The Nazca lines are a series of geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert, a high arid plateau that stretches more than 80 km (50 miles) between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the Pampas de Jumana in Peru.

The glyphs are believed to have been created by the Nazca culture between 200 BC and AD 700. They include hundreds of individual figures, ranging in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, etc... The creators of the lines and why they were made are unknown. Though many theories exist, such as sun calendars or alien guidance, one by Maria Reiche, German-born mathematician and archaeologist, suggesting that "Ancient people drew geoglyphs of constellations that are most related to water" fascinated me the most.

The renderings are explained as part of a practice involving the worship of deities associated with the availability of water, and thus the fertility of crops. The lines were interpreted primarily as sacred paths leading to points of worship and the figures were of sacred animals and objects to invoke their aid. Also, a massive, exactly symmetric arrow more than 50 km long was discovered when NASA launched its Landsat? imagery. This geoglyph can only be seen from space. Was this also created by ancient people?

(Satoshi Yagisawa)