The Nazca lines are geoglyphs and geometric line clearings in the
Peruvian desert. They were made by the Nazca people, who flourished between 200 BCE and 600 CE along rivers and streams that flow from the Andes. The desert itself runs for over 1,400 miles along the Pacific Ocean. The area of the Nazca art is called the Pampa Colorada (Red Plain). The Nazca Desert is a high plateau is 15 miles wide and runs some 37 miles parallel to the Andes and the sea, some 250 miles south of
Lima. At some time before 1000 BCE, the Nazca Valley was inhabited by a people who developed advanced farming methods that allowed them to build an irrigation system, improve their crops, and expand the area of land they could farm. Over the next 1,500 years, they also developed outstanding skills in weaving, pottery, and architecture. Dark red surface stones and soil have been cleared away, exposing the lighter-colored subsoil, creating the "lines". Some of the forms, including images of humans, giant lizards, spiders, monkeys, llamas, dogs, hummingbirds, etc., as well as the zigzagging and crisscrossing lines and geometric designs that grace the desert floor and steep hillsides at the edge of the desert. The Nazca lines are communal, their creation took hundreds of years and required a large number of people working on the project. The Nazca probably used grids for their giant geoglyphs, as their weavers did for their elaborate designs and patterns. The most difficult part of the project would have been moving all the stones and earth to reveal the lighter subsoil as stones (not sand) comprise the desert surface.
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Lima, Cusco & Puno
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Lima, Cusco & Amazon
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