Archaeologists armed with drones have discovered more than 25 new geoglyphs that were recorded in a strip of the coastal desert in southern Peru near the Nazca Lines.
The Culture Ministry informed of these new findings yesterday, according to El Universo.
“Most of the new geoglyphs, including figures of a killer whale and a dancing woman, seem to have been made by the Paracas culture more than 2,000 years ago, hundreds of years before the inhabitants of Nazca created similar giant drawings nearby”, said Johny Isla, archaeologist who leads the conservation work of the Culture Ministry in the region, according to this media.
The use of drones has allowed archaeologists to expand their documentation on geoglyphs, and discover new groups of figures, said Isla. In this case, the Palpa Lines – which is how these recently-discovered geoglyphs have been named – can be seen from below, since they were carved into hillsides, unlike the Nazca lines that can only be appreciated from above.
“The geoglyphs created by the Nazca and Palpa cultures are surprising reminders of the rich pre-Columbian history of Peru and are considered archaeological enigmas since no one knows for sure why they were drawn in such a large scale and for such a long time”, El Universo said.
Isla assures that all of these figures were created in a time-span of about 1,200 years.
“So far we have not walked on them, we have taken only the photos, it is the first stage of research, we will process those images, then go to the field and see associated materials to help us pinpoint their chronology,” said Isla to El Universo.
