If you walk across the Nazca desert of southern Peru, there’s not much to see. The landscape is so arid that almost nothing grows; even the wind seldom stirs. But if you could propel yourself into the air and turn around to admire the view, a curious spectacle would appear.
On the desert floor below, a collection of faint lines would come into focus during the ascent, tracing sometimes winding, sometimes straight paths across the landscape. Distinct shapes would then become clear: a spider, a monkey, a tree and a giant, alien-like figure. These are the Nazca Lines, a collection of hundreds of faint etchings, also called geoglyphs, created almost two thousand years ago by indigenous inhabitants of what is now Peru. The dry environment and uncommonly still air have preserved the markings for modern-day archaeologists to puzzle over — and to guess at their purpose.
The figures range in ...
