The Mystery of the Nazca Lines: Who and Why Created These Giant Geoglyphs?

The Nazca Lines is one of the greatest mysteries that keeps intriguing researchers worldwide. What lies behind these massive-scale geoglyphs that are etched in the middle of the Peruvian desert?

These enormous figures, widely known as the Nazca Lines, were discovered in the early 1900′s into the desert in Peru, about 200 miles south of Lima between the Inca and Nazca valleys.

Enormous shapes and strange symbols cover a total area that measures 37 miles in length and 1 mile in width. In order to distinguish the forms, one must watch them from a long distance directly above. These perfectly-straight parallel and intersecting lines depict animals, plants and fantastic creatures on a giant scale. The approximately 70 biomorphs (animal and plant figures) are believed to have been constructed around 200 BC, while the 900 geoglyphs (geometric forms that include straight lines, triangles, spirals, circles and trapezoids) were constructed 500 years later. These strange forms were discovered in 1927 by Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe, who was hiking through the foothills of the surrounding area. In the 1930s, an aircraft spotted them during a water survey.