The Nasca Lines may be much older than previously thought and were probably associated with the ancient worship of water and fertility. A German scientific team has just released its findings.
This month, a multi-disciplinary team presented the results of its research regarding the Nasca Lines at a symposium in Bonn organised by the German Institute of Archaeology. At the event, the team’s spokesperson, Dr. Marcus Reindel, stated that the team’s novel new approach to Nasca Lines research had produced new conclusions regarding their history, purpose and antiquity.
The question of the function and history of these enormous geoglyphs has exercised the minds of archaeologists since they were first spotted from the air in the 1930s. These giant geometric and zoomorphic designs cut into the desert floor cover an area of about 750 square kilometres and are traditionally attributed to the Paracas and Nasca cultures. Today, travellers come to Peru from all over the world to view the lines from light aircraft.
Dozens of books have been written about the Nasca Lines, located in Peru’s Pacific coastal desert, but the many possible explanations of their purpose and history have generally been based on single discipline studies by mathematicians, archaeologists or even astronomers. This latest research, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, was the first to develop and adapt new technologies for archaeological research in South America.
Heidelberg’s Academy of Sciences, for example, has developed a new procedure for dating stone surfaces, while cheaper and more precise procedures for traditional radio carbon dating have also been developed. In the field of geophysics, experts from the Bavarian Office of Document Conservation adapted measuring procedures designed for the magnetic field of the northern hemisphere so that they would function south of the equator. Also, the Curt Engelhorn Centre, in Mannheim, developed new technology to date metals, while their colleagues at the University of Gottingen contributed their research in the field of paleogenetics to provide new data on ancient foodstuffs. Meanwhile, researchers from the University of Heidelberg’s Institute of Geography, led by Professor Bernhard Eitel, were able to reproduce the climate conditions of pre-Hispanic Peru. Each of these new developments will be of invaluable assistance to future archaeological research throughout the world.
Who Made the Nasca Lines?
During their investigations, archaeologists from the German team were able to excavate in the area around the geoglyphs for the first time, and they discovered evidence of stone and mud brick constructions which appear to have been altars related to the worship of water. The discovery of spondylus shells, which were symbols of water and fertility for the earliest Andean cultures, was particularly significant in the development of this theory.
In addition, their excavations around the present-day town of Palpa, north of Nasca, led the team to conclude that the Nasca Lines may be much older than previously thought. The archaeologists found a number of geoglyphs carved on rock surfaces, the designs of which were very similar to the larger images on the plain of Nasca. They attributed these new findings to the Paracas period (800-200 BC), and speculate that they may date back as far as the Initial Period (1800-1500 BC), or even the much earlier Archaic Period.
Remains dating from all of these periods were discovered during excavations. In fact, during hikes and preliminary excavations, the German team documented more than 450 human settlements, over an area of 300 square kilometres, which were inhabited during different periods.
Professor Eitel’s team of geographers has demonstrated that a process of desertification began in Peru around 3000 BC, and that it became particularly acute during the Nasca period, from 200 to 600 AD, culminating in a long period of drought which coincided, and almost certainly brought about, the end of the Nasca civilization.
With the collapse of the Nasca civilization the tradition of creating geoglyphs also ended, but not before a final period of intense construction which produced most of the large designs we see today, as well as a number of temple buildings in the surrounding area.
It would seem apparent that the Nasca Lines were created as a kind of ritual landscape for the worship of water and fertility. The ancient agriculturalists of the desert oases of Nasca depended for their survival upon limited sources of water, and during periods of drought their civilization would have been plunged into crisis. This would account for the sudden intensification of religious building activity which coincided with the prolonged drought that eventually led to the demise of the Nasca culture. It is well-known that in Andean religion it was believed that the gods who commanded nature could only be appeased by intense worship, and that they would punish any perceived lack of piety or religious zeal with natural disasters, particularly drought. According to these new findings, by creating the enormous designs which astonish visitors today, the ancient inhabitants of Nasca increased their devotion to the deities which governed the weather in a vain effort to prevent their own downfall.
|
