Although the best-known geoglyphs are the mysterious Nazca Lines of Peru (200 BCE – 600 CE), thousands of undatable geoglyphs amaze people worldwide. The Nasca Lines and other geoglyphs are visible from ESA’s Proba spacecraft, 372.8 miles away in space, and were discovered on Google Maps in 2016.
But what are geoglyphs, and where do they come from?
Geoglyphs are a massive form of land art designed in shapes of humans, animals, and geometric shapes. They are made by rearranging the natural landscape and removing the top 12-15 inches of weathered rock from the natural landscape, i.e., deserts, hills, slopes, etc., to expose the lighter-colored land underneath.
However, due to their enormous size, they can only be observed in their entirety from a distance when on higher ground or from elevated locations such as towers or by air.
Some people believe geoglyphs were alien-made since some are miles long; however, researchers believe ancient civilizations constructed them. They exist on nearly every continent. In the U.S., over 600 geoglyphs alone have been identified along the Colorado River from Nevada along the Arizona and California border to the Gulf of California and Northern Mexico.
Using this term to describe these features is probably inaccurate, as recent research has shown that most were not constructed primarily as art but to serve various purposes. The most popular belief is that the lines had religious purposes: offerings to the gods, who could see them from the heavens. Another theory is that the Nazca Lines represent night sky constellations.
In his book, The Nasca Lines: A New Perspective on Origin and Meaning, author Reinhard claims, “They did not point at anything on the geographical or celestial horizon, but instead led to places where ancients performed rituals obtaining water and agricultural fertility.” Others suggest these designs are for collective spaces, ceremonial practices, symbolic uses, burial sites, funerary customs, aiding in trapping migratory animals, and perhaps just clearing areas for residential sites.
The only fact that we can be confident about is that many people don’t know anything about geoglyphs since there are no official records on the topic. There is much confusion and many theories, and the debates will continue indefinitely.
