Lines in the Sand: The Nazca Mystery Quiz

Answer: Peru

The Nazca Lines are in southern Peru, across a high desert plateau between the towns of Nazca and Palpa. Their remote location and dry climate have helped preserve them for centuries.

Peru is also home to other major ancient sites such as Machu Picchu and Caral, making it one of South America's richest countries for archaeology. The Nazca Lines were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994 because of their scale, age, and cultural importance.

Answer: The extremely dry desert climate

The Nazca Desert is one of the driest places on Earth. It receives less than 25 millimetres of rainfall per year. This extreme aridity has protected the lines from erosion for over 2,000 years, keeping them intact and clearly visible from the air.

The desert also experiences very little wind at ground level, which has helped safeguard them. The combination of minimal rain and low wind created almost ideal conditions for their survival. This is why these ancient markings have endured when so many other traces of early civilisations have been lost entirely.

Answer: Geoglyphs

Geoglyphs are large designs or motifs produced on the ground. They're made by arranging or removing rocks, earth, or gravel. The Nazca Lines are among the most famous examples in the world, but similar geoglyphs have been found in other parts of South America and even in the UK, such as the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire.

Petroglyphs, one of the wrong answers, are often confused with geoglyphs but are actually quite different, as they are images carved or scratched directly into rock surfaces. Hieroglyphs are symbolic writing systems, not landscape-scale designs. Cave paintings are a different form of ancient art, made inside caves using pigments rather than by reshaping the landscape itself.

Answer: By pilots flying over the area

The Nazca Lines became much better known internationally after pilots and later researchers observed them from the air in the 20th century, though the geoglyphs had been noticed earlier from the ground and were mentioned in colonial-era sources. Many designs are best understood from above, but some can also be seen from nearby hills or other elevated viewpoints.

Although this has encouraged speculation about how they were planned, researchers generally conclude that they could be created with simple surveying techniques rather than aerial observation.

Answer: By removing reddish surface stones to reveal lighter ground beneath

The Nazca Lines were created by removing the reddish-brown iron oxide-coated pebbles that cover the desert floor. This revealed the yellowish-grey ground beneath. This contrast between the darker stones and the lighter earth below is what makes the lines visible, particularly from the air.

The process sounds simple but it requires great precision and planning to produce such accurate and large-scale designs. Archaeologists believe the Nazca people used basic tools and a system of stakes and cords to map out the figures before clearing away the stones and piling them neatly along the edges of the lines.

Answer: Animals, plants, and geometric shapes

The Nazca Lines show many different subjects. Some depict animals like monkeys, spiders, dogs, and fish. Others show plants and flowers, or geometric patterns like spirals and triangles. Straight lines stretch for kilometres across the desert.

There are over 70 animal and plant figures alongside hundreds of geometric designs covering the landscape. The mix of subjects suggests the lines had many purposes for the Nazca people, possibly combining religious, ceremonial, and astronomical functions.

Answer: A hummingbird

The hummingbird is one of the most recognisable and best preserved of all the Nazca geoglyphs. It measures around 96 metres (315 feet) in length. Its long beak and outstretched wings make it easy to identify from the air. It has become a symbol for the Nazca Lines as a whole.

The Nazca people would have known hummingbirds well, as they are native to South America and were likely important in their culture. Other animal figures include a condor, a spider, a monkey, and a whale. Each was drawn with surprising accuracy despite their huge size.

Answer: Maria Reiche

Maria Reiche was a German mathematician and archaeologist who dedicated most of her adult life to studying and protecting the Nazca Lines. She first visited the site in 1946 and became so captivated that she spent decades living in the desert, measuring and mapping them by hand.

She campaigned to have the lines protected from damage and often used her own money to fund preservation efforts. She believed the lines had astronomical significance and might have been used as a giant calendar aligned with the movements of the sun, moon, and stars. She died in Lima in 1998 at the age of 95, having devoted over fifty years of her life to the Nazca Lines.

Answer: They were landing strips for ancient astronauts

Erich von Däniken was a Swiss author who proposed in his 1968 book 'Chariots of the Gods' that the Nazca Lines were landing strips for extraterrestrial spacecraft. He argued that the ancient Nazca people could not have made such precise and large-scale designs without help from advanced beings from another world.

The theory captured the public imagination and made von Däniken internationally famous, though archaeologists and scientists have rejected it completely. Critics point out that the lines would make very poor landing strips as the ground is soft and uneven. There is also strong evidence that the Nazca people were capable of making the lines using basic tools and techniques on their own.

Answer: They served religious and ceremonial purposes

The most widely accepted theory among archaeologists is that the Nazca Lines had religious and ceremonial purposes. These were possibly connected to the worship of water and fertility gods. The Nazca people lived in a very dry region where water was scarce. This made rainfall and water sources vital to their survival.

Some researchers believe the lines were walked as part of ritual processions. Others suggest they were offerings to the gods, visible from the heavens above. The presence of so many animal figures, many associated with water and fertility in Andean cultures, supports the idea that the lines formed part of a complex religious landscape which was meant to communicate with or honour the forces that controlled nature.