlines of animals, spiders and birds, to geometric shapes. Drawings in the Nazca Desertare one of the most important mysteries for the modern research community. Dozens of activists struggle every day in so far aimless attempts to answer at least some questions regarding the mysterious images.

Nazca is a geoglyphic territory.

The plateau is vast and extends for many kilometers. This valley was considered lifeless for a long time, however, the researchers were wrong, but more on that later. Nazca coordinates, where the geoglyphs are located: 14° 45′ south latitude and 75° 05′ west longitude. The Nazca plate has an elongated shape. From north to south the length reaches approximately fifty kilometers, from west to east from 5 to 7 kilometers. The Nazca area is practically uninhabited by people and has an extremely dry climate.

Winter in the vast Nazca area lasts from June to September. This is because in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons do not coincide with those in the Northern Hemisphere. At the same time, the temperature in Nazca never drops below 16 degrees Celsius. In summer, the temperature is stable and stays around 25 degrees Celsius. Rain, despite the close location of the ocean, is a rarity for Nazca. There is also virtually no wind. There are no rivers, streams or lakes in the Nazca area and there cannot be such conditions. The presence of water in these lands is signaled only by the numerous channels of the Nazca rivers that dried up a long time ago and no less numerous dried up canals.

No less important component of this region than the Nazca Valley is the city with the corresponding name. It was founded by the Spaniards in 1591. In 1996, the city was completely destroyed by a strong earthquake. But, fortunately, there were few casualties, since the tremors began at noon and people were prepared. A total of 17 people died during the Nazca earthquake. And about 100 thousand people were left homeless. To date, the city of Nazca has been completely rebuilt. Multi-storey buildings were built on its territory, and the center of the city of Nazca is now decorated with a beautiful square.

However, this area is notable not for its city or plain, but for its mysterious geoglyphs, lines and drawings, which are believed to have been made by skillful human hands. However, the last statement is very, very controversial. There is a popular theory regarding Nazca, according to which the lines on the plateau were not drawn by man, but by an alien intelligence or some other unknown force.

Stunning drawings in the Nazca desert.

In total, specialists discovered 13 thousand various lines and stripes on the plateau. In science, these drawings have their own name - geoglyphs (geometric figures of bizarre shape, made in the earth's soil and having a length of at least four meters). In our case, the drawings in the Nazca Desert are shallow and long grooves of varying widths dug in the soil, which is a mixture of sand and clay. Shallow by Nazca standards - this is from 15 to 30 cm. But the length of individual lines reaches several kilometers: the longest reach 10 kilometers in length. The width of the drawings in the Nazca desert is also striking: In some cases, it ranges from 150 to 200 meters.

In addition to lines, all sorts of figures were found on the territory of the plateau, well known to every person from geometry - triangles and quadrangles. Some Nazca Desert designs are trapezoidal because they only have two parallel sides. There are about seven hundred such creations of unknown origin on the plateau. There are also figures that resemble animals: monkeys, birds, killer whales, llamas and other inhabitants of flora and fauna. Single drawings in the Nazca desert depict fish, spiders, lizards and sharks. There are not many of them in total, no more than forty.

The figures amaze the imagination with their enormous size, but people are unable to understand their true purpose. Obviously, the answer may lie in the depths of the plain, which means that in order to understand who created the drawings in the Nazca desert and why, it is necessary to begin excavations. The problem is that archaeological excavations are prohibited here, since the plain has the status of a sacred zone. So the mystery of the drawings in the Nazca desert remains unsolved. And something tells me that it will remain like this for a very, very long time, until the scientific community comes to its senses.

Mysterious Nazca Lines.

However, no matter how sacred this land is, human curiosity has never stopped at anything and is not going to stop. The first person suffering from the “vice” of curiosity found himself in these forbidden lands in 1927. He was an archaeologist from Peru, Mejia Toribio Hesspe. He studied the Nazca Lines from the foothills surrounding the plateau.

In 1930, a mysterious piece of land where Nazca lines, anthropologists studied from a bird's eye view, flying around on an airplane. They, in fact, confirmed the fact of the presence of lines in Nazca. Archaeologists got the opportunity to closely study such unique creations only in 1946. But this was not a targeted government or research program with appropriate funding, but individual expeditions of enthusiastic scientists.

It turned out that our distant ancestors or alien entities made the Nazca lines and small trenches by removing the surface of a clay soil layer rich in iron oxide. The gravel has been almost completely removed from the Nazca Lines section, and underneath is light-colored soil. As a result, the Nazca lines became so catchy and at the same time durable.

The light-colored soil of the local lands surrounding the paintings on the Nazca plateau boasts a high lime content. In the open air, it hardens almost instantly and forms a durable protective layer that perfectly prevents erosion. For this reason, the mysterious Nazca Lines have been preserved in their original form for thousands of years, at least this is the opinion of researchers. The longevity of the Nazca lines was also facilitated by the absence of winds as such, precipitation and stable air temperatures. If the climate had been different, these drawings would have disappeared from the face of the earth long before they were discovered.

However, they exist and their presence has puzzled more than one generation of researchers, archaeologists and simply scientists from all over the world. Official science, which has long formed its attitude towards the Nazca lines, claims that all these geoglyphs, lines and drawings were created during the Nazca civilization. This ancient empire is believed to have existed in the period from 300 BC to 800 AD. A significant part of scientists agree that most of the drawings were created during this period of 1100 years. It is believed that the Nazca Civilization had a very developed culture, the golden age of which dates back to 100-200 AD.

The Nazca Plateau and its mystical civilization.

The Nazca civilization sank into oblivion presumably at the end of the 8th century. The reason for this was allegedly the floods that the Nazca plateau encountered towards the end of the first millennium. The waters flooded and destroyed the agricultural lands of the ancient people. Some people died of hunger, the rest were forced to leave the poor land. A few centuries later, the Nazca plateau was inhabited by the Incas. However, this was already a completely different, and a different culture, whose customs certainly did not include drawing giant lines on the ground.

Well, let's say the ancient people Nazca plateau really created mysterious creations on this earth, but why were they created, and most importantly, how could the aborigines make trenches several kilometers long on rough terrain. Even using modern techniques and devices, it is extremely difficult to draw an ideal straight line along the ground, say, 5-8 kilometers long.

In accordance with the theory of scientists, they did all this once or twice. Over the course of some centuries, the Nazca Plateau has turned from a lifeless valley into the most bizarre and richest territory in geoglyphs on the whole Earth. The first settlers crossed ravines and hills, but at the same time their geometric lines, Nazca geoglyphs, remained perfectly correct, and the edges were strictly parallel, which seems incredible. In addition to the stripes and trenches in the Nazca plateau, unknown artists also created figures of various animals. From the air they appear, although bizarre, but easily recognizable. Again, how the first people in these lands managed to depict, say, a hummingbird with such accuracy is categorically unclear.

The mentioned hummingbird, by the way, like many Nazcas, reaches fifty meters in length. Another picture bird, the condor, is 120 meters long. And the spider, similar to its relatives living in the Amazon jungle, boasts a length of 46 meters. It is noteworthy that all these masterpieces of the Nazca plateau can only be seen by rising high into the air or climbing some mountain, which, unfortunately, is not nearby. From the ground and small hills, these patterns are indistinguishable and appear as a simple series of lines and trenches. Of course, you can make out individual silhouettes and strokes, however, the full picture is only visible from the air.

Obviously, the civilization that inhabited the Nazca plateau did not have any aircraft. There were no hot air balloons, no airplanes, much less rockets in prehistoric times. So how could they recreate their drawings with such precision, without being able to evaluate the work done and find flaws in order to correct them?! This remains as much a mystery as the functionality of the images of the Nazca Plateau. Why were they created? Is it really just for the sake of aesthetic beauty or maybe for some religious purposes? Question, question and another unanswered question.

It is generally difficult for modern people to understand the logic of their distant ancestors. We don’t understand people who lived a hundred years ago; how can we understand the motives of those who lived thousands, two thousand years ago. It is quite possible that all the lines and images of the Nazca Plateau have no practical component at all? The ancient people created them to show that they were capable of this. But why was it necessary to spend so much effort and time on self-affirmation?! Wouldn’t it be easier to start another war; in ancient times this seemed to be a much more common practice?!

Nazca drawings and related theories.

There are no less scientists who are confident that a person is behind the creation of mysterious drawings on the territory of the plateau than those who believe that Nazca drawings were created by an alien race. In their opinion, all the images and lines on the plateau are nothing more than runways. The version involving Peru, the Nazca Plateau, of course, has a right to life, it remains unclear why the alien spaceships did not have a vertical take-off, or why create runways in the bizarre shape of terrestrial animals? If you wanted to stand out in this way, why not make a couple of Nazca drawings in the shape of the fauna that live in your world? However, it is better not to focus on this, because theories and guesses regarding the motives of alien creators seem even more elusive than the motivation of the first people.

It is better to pay attention to this: Nazca drawings in the form of animals, birds and insects were created much earlier than simple triangles and other geometric shapes. This is not a confirmed fact, the theory is still under development, however, even now most scientists agree that this is true, complex Nazca drawings were created before simple images and trenches. Be that as it may, a simple conclusion suggests itself: did unknown masters first make more complex forms, obviously created in several stages, and only then other people began to practice drawing straight lines and trapezoids. Or maybe over the long centuries it took to create the drawings for which the desert is famous Nazca on the map, did the masters of ancient civilization lose technology or simply forget how to create complex images? All these are just more questions, the answers to which we, apparently, will not get very, very soon, if ever.

At the same time, there are a few people in the scientific community who believe that all Nazca drawings were made in the same period. But what scientists agree on is the idea that certain representatives of the ancient Nazca people had knowledge of astronomy.

For example, Maria Reiche (1903-1998), a German mathematician and archaeologist who worked on mysterious lines for almost 50 years, once claimed that the Nazca drawing in the form of a huge spider is very reminiscent of a star cluster in the constellation Orion. Three straight lines lead to the figure; they presumably served to track changes in the declinations of the three brightest stars in Orion's Belt: Alnitak, Alnilam and Mintaka.

There is another very interesting theory involving the Nazca figures. Archaeologist Johan Reinhard, who is American by birth, believes that the lines and figures of the animals were part of religious rites or, at least, were built for some religious purposes. The figures of animals, insects and birds were supposedly associated with the worship of gods. With the help of Nazca drawings, people asked the celestials for water to irrigate their lands. It’s not entirely clear how exactly this ritual took place, but it doesn’t matter; what’s more important is whether it took place at all? It is obvious that the ancient people were novices of the pagan faith and, as in any such religion, the cult of the gods occupies a central place not only in religion, but also in the everyday life of people. It is likely that the Nazca civilization actually carried out certain rituals to worship its deities, but it is almost impossible to prove this.

Today, the attention of researchers from all over the world is not focused on the Nazca drawings or even on the mysteries surrounding them. While people are speculating and guessing, a serious environmental threat looms over the plateau. Deforestation and pollution of the surrounding atmosphere are changing the balanced and practically unchanged climate of the plain for the worse. The Nazca Plate is facing problems: it rains more and more often, landslides and other misfortunes occur, one way or another affecting the integrity of the images. This is a very serious threat and if nothing is done in the next 5-10 years, or maybe less, the Nazca drawings will be lost forever, and then there is no doubt that answers to the questions posed by the research community will never be obtained. We will certainly never know who and why created this, without exaggeration, wonderful and unique phenomenon.

Plateau Nazca is located in the south of the state of Peru. Due to its dry climate and lack of water and vegetation, the area is also called the Nazca Desert. The name of the plateau is associated with

Pre-Columbian civilization,
existed in these places in the time period of 500 years. BC . and 500 g. AD Its fame plateau Nazca received thanks to geoglyphs - huge drawings drawn on the ground, which can only be seen from the air.

Discovery of the Nazca geoglyphs.
Mysterious drawings in the desert plateau became known back in 1553 from the Spanish priest Pedro Cieza de Leon. Traveling through the territory of the modern state of Peru, he wrote in his notes about the many lines drawn on the ground, which he called the “Inca Road,” and about certain signs also drawn on the sand. The first to see these signs from the air was the American archaeologist Paul Kosok, who was flying over the vast plateau in 1939. A major contribution to the study of Nazca paintings was made by the German archaeologist Maria Reiche. In 1947, she flew over the plateau in an airplane took a photo geoglyphs from the air.

Description of the drawings on the Nazca plateau
Geoglyphs measure several tens of meters in size, and the Nazca lines extend for many kilometers and sometimes even go beyond the horizon, crossing hills and dried up river beds. Images are applied to the surface by extracting soil. They form furrows about 135 cm wide and 30 -50 cm deep. The drawings have survived to this day due to the dry semi-desert climate. Today we know about 30 drawings depicting geometric figures, animals, and only one depicts humanoid a creature about 30 meters high, similar to an astronaut. Among the animal images, the most famous are the spider, hummingbird, whale, condor and monkey. The geoglyph depicting a condor is one of the largest in the desert. Its length from beak to tail is 120 meters. For comparison: the size of a spider is 46 meters, and a hummingbird is 50.

Mysteries of the Nazca Desert geoglyphs
The mysterious drawings have left archaeologists and historians with many questions. Who created them? How and for what purpose? It is impossible to see geoglyphs from the ground. They are visible only from the air, and there are no mountains nearby from which these lines and drawings could be seen. Another question that arises is that next to the drawings and lines there are no traces of ancient artists, although if a car passes over the surface, traces will remain. It is noteworthy that the monkey and whale depicted on the geoglyphs do not live in this area.

Exploring the Nazca Plateau
Some scientists believe that geoglyphs had ritual significance for the ancient inhabitants of the valley. Since they could only be seen from the air, only the gods, whom people addressed with the help of drawings, could see them. Many researchers adhere to the hypothesis that the Nazca images were created by the civilization of the same name, which lived in these places in the 2nd century BC. Explorer Maria Reiche believes that geoglyphs were first made on small sketches, and only then applied to the surface in full size. As evidence, she provided a sketch found in these places. In addition, at the ends of the lines depicting the drawings, wooden posts driven into the ground were found. They could serve as coordinates of points when drawing geoglyphs. The research results showed that the images were created at different times. The intersecting and overlapping lines indicate that ancient painting covered the land of the valley in several stages.

Various versions of the origin of Geglyphs
Many historians and archaeologists adhere to astronomical versions of drawings. The ancient inhabitants of the Nazca Desert may have been well versed in astronomy. The created gallery is a kind of star map. This version was supported by the German archaeologist Maria Reiche. American astronomer Phyllis Pitlugi cites in favor of this version the fact that the geoglyph depicting a spider is a drawing showing a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. However, British researcher Gerald Hawkins is confident that only a small part of the lines and patterns of the Nazca Desert are associated with astronomy. Some ufologists suggest that the drawings were a guide for landing alien alien ships, and the lines of the Nazca Plateau served as runways. Skeptics do not agree with this version, if only because alien spaceships capable of traveling tens of light years do not require acceleration to take off. They can rise into the air vertically. Jim Woodman, who studied the Nazca plateau in the 70s of the last century, came to the conclusion that the ancient inhabitants who created these drawings could fly in a hot air balloon. He explains this by the depiction of this flying object on clay figurines preserved from ancient times. To prove it, Woodman made a balloon from by-products that could only be obtained in the immediate area. Hot air was supplied to the balloon and it was able to fly a fairly long distance. The German archaeologist Maria Reiche, mentioned above, called the geometric figures and lines of the Nazca plateau an encrypted text, similar to a set of letters and signs.
There is still no consensus on the origin and purpose of the mysterious geoglyphs. The Nazca Plateau remains one of the greatest mysteries on our planet...

“Many centuries before the Incas, on the southern coast of Peru, a historical monument was created, unparalleled in the world and intended for descendants. In size and precision of execution, it is not inferior to the Egyptian pyramids. But if there we look, raising our heads, at the monumental three-dimensional structures simple geometric shape, here, on the contrary, you have to look from a great height at wide expanses covered with mysterious hieroglyphs, as if drawn on the plain by a giant hand." The book by Nazca desert explorer Maria Reiche begins with these words. "The Secret of the Desert". Mathematician and astronomer Maria Reiche specially moved from Germany to Peru to study the mysterious drawings. Perhaps she is the main researcher and guardian of the desert plateau, where, thanks to her efforts, a protected area was created. Reiche was the first to draw up maps and plans of all lines, sites and drawings.

The giant drawings scattered between abstract figures and spirals, the size of which reaches tens and sometimes hundreds of meters, are extremely impressive. Of all the animals, the largest number are birds. Fantastic and quite reliably drawn, a total of 18 birds are depicted in the desert. But there are also completely mysterious animals, such as a dog-like creature with thin legs and a long tail. There are also images of people, although they are drawn less expressively. Among the images of people there is a bird-man with the head of an owl; the size of this picture is more than 30 meters. And the size of the so-called “big lizard” is 110 meters!

The desert area is approximately 500 square kilometers. The surface of the soil here is surprising in that it is covered with a kind of engraving that resembles a tattoo. This “tattoo” on the surface of the desert is not deep, but huge in size, lines and figures. There are 13,000 lines, more than 100 spirals, over 700 geometric areas (trapezoids and triangles) and 788 figures depicting animals and birds. This "engraving" of the earth stretches approximately 100 kilometers deep in a winding ribbon, the width of which is from 8 to 15 kilometers. These drawings were discovered thanks to photographs taken from an airplane. From a bird's eye view, it can be seen that the figures were created by removing brown stones from the light sandy subsoil, covered with a thin black layer of the so-called “desert tan”, which is formed by manganese and iron oxides.

The figures and lines are perfectly preserved due to the arid climate of the area. A wooden marker stake driven into the ground, found in the desert, was carefully studied and radiocarbon dated, which showed that the tree was cut down in 526 AD. Official science believes that all these figures were created by one of the Indian cultures of the pre-Incan period, which existed in the south of Peru and whose heyday occurred in 300-900. AD The technique for executing the lines of these huge “drawings” is very simple. As soon as you remove the top layer of dark crushed stone, which has darkened over time, from the lighter lower layer, a contrasting strip appears. The ancient Indians first made a sketch of the future drawing measuring 2 by 2 meters on the ground. Such sketches have been preserved close to some of the figures. In the sketch, each straight line was divided into its constituent segments. Then, on an enlarged scale, the sections were transferred to the surface using stakes and a wooden rope. With curved lines it was much more difficult, but the ancients coped with this too, breaking each curve into many short arcs. It must be said that each drawing is outlined by only one continuous line. And perhaps the greatest mystery of the Nazca drawings is that their creators never saw and could not see them in their entirety.

The question is completely logical: for whom did the ancient Indians do such titanic work? Paul Kosok, a researcher of these drawings, estimates that it took more than 100,000 years of working days to create the complex of Nazca figures by hand. Even if this working day lasted 12 hours. Paul Kosok suggested that these lines and drawings are nothing more than a giant calendar that accurately shows the changing seasons. Maria Reiche tested Kosok's assumption and collected irrefutable evidence that the drawings are associated with the summer and winter solstices. The beak of a fantastic bird, with a neck 100 meters long, is located at the point of sunrise during the winter solstice.

Some scientists put forward the version that the drawings had exclusively cult significance, but such a version is quite doubtful, because a religious building must certainly influence people, and huge drawings on the ground are not perceived at all. Hungarian cartographer Zoltan Selke believes that the Nazca sites are just a 1:16 scale map of the Lake Titicaca area. After exploring the desert for several years, he found a lot of evidence that fully confirmed his hypothesis. In that case, who was this super-giant map intended for? The mystery of the Nazca paintings remains unsolved.

VEDIC SECRETS OF THE NAZCA DESERT

The first incomprehensible lines on Nazca were discovered in 1927 by Peruvian archaeologist Mejia Xesspe, when he accidentally glanced from a steep mountainside onto a plateau. By 1940, he had discovered several more incredible ancient signs and published his first sensational article. On June 22, 1941 (the day the Great Patriotic War began!!!), the American historian Paul Kosok took off a light plane and discovered a giant stylized bird, the wingspan of which exceeded 200 meters, and next to it something resembling a landing strip. Then he discovered a giant spider, a monkey with a strangely coiled tail, a whale, and finally, on a gentle mountain slope, a 30-meter tall figure of a man with his hand raised in greeting. Thus, perhaps the most mysterious “picture book in the history of mankind” was discovered.
Over the next sixty years, Nazca was studied quite well. The number of discovered drawings has long exceeded several hundred, and the vast majority of them are made up of various geometric shapes. Some lines reach a length of up to 23 kilometers.
And today the solution to the mystery is no closer. What versions and hypotheses have not been put forward during this time! They tried to present the drawings as some kind of giant ancient calendar, but no mathematical justification was ever presented to the scientific world.
One of the hypotheses identified the drawings as some kind of designations of zones of influence of Indian clans. But the plateau was never inhabited, and who could deal with these “ger-
bami clans”, when they are only visible from a bird’s eye view?
There is a version that the images of Nazca are nothing more than an alien airfield. There are no words, a number of stripes are indeed incredibly reminiscent of modern runways and landing strips, but where is there any evidence of alien intervention? Others claim that Nazca are signals from alien intelligence.
Recently, voices have begun to be heard that Nazca is generally the brainchild of someone’s falsification. But then a whole army of counterfeiters had to work hard for decades to produce the most gigantic counterfeit in the history of mankind. How could they keep the secret in this case and why, in the end, did they become so disfigured?
The most conservative part of scientists insists that all the variety of drawings and figures was dedicated to a certain god of water: “probably! represented a kind of sacrifice to the ancestors or gods of the sky and mountains, who sent people the water so necessary for irrigating the fields.” But why was it necessary to turn to the god of water in such a remote place, where there had never been any permanent residence, no agriculture, no cultivated fields? The rain that spilled on Nazca was of no particular benefit to the ancient Peruvians.
There is an opinion that ancient Indian athletes once ran along giant ancient lines, that is, some ancient South American Olympics were held on Nazca. Let's say that athletes could run in straight lines, but how could they run in spirals and in the pattern of, for example, monkeys?
There were publications that huge trapezoidal areas were created for the sake of certain mass ceremonies, during which sacrifices were made to the gods and mass celebrations took place. But then why did archaeologists searching all the surrounding areas not find a single confirmation of this artifact? In addition, some of the giant trapezoids are located on mountain peaks, which are not so easy for a professional climber to climb.
There is even a completely absurd version that all the gigantic work was carried out solely for the purpose of a kind of occupational therapy, in order to at least do something to occupy the idle ancient Peruvians... They claim that all the images of Nazca are nothing more than a giant loom of the ancient Peruvians, who they laid out their threads along the lines, since in the pre-Columbian era the Americans did not know the wheel and did not have a spinning wheel... It was even argued that the Nazca drawings were a huge encrypted map of the world. Alas, no one has yet undertaken to decipher it.
The most cautious part of historians defines Nazca drawings and lines as certain “paths that had sacred significance along which ritual processions were carried out.” But then again, who could see these trails from the ground?
Until now, scientists have not come to an agreement on how the Nazca drawings were created, because the production of images of such a huge scale represents a huge technical difficulty even today. Only the technology for direct creation of stripes has been more or less accurately established. It was quite simple: the surface layer of stones was removed from the ground, under which the ground had a lighter color. However, the creators of the drawings had to first create sketches of future giant images on a small scale and only then transfer them to the area. How they managed to maintain the accuracy and correctness of all the lines is a mystery! To do this, at a minimum, they had to have at hand the entire arsenal of modern geodetic equipment, not to mention the most advanced mathematical knowledge. By the way, today's experimenters were only able to repeat the creation of straight lines, but were powerless in the face of ideal circles and spirals... In addition
This means that images were created not only on flat areas of land. They were applied on very steep slopes and even almost sheer cliffs! But that's not all! In the Nazca region there are the Palpa Mountains, some of which are cut off like a table, as if some monster had gnawed their tops. These giant artificial sections also contain drawings, lines and geometric images.
There is also no unity regarding the time of construction. Nowadays it is customary to divide everything created on the plateau into seven conventional cultures, very spaced in time, from Nazca-1 to Nazca-7. Some archaeologists are inclined to attribute the creation of Nazca paintings to the period of time from 500 AD. to 1200 AD Others categorically object, since the Inca Indians inhabiting this region of Peru do not have even remote legends regarding Nazca, which gives grounds to attribute the time of creation of the images to almost 100,000 BC. They tried to determine the age of the stripes from the remains of fragments of clay shards found nearby. It was believed that ancient builders drank from clay jugs and then sometimes broke them. However, shards from all seven cultures were found everywhere on the same strip and, in the end, this dating attempt was considered unsuccessful.
The scientific study of Nazca today is also hampered by government restrictions. Due to the fact that after the discovery of the drawings, the plateau was subjected to a real invasion of “wild” tourists who drove all over the plateau in cars and motorcycles, spoiling the drawings, now it is strictly forbidden for anyone to appear directly on the Nazca Plateau. Nazca has been declared an archaeological park and taken under state protection, and the fine for unauthorized entry into the park is an astronomical amount - 1 million US dollars. Everyone, however, can admire the giant ancient images from the board of tourist planes that continuously circle over the mysterious plateau. But for real scientific research, you will agree, this is still not enough.
But the mysteries of Nazca do not end there. If on the surface of the plateau there are gigantic drawings that are still incomprehensible to human understanding, then in the depths of the caves there are even more incredible pukios - ancient underground water pipes in granite pipes. There are 29 giant puquios in the Nazca Valley. Today's Indians attribute their creation to the creator god Viracocha, but the canals are the work of human hands. Moreover, one of the canals was laid under the local river Rio de Nazca, so much so that its purest water in no way mixed with the dirty water of the river! From the description of an eyewitness: “Sometimes stone spirals lead deep into the earth, and watercourses have an artificial channel, lined with slabs and smoothly hewn blocks. Sometimes the entrance hole is a deep shaft that goes deep into the earth... Everywhere and everywhere these underground channels are artificial structures...” Pukios is also from the realm of eternal mysteries. Who, when and for what purpose created these gigantic water structures under a deserted plateau? Who used them?

In the capital of the province of Nazca, the town of Ica, lives the owner of the most incredible collection in the world, professor of medicine, Hanviera Cabrera. He has more than two and a half thousand figurines made of unfired clay, which the professor obtains from the local Indians. The figurines depict the ancient inhabitants of Peru next to... dinosaurs and pterodactyls. At the same time, ancient Peruvians performed operations on dinosaurs, flew on pterodactyls and looked into space through a spyglass. The age of the figurines is estimated to be from 50,000 to 100,000 years, and maybe even more. As for the radiocarbon method, it gave very contradictory results. In addition to the figurines, Professor Cabrera's collection contains similar drawings on stones, including ones that depict aircraft in the starry sky. Moreover, Professor Cabrera’s collection is no exception. The famous Mexican collection of Acambaro also contains dinosaurs, including flying ones. The same is true in the Ecuadorian collection of Father Crecy. In addition, there is also the collection of Russell Burrows, who found sculptures with strikingly similar subjects in caves in Illinois. The same thing was found not long ago in Japan. Falsification in this case is impossible even theoretically! Well, and finally, the most scandalous discovery on the Paluxy River in the US state of Texas, where archaeologists discovered dinosaur bones and fossilized human traces in the same rock! This means that people already lived in the era of dinosaurs, or, conversely, dinosaurs lived in the era of people! But both of these completely change our ideas about the beginning of the human era, and therefore one can imagine how much irritation, misunderstanding and simply outright opposition these findings cause among the elite of the scientific world, who made a name for themselves on those hypotheses that are now completely crossed out by the findings of recent years!
And how can one not recall here the seemingly absurd assumptions of the Crimean academician A.V. Gokh, who says that the protein necessary to create a huge number of repeaters of the Crimean pyramids was obtained from huge dinosaur eggs. It should be admitted that the statements of the Crimean academician now look not so groundless.
Now, I think, it’s time to present to readers the hypothesis of the Emil Bagirov Institute regarding the giant geoglyphs in the Nazca desert. However, first two more facts.
First. Quite recently, through the works of the German researcher Erich von Däniken (known to us from the sensational journalistic film “Remembrance of the Future”), a giant... classic MANDALA was discovered in Nazca! Yes Yes! The same sacred mandapa with which today's Tibetans and Hindus designate the pictures they contemplate during meditation! The same mandala that was once the sacred sign of the Aryans and one of the main Vedic symbols. Coincidence? No way!
Second. Ancient texts of the Old World everywhere tell about certain flying machines, and machines of completely earthly origin.
For example, in the “Book of the Greatness of Kings” the flights of King Solomon are described in detail: “The king and all who obeyed his commands flew in a chariot, knowing neither illness, nor sorrow, nor hunger, nor thirst, nor fatigue, and at the same time everything in one day they traveled a journey of three months... He (Solomon) gave her all sorts of wonders and treasures that one could wish for and a chariot that moves through the air and which he created according to the wisdom given to him by God...
And the inhabitants of the Egyptian country told them: in ancient times the Ethiopians visited here; they rode on a chariot like an angel, and at the same time flew faster than an eagle in the sky.” No less indicative are quotes from the famous “Mahatbharata”: “l/i then the king (Rumanvat) with his servants and harem, with his wives and nobles entered the heavenly chariot. They flew over the entire expanse of the sky, following the direction of the wind. The heavenly chariot flew around the entire earth, (flying) over the oceans, and headed towards the city of Avantis, where the holiday was just taking place. After a short stop, the king rose into the air again in front of countless onlookers, who were amazed at the sight of the heavenly chariot.”
Or here’s another: “Arjuna, the terror of his enemies, wished that Indra would send his heavenly chariot after him. And then, in a blaze of light, a chariot suddenly appeared, illuminating the gloom of the air and illuminating the clouds around, and all the surroundings were filled with a roar similar to peals of thunder...”
So, all Indian sources claim that the ancient Aryan civilization had airships - vimanas. We find echoes of these unusual means of transportation in the legends of the peoples of the Aryan area, for example, the famous Russian fairy tales about a flying ship and so on. But for the vimanas to take off and land, they needed runways and landing strips. Are there traces of them in the Old World? As it turns out, there is! At the present time, at least three are already known: one in England, the second on the Ustyurt plateau near the Aral Sea and the third in Saudi Arabia. At the same time, similar giant geoglyphs were found everywhere, as in Nazca, although in smaller quantities. And this despite the fact that no targeted searches for ancient airports have ever been carried out anywhere.
So what can we assume? After the destruction of the Tower of Babel, that is, after the collapse of the single ancient Vedic faith into several concessions, the vigorous migration of Aryan tribes began, and with it the export of Vedic religion and knowledge. Of course, the main settlement of the Aryans was by land. It spread throughout Eurasia, where the Vedic influence is felt everywhere to this day. However, most likely, some of the Aryans also used mysterious vimanas, which, as we already know, had a long flight range and could fly across oceans. It was then, most likely, that the heroic throw across Africa and the Atlantic to South America followed. But why was the landing made on Nazca? It can be assumed that for some time this area attracted the Aryans because the Nazca region is rich in deposits of iron and copper ore, gold and silver. Let us also pay attention to the fact that it is in the Nazca region that very ancient abandoned mines for the extraction of all these metals were discovered.
Apparently, for some time the Aryans from the vimanas that arrived lived in these places. They brought the local residents into obedience, organized the mining of metals, introduced and spread among the ancient Peruvians the cult of the Great Goddess-First Mother, the Most Bright Sun-Horsa, the immortality of the soul and rebirth. It was then that runways and geometric signs were built, allowing vimanas to be aimed at them correctly, and underground conduits making it easier to provide water. It seems that the vimanas actively carried out the export of mined metals to Egypt or some other countries that were in the area of ​​​​the then Aryan influence. It is possible that the Aryans also used tamed local pterodactyls for short flights, which was depicted in the ancient clay figurines of Peru. Apparently there was such an experience. Suffice it to recall the same “Avesta” and “Rigveda”, numerous European-Aryan mythologies, where heroes very often use flying lizards as a completely suitable means of transportation. The same Russian heroes, for example, on occasion willingly used the legendary Serpent Gorynych for this purpose...
However, the time has come and the Aryans who settled on Nazca, having completed their mission, forever left the place, which was not very suitable for permanent residence, leaving the local residents with Vedic cults, knowledge of crafts and the firm belief that the departed people-gods will one day definitely return. It was then, apparently, that the intensive creation of many drawings began, so that the people-gods flying in the skies past Nazca would see that they were still waiting for them here, as, indeed, in other places in America, where similar geoglyphs have now been found. At the same time, they drew what, in the opinion of the Indians, those who flew away liked most, what once surprised and amused them: unusual monkeys, hummingbirds, whales, iguanas.
Fortunately, the Aryans left the secrets of the technology for creating grandiose images to the local residents. That is why, among other drawings, the Indians placed a grandiose mandala - the sacred Vedic sign of the Aryans, quite logically assuming that seeing it, the people-gods would definitely return to this land, where they were so loved and so faithfully awaited. But, alas, none of the gods returned.

Centuries and millennia passed. The foundations of the Vedic faith, once laid here by Aryan priests, over time became intricately intertwined with local cults. However, the pyramids, the cult of the Sun, and many priestly rituals today are strikingly reminiscent of their Vedic foundations. All this time, the Indians patiently waited for the fair-haired, bearded people-gods, carrying great faith and great knowledge, to return from the west from across the ocean. The time has come and bearded men clad in iron really came from the west, but instead of the long-awaited benefits they brought destruction and death. However, this is a completely different story...

Peru. The mystery of the Nazca desert has been solved?

The world-famous Nazca desert with its mysterious patterns, lines and geometric shapes is located in the south of Peru, 400 km from Lima and 50 km from the Pacific coast. This is one of the driest places on our planet, receiving only about 2.5 cm of precipitation per year - less than the Gobi Desert.

Discovery of Nazca Desert Drawings

The mysterious Nazca lines and designs were accidentally discovered during a flight by a Peruvian pilot in 1927. The first to try to uncover the secret of the Nazca Desert was the American archaeologist Paul Kozok, who arrived in Nazca in 1939. They found that the giant drawings were made by removing a 20-centimeter layer of brown, sun-burnt stones and soil, under which a much lighter soil was hidden.

A giant astronomical calendar?

All the drawings could be divided into three groups: in one - geometric shapes, in the other - lines, zigzags and spirals, in the third - giant images of birds, insects and animals. Paul Kozok hypothesized that the Nazca drawings were a giant astronomical calendar. This idea came to him when he saw that on the day of the summer solstice the sun set just beyond the end of one of the straight lines included in the huge drawing of a bird.

Kozok's research was continued by his assistant, the German mathematician Maria Reiche. We can say that this tireless woman devoted her entire life to the Nazca desert and confirming the hypothesis of her teacher Paul Kozok. For more than 40 years, Reiche cataloged lines and designs, took measurements, and even conducted aerial photography with the help of the Peruvian Air Force. The researcher died in 1992, until the end of her life she believed that the Nazca Lines were a giant astronomical calendar.

1968 - an unexpected blow to the Kozok and Reiche hypothesis was dealt by the American astronomer Gerald Hawkins, who analyzed the Nazca lines using a computer and concluded that 80% of geometric figures have nothing to do with the movement of celestial bodies - since J. Hawkins became widely known After the publication of his book “The Solution of Stonehenge” in 1965, in which he argued that the famous building of the ancients in England was a kind of observatory, his opinion turned out to be decisive for many.

But, as Maria Reiche rightly believed, when making calculations in his research, Hawkins did not take the terrain into account at all, and this led him to an erroneous conclusion. Today, many of the researchers do not rule out that some of the lines are in one way or another connected with astronomical observations of the ancient inhabitants of Nazca, although skeptics say that out of almost 1000 straight lines, some can certainly simply by chance point to celestial bodies on certain days.

A giant map of groundwater distribution?

Relatively not so long ago, a message appeared in the foreign press that the secret of the Nazca drawings had finally been revealed. The author of the new hypothesis was David Johnson, a former high school teacher from New York State. It is interesting that Johnson was absolutely not interested in the mysterious drawings of Nazca, but searched for water in this desert using such an exotic method as dowsing. Johnson was especially drawn to the ancient irrigation canals, some of which still flowed.

Local residents told him that the main sources of water for the canals were two small rivers, but Johnson immediately noticed that the canals ran parallel to the rivers and they could not take water from them. He soon came to the conclusion that the sources of water were geological faults. Water flowing from the Andes accumulated in areas of cracks in the bedrock and flowed down into the valleys along faults underground.

At first, Johnson did not connect this idea with the Nazca lines, but he began to notice that as soon as he discovered aquifers, there were always traces of ancient desert inhabitants and their geometric patterns nearby. One day in July 1996, he climbed one of the hills, looked at two broad lines stretching towards the horizon, abutting the dark crevices of the nearby mountains, which he believed to be formed by geological faults, and then it dawned on him. As Johnson said, he sat on the top of a hill and said to himself: “My God, I know what the Nazca lines mean, they trace underground water sources on the surface!” In other words, the lines and geometric shapes on the surface of the desert are a giant map of the distribution of groundwater.

Although some scientists had long assumed that the Nazca paintings were somehow related to water, the main treasure of these arid places, many of them were skeptical of Johnson's idea. But Helaine Silverman, an archaeologist at the University of Illinois, asked her colleagues to “keep their eyes open” while Johnson's hypothesis was being tested at a 1999 conference on Nazca.

Johnson's hypothesis has been tested for several years by Steve Mabee, a hydrogeologist at the University of Massachusetts. “We make maps of our water flows, maybe the Nazca people did the same thing, only they “drew” them on the earth’s surface,” says Mabi. He has already found evidence that alternative water sources in the faults Johnson found actually exist. And in all cases, Mabey established the “marking” of these faults with lines on the surface.

Are the Nazca Lines related to sacred rituals?

Johann Reinhard, an anthropologist, was the first to put forward the theory that the Nazca lines are associated with sacred rituals that are dedicated to causing rain. He discovered a ritual that could explain the Nazca Lines. Archaeological finds at some of the wide lines (“Däniken landing strips”) confirm their connection with water. Sea shells (a symbol of water in the Andes) and pottery drinking vessels were found. Reinhard also sees sacred symbols in images of animals, so the spider and monkey in these places were considered associated with fertility, and therefore with water.

Another of the researchers, Entosh Aveni, believes that he has already discovered the hidden logic in the mosaic of the Nazca Lines. He removed all the images of animals, spirals and geometric shapes from the map and left only straight lines on it. It turned out that all the lines converged into sun-like patterns, which he called “ray centers.” Together with a colleague, he was able to identify 62 ray centers and about 800 straight lines. In fact, each of the “ray centers” was located on the top of some hill. According to Aveni and some experts, the lines may have served as paths and led people to the tops of the hills ("ray centers"), where they performed rituals related to water.

Other researchers are also trying to solve the mystery of the Nazca Desert. It has been established that the ancient Nazcans beheaded their enemies by mummifying their heads, and had very interesting religious ideas about nature and the world around them. Images of animals almost identical to the giant paintings in the desert were found on Nazca ceramics.

Markus Reindel decided to take the unbeaten path and chose a different starting point: “If we want to decipher the Nazca geoglyphs, we need to find the people who created them.”

Archaeological expeditions

Reindel conducted a surface survey of the mountain slopes in the vicinity of the town of Palpa, 40 km from Nazca, and at a depth of 30 cm he found the upper part of the wall there. Excavations have confirmed that these are the walls of an ancient city, which was located in close proximity to the legendary drawings.

After the first expedition, the archaeologist drew a detailed plan of the city and reconstructed some of its history. 1900 years ago, on the flat part of the valley, in the interfluve of the Rio Grande, Rio Palpa and Rio Whiscas rivers, there was a strange structure - settlers erected a wall 400 m long and 100 m wide. Meter-high walls made of brick blocks rose to a height of 12 m, symbolizing power and wealth. The basis of the wealth of the “Nazca people” was agriculture, which flourished thanks to an extensive irrigation system.

The surplus of agricultural products created the conditions for such social stratification of society, in which some segments of the population did not directly participate in food production. Reindel believes that they had a kind of nobility - the highest social stratum. An indirect confirmation of this assumption can be the complex system of irrigation canals, the construction of which required competent planning and management of the work.

And to create drawings in the desert, orders, plans and guidance were also needed from the rulers in power, whether they were called kings, chiefs, high priests or something else. The surroundings of Palpa on Reindel's plans are covered with lines, triangles and spirals, reaching almost to the settlement itself.

A German archaeologist is searching for the original meaning of the mysterious Nazca paintings in the Rio Grande Valley. The former inhabitants of these places “populated” the surrounding rocks with thousands of images of various animals and humanoid creatures. Small images carved on rocks (petroglyphs) date back to the 4th century BC. e. Later they were repeated in enlarged form on the flat surfaces of mountain slopes. Drawings ranging in size from 10 to 20 m were clearly visible from afar.

“It is from here that the tradition of land drawings must have developed,” Reindel suggested. “As they grew larger, they became more sweeping and abstract and no longer occupied rocky slopes, but vast surfaces of the desert plateau.”

The scientist’s reasoning is very logical, but the question arises: why are these giant schematic drawings located in places where no one can see them? In addition to the previous “cosmic” interpretations of the Nazca drawings, one more hypothesis can be cited. After many years of observations in the basins of the nearest rivers, the American David Johnson made an unexpected conclusion: “The Nazca Lines are a clear text carved into the area to indicate to the inhabitants of the region where the accessible sources are located.” water".

Markus Reindel has no reason yet to refute or confirm this and other hypotheses. He pins his hopes on subsequent seasons of excavation and intends to reach individual buildings that lie away from the settlement - directly on the extensions of the Casca lines or directly below them. Archaeologists have not yet discovered such buildings. Excavations inside the walled area will also continue: Reindel wants to find the temple of the “Nasca people.” The next stage will be the search for the creators of the Nazca Lines, and the ultimate goal is to unravel the mysterious signs.

In our opinion, all these hypotheses should be considered as a whole. After all, many of the scientists may probably be right. Some Nazca lines may serve as an astronomical calendar, marking periods of greatest drought or rain, others may serve as ceremonial paths for rituals associated with bringing rain, and others may project underground aquifers to the surface. All the lines together created a real puzzle for scientists...

The explanation of giant images of animals, birds and insects, in our opinion, may be even simpler. Can you see a spider or a hummingbird from a high hill? Unlikely. The ancient inhabitants of Nazca also understood this, but they were only interested in the rain clouds that flew above them at a great height. These giant images were intended for the heavenly deities who control the rains, so that they would see them and take pity on the animals, giving them, and at the same time people, life-giving moisture. Is this the answer to the mysterious Nazca signs?

The Nazca Desert is located in the south of Peru, 450 kilometers from Lima. This is the region inhabited by the pre-Incan Nazca civilization (1st-6th centuries AD).

The Nazca people waged war and traded, but their main activities were fishing and farming. In addition, the Nazcas were excellent artists and architects - we can judge this from the found ceramic products of this culture and the ruins of ancient cities. Many evidences of the high level of development of this civilization have been preserved, the main of which, undoubtedly, are the Nazca Lines - huge geoglyphs in the desert, visible only from a bird's eye view.

What to see

Nazca Lines

Giant desert paintings depicting animals and various objects - the Nazca Lines - were discovered in 1926. Researchers suggest that the geoglyphs were created in 300-800 by the Nazca civilization. They were called “the largest calendar in the world”, “the most gigantic book about astronomy” - their exact purpose remains unknown.

The area where the Nazca Lines are located covers 500 km2 and is located in the desert, where it rains only half an hour a year. It is this fact that has allowed geoglyphs to survive to this day.

These drawings were first described in 1548, but for many years no one paid serious attention to them. Perhaps this was due to the fact that you can only get a good look at them from a height, and they began to fly airplanes over the desert much later. In the early 1940s, during the construction of the Pan-American Highway, an American professor invited to study coastal hydrology regularly flew small planes over the valleys. It was he who drew attention to the strange lines forming huge drawings. The sight that unfolded shocked and amazed him. Professor Kosok and other scientists have devoted many years to studying these lines. They were able to discover a connection between the location of the lines and the sun on the days of the summer and winter solstices, as well as indications of the moon, planets and bright constellations. It seemed that the Nazca civilization had built a giant observatory here.

The technique for creating geoglyphs was very simple: the top darkened layer was cut off from the soil and folded here, along the resulting light strip, creating a roller of a darker color framing the lines. Over time, the color of the lines has darkened and become less contrasting, but we can still see the drawings left by the Nazca civilization.

How to watch
Nazca has several companies that fly sightseeing flights in small planes over the desert. This is because due to the number of people wishing to inspect the Line, there may not be places available for the desired date at the last moment.

An alternative way to see the lines is to go up to the observation deck on the Panamericana Highway (El Mirador). The cost of lifting is 2 sols (20 rubles), but you will only be able to see 2 drawings.

Palpa Lines

Unlike the Nazca drawings, the Palpa Lines consist more of human images and geometric designs. According to archaeological research, the Palpa Lines date back to an earlier period than the Nazca Lines. Flying along the Palpa Lines you can see the image of a Pelican, an image of a woman, a man and a boy, whom archaeologists nicknamed “The Family”. One of the Palpa Lines is an image of a Hummingbird - similar to one of the Nazca Lines geoglyphs. The Other Line is read by archaeologists as an image of a Dog near the Square. Near the city of Palpa you can see the famous image of the Sundial and Tumi - a ritual knife.

Ruins of Cahuachi

The most important and powerful city of the Nazca civilization was Cahuachi, a city in the Nazca Valley, 24 km from the modern city of Nazca. Excavations are still underway here. Today all that remains of the city are:

• The Central Pyramid is 28 meters high and 100 meters wide, consisting of 7 steps. Religious ceremonies were held here.
• Step Temple 5 meters high and 25 meters wide
• 40 buildings made of adobe (unbaked brick)

Near the city there was a necropolis, in which scientists found untouched burials with various objects that were customary to be placed in graves (dishes, fabrics, jewelry, etc.). All finds can be seen in the Antonini Archaeological Museum (Museo Arqueológico Antonini) in Nazca.

Necropolis of Chauchilla (El cementerio de Chauchilla)

The Necropolis of Chauchilla is located 30 km from the city of Nazca. This is the only place in Peru where you can see the mummies of an ancient civilization directly in the graves where they were found. This cemetery was used from the 3rd to 9th centuries AD, but the main burials date back to 600-700 years. The mummies were well preserved thanks to the arid desert climate, as well as the embalming technology used by the Nazcas: the bodies of deceased people were wrapped in cotton cloth, painted with paints and soaked in resins. It was the resins that helped avoid the decomposing effects of bacteria.
The necropolis was discovered in 1920, but was officially recognized as an archaeological site and taken under protection only in 1997. Before that, he suffered for many years from looters who stole a significant part of the Nazca treasures.

2-hour guided tour - 30 Soles

Entrance ticket to the Necropolis - 5 Soleils

San Fernando Nature Reserve (Bahía de San Fernando)

About 80 km from Nazca there is a reserve very similar to Paracas. Here you can also see penguins, sea lions, dolphins, and various birds. And in addition, Andean foxes, guanacos and condors are found in San Fernando.

It is difficult to get here and there are almost no tourists here.In San Fernando you can spend time alone with nature and the Pacific Ocean!

Cantayoc Aqueducts

The Nazcas were a very advanced civilization. In desert conditions, where the river is filled with water only for 40 days a year, Nazca farmers needed a system that would allow them to have water throughout the year. They solved this problem by creating a magnificent aqueduct system. One of them is the Cantayoc Aqueducts, located less than 5 km from the city of Nazca and are a chain of spiral wells.

When to go

Nazca is located in the desert, where it is almost always dry and sunny. December to March is the hottest time in this region, with average daily temperatures hovering around 27C. June to September are the coldest months of the year, with daytime temperatures as low as 18C.

How to get to Nazca

Nazca is located 450 kilometers south of Lima. You can get here by car along the Panamericana Highway, or by one of the many buses that go in this direction. The bus trip will take 7 hours.