Lines and drawings in the Nazca Valley. Nazca geoglyphs. Siegfried Waxman – Cultural Atlas

Pampa Colorada Desert(Spanish: Desierto de la Pampa Colorado; “Red Plain”), located south of the Nazca River in, is more often called "Nazca Plateau"(Spanish: Nazca). This is a waterless and deserted desert plain, surrounded by low spurs of the Andes, stretching 450 km southeast of the Peruvian capital, (Spanish: Lima).

The vast, elongated plateau area with an area of about 500 km² stretches from north to south for more than 50 km, from west to east - from 7 to 15 km. The valley was long mistakenly considered lifeless. The flat terrain with undulating relief in places is separated from other flat areas by clearly defined ledges.

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The name "Nazca" also refers to ancient civilization, which flourished in the period from 300 BC. to 500 AD Perhaps it was this culture that created the mysterious “Nazca Lines”, the ancient ceremonial city of Cahuachi and the extensive system of “puquios” - unique underground aqueducts.

An important component of the region, in addition to the famous plateau, is the city of the same name, founded by the Spaniards in 1591. At the end of the last century, in 1996, the city of Nazca was razed to the ground by a powerful earthquake. Fortunately, there were few casualties (17 people died), since the rampant underground disaster occurred at noon, but about 100 thousand people were left homeless. Today the city has been rebuilt, modern multi-storey buildings have been erected here, and its center is decorated with a wonderful square.

Climate

The sparsely populated area has a very dry climate.

Winter on the vast plateau lasts from June to September; throughout the year the temperature in the desert does not drop below +16°C. In summer, the air temperature is stable and stays around +25°C. Despite the close location of the ocean, rain is extremely rare here. There are also practically no winds here; there are no rivers, lakes or streams surrounded by the plateau. About what these lands once saw water flows, tell the story of numerous river beds that have long since dried up.

Mysterious geoglyphs (Nazca Lines)

However, this Peruvian region is notable primarily not for the city, but for the mysterious geoglyphs - unusual lines, geometric shapes and bizarre designs that decorate the surface of the plateau. For the modern scientific community, these drawings have been presenting more and more mysteries for centuries. Dozens of minds have been struggling for many years trying to answer numerous questions regarding the mysterious images.

Shape Map

In total, about 13 thousand different lines, more than 100 spirals, over 700 geometric shapes or areas (triangles, rectangles, trapezoids) and 788 images of people, birds and animals were discovered on the desert plain. The images of the plateau are long grooves of varying widths, 15 to 30 cm deep, dug in the top layer of soil - a mixture of clay and sand. Length of the most long lines reaches up to 10 km. The width of the drawings is also striking, in some cases reaching 150 - 200 m.

There are drawings here that resemble the outlines of animals - llamas, monkeys, killer whales, birds, etc. Single drawings (about 40) depict sharks, fish, lizards and spiders.

The figures amaze the imagination with their gigantic size, but people have still not been able to unravel their true purpose. The answer may lie in the depths of the desert. This means that in order to find out who created these amazing works of art and why, archaeological excavations are necessary, which are prohibited here, since the plateau is protected by the status "Sacred Zone"(related to the Divine, heavenly, otherworldly, mystical). So, to this day the origin of the Nazca drawings remains a secret behind seven seals.

Geoglyphs of the Nazca Plateau were included in the list of objects in 1994 World Heritage UNESCO.

But no matter how “sacred” the territory is, no one has yet canceled the dominant human trait - curiosity, which stimulates humanity to overcome any difficulties.

The first extremely curious person who became interested in these forbidden lands was Mejia Toribio Hesspe(Spanish: Toribio Mejía Xesspe), an archaeologist from Peru who in 1927 studied the Nazca Lines from the foothills surrounding the lifeless plateau. In 1939, the unusual plateau gained worldwide fame thanks to a Peruvian scientist.

In 1930, anthropologists studied the mysterious desert area with mysterious lines by flying around the plateau in an airplane. The attention of archaeologists around the world was focused on the desert in the early 40s of the 20th century. So, in 1941, the American historian, professor of hydrogeology Paul Kosok (English Paul Kosok; 1896-1959) made several reconnaissance flights over the desert in a small plane. It was he who determined that gigantic lines and figures cover a vast territory stretching over 100 km.

Scientists were able to study the unique plateau more closely only in 1946, although this was not a targeted government program funded by the authorities, but individual expeditions of enthusiastic researchers. It turned out that the ancient “designers” created the Nazca trenches by removing the dark surface soil layer (the so-called “desert tan”) - clay saturated with iron oxide and manganese oxide. The gravel was completely removed from the line section, underneath which lay light-colored soil rich in lime. In the open air, the limestone soil instantly hardens, forming a protective layer that perfectly prevents erosion, which is why the lines are so striking and have retained their original shape for 1000 years. Despite the technical simplicity of execution, such a solution required excellent knowledge of geodesy. The durability of the drawings was also facilitated by the usual calm here, lack of precipitation and stable air temperature throughout the year. If only the locals climatic conditions were different, then, undoubtedly, the drawings would have long ago disappeared from the face of the earth.

They continue to puzzle generations of researchers from all over the world.

Mystical civilization

Official science claims that all the images were created during the heyday of the ancient Nazca Empire, which had a very developed culture. The civilization was founded by the archaeological culture (Spanish: Paracas), the indigenous Indians of southern Peru of the 2nd half of the 1st millennium BC. e. Many scholars agree that most of the lines and figures were created during a period of 1,100 years, during the “Golden Age” of the Nazca civilization (100-200 AD). The ancient civilization sank into oblivion at the end of the 8th century, the reason for this, presumably, was the floods that befell the plateau at the end of the first 1000 years. People were forced to leave their land, which was settled after several centuries.

If we assume that the mysterious drawings were created by ancient people, then why and, most importantly, how the aborigines were able to do this remains a mystery. Even using modern technology, it is extremely difficult to draw a perfectly straight line across the surface of the earth, even 3-5 km long.

According to the scientists' conclusions, all this was done in a short time. Over the course of a couple of centuries, the Nazca Plateau turned from a lifeless valley into the most bizarre territory on the planet, dotted with geoglyphs. Unknown artists crossed the depressions and hills of the desert, but at the same time the lines remained perfectly regular and the edges of the grooves strictly parallel. How unknown masters created figures of various animals that can only be seen from the height of a bird’s flight is completely unclear.

46-meter spider

For example, the image of a hummingbird reaches a length of 50 m, a condor bird - 120 m, and a spider, similar to its relatives living in the Amazon jungle, has a length of 46 m. Interestingly, all these masterpieces can only be seen by rising into the air or climbing on high mountain, which are not observed nearby.

It's obvious that aircraft the people who inhabited the plateau during the period of the emergence of art did not have it. How could people create drawings with pinpoint precision without being able to see the full picture of the work done? How did the craftsmen manage to maintain the accuracy of all the lines? To do this, they would have needed a whole arsenal of modern geodetic equipment, not to mention the most perfect knowledge of mathematical laws, given that the images were created both on flat areas of land and on steep slopes and almost vertical cliffs!

Moreover, in the area of the Nazca desert valley there are hills (Spanish: Palpa), the tops of some of which are cut off as if by a giant knife at one level. These huge sections are also decorated with patterns, lines and geometric shapes.

Maybe it’s generally difficult for us to understand the logic of our distant ancestors. Children do not understand their parents, much less understand the motives of people who lived 1000 - 2000 years ago. It is quite possible that the images of the plateau do not have any practical or religious component. Maybe the ancient people created them in order to show their descendants what they were capable of? But why waste a lot of energy and time on self-affirmation? In general, questions, questions to which there are no answers yet.

Alien intervention?

Scientists who are confident that the mysterious drawings were created by humans are no more than those who believe that it could not have happened without the intervention of aliens. According to the latter, the images on the plateau are alien runways. This version, of course, has a right to exist; it is only unclear why the alien aircraft did not have a vertical take-off system and why it was necessary to make runways in the shape of zigzags, spirals and terrestrial animals.

Another interesting thing is that many scientists believe that complex designs in the form of bizarre animals, birds and insects were applied much earlier than simpler geometric shapes, circles and lines. The conclusion naturally suggests itself that first unknown mysterious masters made complex forms, and only then earthly people began to practice creating straight lines.

Other hypotheses

Maria Reiche (German: Maria Reiche; 1903-1998), a German mathematician and archaeologist, who from 1946 for more than 40 years (until her death at the age of 95) methodically and meticulously studied the Nazca figures, believed that their the lines are a giant ancient calendar. In her opinion, many of the drawings are accurate representations of the constellations, and the lines correspond to the movement of the sun or are oriented towards the moon, planets of the solar system and some of the constellations. For example, a drawing in the shape of a spider, according to Reiche, reproduces a cluster of stars in the constellation Orion. Based on her astronomical calculations, she was the first to announce the time when the drawings were created - the 5th century. Later, radiocarbon analysis of a wooden marking peg found at the site of one of the geoglyphs confirmed the date indicated by M. Reiche.

There is another interesting theory regarding mystical drawings. The famous American archaeologist Johann Reinhard, professor emeritus at the Catholic University of Santa Maria (UCSM, Peru), believes that the giant Nazca lines were built to carry out certain religious rites. The figures of animals, birds and insects were presumably associated with the worship of deities. With the help of drawings, people pleased the Gods and asked them for water to irrigate their land. Some archaeologists believe that the lines and intricate designs represented sacred paths along which local priests walked during ritual ceremonies. As in any pagan religion (the ancient people were obviously followers of this faith), the cult of the gods occupies a central place not only in religion, but also in the life of people. But the question again arises: why did the ancient Peruvians decide to turn to deities in this remote place, where there was never any cultivated land?

There is also a hypothesis that in ancient times Indian athletes ran along giant lines and stripes, which means that the South American sports Olympics were held on Nazca. Straight lines, of course, could be used as treadmills, but how can you run in a spiral and along images of birds or, for example, a monkey?

There were also publications that huge triangular and trapezoidal platforms were created for some ceremonies, during which sacrifices were made to the gods and mass celebrations took place. But why then did archaeologists, who searched all the surroundings of the plateau, not find a single artifact confirming this version?

There is even such an absurd idea that gigantic work was done solely for the purpose of a kind of labor education. To keep the idle ancient Peruvians busy... Another hypothesis says that all the drawings are a giant loom of ancient people who laid out the threads along the lines. It was also argued that this is a colossal encrypted map of the world, which so far no one has been able to decipher.

IN last years voices began to be heard more and more often that the incredible drawings were just the result of someone’s falsification. But then a whole army of counterfeiters had to work on the production of the largest fake in the history of mankind for decades. Yes, at the same time it was still necessary to keep everything secret. The question is - for what?

Today, unfortunately, the main attention of scientists from around the world is focused not on the Nazca drawings, shrouded in mystery, but on the serious environmental threat hanging over the mysterious plateau. Deforestation, harmful emissions into the atmosphere, environmental pollution - all this is not changing the stable climate of the desert for the better. It rains more and more often, leading to landslides and other troubles that have a destructive effect on the integrity of images.

If nothing is done in the next 5-10 years to overcome a serious threat, amazing drawings will be lost to humanity forever. Then there is no doubt that answers to the countless questions that concern us will NEVER be received. We will never know WHO and WHY created these unique creations.

Archaeological sites of the region

The capital and main ceremonial center of the Nazca civilization was the ancient settlement of Cahuachi. The city was a concentration of adobe residential buildings and outbuildings. In its center stood a pyramidal structure - the Great Temple, built on a hill about 30 m high. Around the main Temple there were squares, palaces and tombs.

In addition to Cahuachi, there are several other large architectural complexes ancient civilization. The most unusual of them is “Bosque Muerto” (from Spanish “Dead Forest”) Estaceria, which consists of rows of 240 pillars up to 2 m high, mounted on a low platform. To the west and south of the platform there are pillars of smaller sizes, and they are arranged not in rows, but in chains. Near the “dead forest” there rose a stepped hill with 2 rows of terraces.

On the territory of Estaceria there are many burials in which preserved parts of robes were discovered. Based on the found fragments, the clothing of the Nazca people was recreated: long capes with a wide border and traditional South American ponchos - a rectangular cloth with a slot for the head. It is noteworthy that the color range of fabrics is unusually extensive, numbering up to 150 different shades.

The culture of the ancient civilization amazes with its unique polychrome vessels of excellent quality, while the Indians were not familiar with the potter's wheel. Cups, vases, figured jugs and bowls were painted with paints of 6-7 colors, which were applied before firing.

The mysteries of Nazca do not end there. If the surface of the valley is decorated with gigantic drawings that are still incomprehensible to the human mind, then in its depths lurk even more inconceivable puquios (Spanish Puquios; from Kech. source, spring) - ancient aqueduct systems near the city of Nazca. Of the 36 giant puquios, which are granite pipes of underground water pipes, most of them are still functioning normally. Today's Peruvian Indians attribute the creation of puquios to a divine creator (Quechua Wiraqucha, Spanish Huiracocha or Viracocha). Who, when and why created these titanic water structures under the ancient Nazca plateau are also part of the realm of eternal mysteries.

Curious facts

Nazca Desert (Peru) - description, history, location. The exact address, phone, website. Tourist reviews, photos and videos.

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The Nazca Desert, located at south coast Peru is one of the most amazing and mystical places on the planet. This area became widely famous thanks to the giant mysterious lines, With high altitude folding into realistic drawings, as if made by the hand of an invisible giant master. The amount of art is amazing: in the Nazca desert there are more than thirty identifiable designs alone, and there are also about 700 geometric shapes and countless lines and stripes. Millions of tourists from all over the world come to see the mysterious signs every year, and the desert itself is perhaps the most visited attraction in Peru.

A little history

Hummingbird, Monkey, Dog, Whale - these are just a few of the giant drawings in the Nazca desert. The first evidence of the existence of shallow long trenches of unknown purpose dates back to the 16th century, and in 1939 it became visible from the air for the first time that these strips form perfect patterns. The first photos of the desert were taken in 1947, and since then scientists have been puzzling over the purpose of the Nazca drawings.

So far, all that is known is that the authors of the drawings (at least according to modern science) are the ancient Nazca civilization, which existed from the 1st century BC until the 8th century with its center in the ceremonial city of Cahuachi (28 km from the current city of Nazca) . In addition to desert arts, the Nazcas left a legacy to humanity extensive system underground water supply channels (many of them are still in use today) local residents), as well as examples of ceramics and textiles, which can be seen in the Antonini Archaeological Museum in the city of Nazca.

The famous Nazca Lines are located on a section of rocky desert with an area of 50 by 5-7 km, occupying a total space of 500 square meters. km.

How to get there

The main settlement of the Nazca area is logically named Nazca. The most convenient way to get here is by bus, this indispensable Peruvian transport. Buses depart from all major cities countries, the fastest way to Nazca is from the city of Ica, the center of the southern coast of Peru - the journey will take 2-3 hours and cost about 30-40 PEN.

Buses from Cusco and Arequipa also arrive in Nazca; in the first case, you will have to spend about 14 hours on the road, in the second - “only” nine, both buses depart from their starting points at night, arriving at the place in the morning. A ticket from Cusco will cost about 90-100 PEN, from Arequipa - about 75-85 PEN. The trip from Lima will take approximately 6-8 hours depending on the route.

If you want to see the Nazca Lines, but are based in Lima, it is most convenient to purchase sightseeing tour in one of the agencies in the Peruvian capital. Tourists set off at 4 am, visit the cities of Ballestas and Nazca itself (including its attractions), and also fly around the Nazca lines in a light aircraft. Return to Lima around 10 pm the same day. The cost of the excursion is about 900-1000 PEN. Prices on the page are as of September 2018.

How to get around

You can get around the city of Nazca on foot - it is quite small. A taxi ride to any distance within the city will cost no more than 4 PEN, and a trip to the airport (from where the light-duty cars with tourists take off) will cost no more than 5-6 PEN.

Hotels in the Nazca Desert

Hoteliers in the city of Nazca and the surrounding area, of course, could not ignore the increased popularity of the area among foreign tourists, - so there are plenty of options for placement here. Prices start from 35-40 PEN per room without embellishment; for 50 PEN you can stay for the night comfortably, and for 90-120 PEN you can even have a blast. For budget tourists there are a lot of hostels with prices ranging from 15-20 PEN per bed. Well, to experience the authentic atmosphere of Nazca, you can stay at a private hacienda turned into a hotel.

Cuisine and restaurants

In the city of Nazca, you should not look for gourmet restaurants - after all, although it is a popular province, it is a province. But there are more than enough establishments of a worker-peasant nature here - and the food they serve is very good: the ingredients are fresh, the preparation is simple but good, and the portions are huge. All kinds of sandwiches and burgers serve as fast food, kiosks with which are located on any of the streets of the city. If you want to have a hot lunch, Nazca restaurants are at your service, where for 8-15 PEN you will be offered a fixed menu of soup, several main dishes to choose from and a drink.

Nazca Lines

The famous Nazca Lines are located on a section of rocky desert with an area of 50 by 5-7 km, occupying a total space of 500 square meters. km. In fact, they are shallow furrows a meter wide and 30-40 cm deep. Due to the fact that the surface of the soil in Nazca is darker, and the “underside” is lighter, the lines are clearly visible to the eye. But due to the fact that the drawings occupy a gigantic area, you can see them in all their glory only from the air.

Flights over the Nazca Desert start from the local airfield, where operator stands are plentiful. A seat in a four-seater Cessna (2 pilots and 2 passengers) will cost about 50-70 USD per low season and 90-110 USD - in high. Definitely need to bargain! The passenger will also be asked to pay an airport tax of 10-15 PEN. The flight duration is about half an hour.

In addition, you can admire the Nazca Line from observation tower, located along the Pan-American Highway. From there you can see 3-4 drawings and a magnificent Mountain landscape on the horizon. A taxi from the city of Nazca and back will cost about 55 PEN, and climbing the tower itself will cost 3 PEN.

Nazca city and surroundings

To get a complete understanding of the Nazca culture, you should definitely visit the interesting Archaeological Museum Antonini. It displays examples of ceramics and textiles recovered from archaeological sites, and in the garden there is a model of the Nazca Aqueduct and a model of the Nazca Lines.

In the nearby city of Cantalloc, it is worth seeing the system of underground Nazca aqueducts (“pucuyos”), thanks to which cotton, corn, beans and other crops are successfully grown in this arid region today. Nearby you can look at the ruins of the Inca city of Paredones.

Chauchilla burials - the only place in Peru, where you can see mummies about 3 thousand years old “in a natural setting.” For centuries, treasure hunters have plundered ancient graves, not hesitating to leave the deceased owners of jewelry on the surface. Don’t be surprised to see skulls, bones, hair and other evidence of the frailty of human existence under your feet.

Nazca drawings. South America, Peru

No one knows exactly what the Nazca Lines are. The only indisputable fact is that they are located in South America, in Peru, on the Nazca plateau in the southern part of the country. In 1994 they were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is where the indisputable facts end, leaving scientists with many unsolved mysteries.

The lines represent giant geometric and figured geoglyphs (patterns) scattered across the plateau. They are applied to the surface in the form of grooves up to 135 centimeters wide and up to 40-50 centimeters deep. It is impossible to understand that this is a solid drawing while on the ground: “big things are seen from a distance.” This is why the Nazca Lines were only opened in 1939, when flights became possible.

Nazca drawings, spider

And since then, more than one scientist has been trying for years to answer the questions: “Who?” and for what?". Most researchers are inclined to believe that the patterns were left by the Nazca civilization, which inhabited the plateau until the 2nd century, long before the Incas. n. e. But for what purpose? With equal success, this could be either the world's largest astronomical calendar (although scientists have not yet discovered how to use it) or signals for landing alien spaceships.

The subjects of the Nazca Lines are very diverse: flowers, geometric shapes, animals, birds and even insects. The smallest image is a 46-meter spider, the largest is a 285-meter pelican...

At the end of 2011 in South America two of our colleagues left - photographer Dmitry Moiseenko and radio-controlled helicopter pilot Stas Sedov. They had a task: to take pictures in the Nazca and Palpa deserts in Peru, ancient city the Inca civilization of Machu Picchu and stone idols on Easter Island. Now we bring to your attention filming from Nazca.

Chasing Hummingbird

On the first day of filming, we were faced with the fact that it was not only not allowed to drive into the desert, but also to enter on foot. We talked with police officers and attendants at the observation towers - access is allowed with special passes from the local Ministry of Culture, which issues them only to archaeological groups. Some time ago, entry and entry into the desert were free, this led to the fact that big number the figures practically died under the wheels of SUVs.

Drawings of Nazca, parrot and astronaut

For tourists, local authorities have installed several towers with observation decks: one of those we found , is located right on the Pan-American Highway near Nazca, the other is about 30 kilometers towards Palpa. Frankly speaking, tourists don’t see very much from these towers. It is much better to view the figures from small planes that fly over the desert from the local airport.

View from the tourist observation tower

The second day in Nazca did not go well from the very beginning. In the morning we planned to go to a distant point near Palpa and try to approach the figures through the desert. On the previous day on observation deck there was no one there: no tourists, no watchman. It is logical to assume that at 6 am there should have been no one there either. Naive...

We left at dawn, and here we are standing at the lookout. But what bad luck! Just a couple of minutes ago the horizon was clear, but now a police jeep appeared on the road about 400 meters from us as if out of thin air. That’s it, filming becomes almost impossible, since from the site where tourists can be to the figures themselves there are about 200-300 meters. You can fly, but it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to shoot something high-quality.

After a couple of minutes of thought, we decided to try to fly. We shot a couple of test spheres, landed and realized that luck was not with us today: all the figures turned out to be very small and very distant. Well, we decided to try to negotiate with the police. We approach the jeep and see a sleeping patrolman. They did not wake up the vigilant policeman, but quickly rushed back to the observation room. Then everything happened, as in films about intelligence officers.

We loaded ourselves with equipment and almost on our bellies we moved towards the figures through the desert. Somewhere in the middle of the journey, Dima noticed out of the corner of his eye that the policeman was no longer sleeping, but had gotten out of the car and was watching us. Looks like we've been spotted! What to do? Run? We acted illogically - we decided to start filming right in front of the police. They took off, photographed several spheres, all the while glancing at the policeman. There was no reaction. Maybe we weren't noticed after all? Using the hollows, we got closer to the figures. The terrain helped to hide from the police patrol.

We began to fly quite actively, all the time expecting menacing shouts from behind. About half an hour later, I climbed out of the next ravine to the plateau level and found a completely empty road - the police jeep had left. He probably didn’t notice us after all - lucky! After that, we worked almost close to the figures. Almost the entire supply of batteries for the helicopter flew off, leaving a couple of pieces for lifting to the observation deck near Nazca.

Tired, but very happy, we wandered to our car. Dima decided to take a few final shots with his telephoto camera, and while changing lenses, he left the keys inside the car.

It must be said that the crime situation in Peru is not very good, and therefore the car alarm is designed in such a way that if you do not start the engine after disarming the car, the doors are blocked after a couple of minutes. If you start the engine, the doors lock immediately.

As you may have guessed, while Dima was taking the final shots, the car was locked with the keys inside.

So here we are in the desert, hours away from the nearest village, and not a soul around. Tools and water are inside the machine. We only have a helicopter and a camera with a large lens in our hands. We tried to squeeze the glass out with our hands, but it was useless. After several attempts, I suggested to Dima to break the glass of the back door. You can watch Dima’s dramatic torment in the video: to beat or not to beat – that is the question!

I quickly imagined how the police found our dried corpses next to the intact car, and persistently asked Dima to finally solve the problem. And Dima solved it! After thinking a little, he suggested breaking not the glass, but the small rear window and trying to get the keys through it. A few minutes later, having searched the area and found several pieces of steel wire (after dismantling the roof of a local “museum”, similar to an ordinary bus stop), we made an improvised fishing rod, with the help of which Dima fished out our keys through the broken glass on the first try. Saved!

On the way to Nazca, we shot the Tree and the Hands a second time, and also tried to shoot the Lizard. They found out the coordinates of the local Ministry of Culture from the rangers and decided to try to get official permission to pass through the desert.

During his morning visit to the minister-archaeologist, he was not there. The secretary made gestures (almost no one speaks English there) explained to us that we needed to come in after lunch.

What to do? Dima suggested taking a flight over the desert in a small plane. He planned to photograph figures that could not be reached on foot, and I had to shoot a video of the process and, most importantly, find passages between the police cordons to some of the famous figures.

Drawings of Nazca, monkey

Flight. No, not like that: it was a FLIGHT!!! I’ve flown a lot before, but I didn’t have such an amount of adrenaline even on a motorized hang glider. I will omit the details of how we bargained at the airport and how they then tried to pin us down on almost every point of the agreement.

So, we are at the executive start. After the pilot began to force the engine, adjusting the fuel mixture, I realized: we were in for quite a bit of “entertainment.” And sure enough, when they began to taxi, instead of standing at the beginning of the runway, the pilot taxied onto the dirt road, gaining another ten meters for acceleration beyond its limits. The engine roared wildly , and our Tsesna rushed along runway, picking up speed very quickly. Breakaway! But instead of a sharp rise, we began to gain altitude literally a meter per second - it was not the most pleasant moment.

What is the difficulty of flying over Nazca? The day is hot, air density is low, and strong winds blow. We often noticed tornadoes of various sizes in the desert. I filmed one of these tornadoes during takeoff.

A few minutes later we are already over the desert. We gained a height of 600 meters. Here is the first figure - Keith. If the co-pilot (a girl) had not shown her hand, I would not have noticed him. Expecting to see large figures, the head does not immediately switch to the true size, and because of this it is practically impossible to see them. Lines and trapezoids, on the contrary, are visible very well.

Drawings Nazca, whale

Approaching the next figure, the pilots made a very steep turn, and we made several circles with some unimaginable rolls. At the same time, the plane was often thrown by gusts of wind. The feeling of a roller coaster, only several times stronger. I was amazed at how Dima completely calmly hung out of the open window with his television and filmed, filmed, filmed... At the same time, he still managed to quite accurately frame the figures in the frame.

Drawings of Nazca, bird of paradise

We became confident that along one of the country roads we would be able to get close to the figure of the Hummingbird. During the flight, Dima wrote a track with GPS coordinates, by which we hoped to quickly find her. 50 minutes of flight time passed unnoticed, during which time my face changed color several times: from earthy gray to green. We landed at the airport and fell out of the plane exhausted.

We went to the ministry again. The archaeologist, in my opinion, never showed up at the office, and his secretary, sighing, announced to us “manyana,” which meant: come in tomorrow. We decided after a little rest at the hotel go in search of Hummingbirds.

This figure is located a little away from the track. They decided to enter the desert in the evening, when tourist planes should have finished their flights. Apart from the pilots, there was practically no one to notice us - during the flight I did not see any traffic on the country roads.

The beginning of the journey to the mountains was not very difficult: a well-rolled dirt road. Unfortunately, from the air I did not have time to spot characteristic landmarks abeam Kolibri, so Dima and I had a rather emotional argument about which way to go and where to abandon the car. Dima showed me his track recorded during the flight and pointed his finger in the completely opposite direction (in my opinion) from the figure. Relying on visual memory and insisting on my own choice of direction, miraculously (and using different words) I managed to convince Dima.

According to our assumptions, there were only 15-20 minutes of daylight left. That's pretty damn small, especially considering we didn't know exactly where to go.

We climbed up the mountain, towards the desert. We climbed in. What I saw filled me with despair: it was not a plateau, but just one of the spurs on the way to it. We had to go down a rather steep slope consisting of a mixture of sand and stones, about 70 meters down, cross a small gorge and go up again, this time about 100 meters. We didn’t have time! But having pulled ourselves together, we quickly ran down the slope, tearing off piles of stones behind us...

I vaguely remember how we crawled up the mountain. Somewhere in the middle of the climb I ran out of energy. Running through the mountains with a 15-kilogram backpack, equipment around your neck and a helicopter in your hands is not the easiest task. Dima took out a camera and shot a short video.

Another 5 minutes of ascent and we are on the plateau.

Let's climb in! Where is the figure? We looked at the track: we seemed to be standing somewhere nearby, but nothing was visible on the ground. We found some lines similar to the tail of a Hummingbird. We take off and film. After landing, Dima rushes to the camera - no, this is not Hummingbird. In the frame there is some strange “sun” and a huge landing strip for alien ships.

We go further through the desert. The sun begins to fall towards the horizon quite quickly. There are only a few minutes of daylight left. We come across some kind of regular trapezoid or line. And Dima says: “The area is called the Nazca Lines, since we didn’t find the Hummingbird, let’s shoot the lines.”

I take off, quite high. We remove the sphere. And then Dima asks me to simply rotate the device around its axis, without taking pictures. I don’t usually do this - I don’t have enough flight time, but for some reason I didn’t refuse this time. I do not know why. The wind on the plateau was quite strong, visibility was not very good, but I spun the helicopter and then Dima shouted right in my ear: “HUMMINGBRI!!! Shoot!!!”

Drawings of Nazca, hummingbird

It turned out that we were standing next to this figure (or rather, a figure: the bird is very small), not noticing it at all. Moreover, if you come close to it, it is very clearly visible on the ground.

Nature rewarded us with an absolutely fantastic sunset. This was not the case in previous days: clouds in pink light, the moon giving its silvery tint - we almost forgot why we came...

Having come to our senses, we made several flights next to the Hummingbird while the sun went below the horizon. It is difficult to convey in words the strange sensations that we experienced on the plateau. Apparently those who chose the location of this “bird” knew something beyond our understanding. Or maybe we were simply overwhelmed with positive emotions, from the feeling of a successfully completed mission...

While I was collecting equipment, Dima, in a highly excited state, was rushing around Kolibri, trying to shoot video and ground footage in almost complete darkness.

One thought struck me on the way to the car - you must always fight, even when it seems that everything is already lost, that you didn’t have time, didn’t find...

Fortune favors the persistent!

What kind of miracles does it keep within itself? ancient history! How many mysteries have not yet been solved, and how many of them will never be solved! However, stepping into the future, people understand the past more and more deeply and replace guesses and myths real story. Thus, it is believed that archaeologists have already finally solved the mystery that the Nazca Desert concealed. The outskirts of Peru became famous back in 1947, when the first scientific publications about strange lines and mysterious drawings appeared. Later the idea arose that these were alien runways. Many inhabitants of the planet perceived this idea with interest. This is how the myth was born.

The Mystery of the Geoglyphs

For decades, scientists and amateurs have tried to explain the origin of geometric patterns in the desert, which occupy an area of almost 500 square kilometers. Although at first glance the history of their emergence in Southern Peru. For several centuries, the Nazca Desert served as a canvas for the ancient Indians, on which for some reason they painted mysterious signs. There are dark stones on the surface, and if they are removed, light sedimentary rocks will be exposed. This sharp contrast of colors was used by the Peruvians to create geoglyph drawings: the background for the images was the dark color of the soil. They decorated desert areas with straight lines, trapezoids, spirals and huge animal figures.

Nazca Desert. Coordinates of the drawings

These signs are so huge that they can only be seen from an airplane. However, anyone today can admire the mysterious symbols without leaving home; just run any program on your computer that demonstrates satellite images Earth. The coordinates of the desert are 14°41"18.31"S 75°07"23.01"W.

In 1994, unusual drawings were included in the list of monuments that make up the World Heritage Site. cultural heritage. And then the whole world knew where the Nazca Desert was. People wondered who the mysterious gallery was intended for. To the gods in heaven who read human souls? Or maybe in this ancient country aliens once built a cosmodrome, and so the markings remain? Or is this the first astronomy textbook where the course of the planet Venus represents the wing of some bird? Or maybe these are family signs that clans used to mark the territories they inhabited? It was even suggested that in this way the Indians designated the flow of underground streams, supposedly this was a secret map of water sources. In general, there were a great many hypotheses, the best minds competed to interpret the meaning of what was written, but no one was in a hurry to select the facts. Almost all assumptions were made speculatively - rarely anyone dared to go to the utter distance. So the Nazca Desert (photo below) remained one of the most mysterious places planet, and its ancient inhabitants - one of the most interesting cultures of pre-Columbian America.

The path to the solution

From 1997 to 2006, scientists from a variety of disciplines conducted extensive research in the Peruvian desert. The facts that they collected completely debunked all the explanations of the esotericists. There are no cosmic secrets left! The Nazca desert turned out to be quite earthly. Her drawings also speak of the earthly, even too earthly. But first things first.

Expedition to Peru

In 1997, an expedition organized by the German Archaeological Institute began to study geoglyphs and the culture of the Nazca inhabitants in the vicinity. settlement Palpa. The place was chosen based on the fact that it is located in close proximity to the villages where the ancient Indians lived. “To understand the meaning of the drawings, you need to look closely at the people who created them,” the scientists said.

Landscape exploration

As part of the project, we studied climatic features of this area. This clarified the origin of the symbols. Previously, in the place where the Nazca Desert now lies, there was a flat steppe area. It was formed from a basin separating the Andes and the Coastal Cordillera (another mountain range). During the Pleistocene, it was filled with sedimentary rocks and pebbles. Here comes the ideal “canvas” for applying all kinds of drawings.

A couple of thousand years ago, palm trees grew here, llamas grazed, and people lived as if in garden of paradise. Where the Nazca Desert stretches today, there used to be even heavy rains and floods. But around 1800 BC. e. The climate became much drier. The drought burned the grassy steppe, so people had to settle in river valleys - natural oases. But the desert continued its offensive and came close to mountain ranges. Its eastern edge moved 20 kilometers towards the Andes, and the Indians were forced to leave mountain valleys, located at an altitude of 400-800 meters above sea level. And when the climate became even drier (around 600 AD), the Nazca culture disappeared completely. All that remained of her were the mysterious signs inscribed on the ground. Thanks to the extremely dry climate, they survived for thousands of years.

Nazca Desert. Drawings

Having studied the living environment of the creators of the mysterious geoglyphs, the researchers were able to interpret them. The earliest lineages appeared about 3800 years ago, when the first settlements arose in the area of the city of Palpa. Southern Peruvians their " art gallery"was created in the open air, among the rocks. They carved and scratched various patterns on the brown-red stones, chimeras of both people and animals. The “Revolution in Art” took place in the Peruvian desert around 200 BC. e. Artists, who previously covered only rocks with paintings, began to paint the largest canvas given to them by nature itself - the plateau stretching before their eyes. Here the masters had room to expand. But instead of figurative compositions, artists now gave preference to lines and geometric shapes.

Geoglyphs - part of the ritual

So why were these signs created? Certainly not for us to admire them today. Scientists believe that the drawings were part of the “sanctuary”; these are so-called ceremonial figures that have a purely mystical meaning. Geophysicists examined the soil along the lines (their depth is almost 30 centimeters) and found that it was highly compacted. 70 geoglyphs depicting some creatures and animals are significantly trampled, as if crowds of people had been walking here for centuries. In fact, various festivals related to the cult of water and fertility were held here. The drier the plateau became, the more often the priests performed magical ceremonies in order to call for rain. Of the ten trapezoids and lines, nine are facing the mountains, where the saving precipitation came from. Magic helped for a long time, and the clouds carrying moisture returned. However, in 600 AD the gods became completely angry with the people who settled in this region.

Debunking the myth

The largest paintings in the Nazca Desert appeared at a time when the rains almost stopped. Most likely, people thus asked the stern Indian god to heed their suffering; they hoped that at least he would notice such signals. But God remained deaf and blind to the prayers. It didn't rain. Eventually the Indians left motherland and went to look prosperous country. And after a couple of centuries, when the climate became milder, the Nazca desert regained its inhabitants. People settled here who knew nothing about the previous owners of these lands. Only the lines on the ground stretching into the distance reminded us that once here a man tried to speak to the gods. However, the meaning of the drawings had already been forgotten. Now only scientists are beginning to understand the reason for the appearance of these writings - huge signs that seem ready to survive eternity.

These gigantic drawings are visible only from a great height: only when flying by plane over the Nazca plateau, which is located in the southern part of Peru, can you see this “art gallery” on the ground, consisting of images of birds and animals, flowers and insects. The regular contours of a lizard, hummingbird, monkey, condor and spider are intersected by numerous straight lines, spirals, triangles, trapezoids and other geometric shapes.

Where did this heritage come from, what was the goal of the ancient artists who created desert masterpieces, and, finally, what technologies allowed them to maintain the ideal proportions of the drawings, the size of the smallest of which is 46 meters, and the largest - the pelican - reaches 285 meters? These questions have occupied the minds of scientists from the very moment the Nazca geoglyphs were discovered - since 1939, when a plane with an American archaeologist on board flew over the desert.

The technique for making all the drawings is the same: the outline of the image is a single unbroken line that stretches for tens and hundreds of meters and often crosses hills, depressions and dry river beds. Tell me, how, without the help of special instruments and control from a height, was it possible to draw all these straight lines, curves and broken lines, without ever deviating even half a degree from the given direction?

Yes, hundreds of meters - the lines of some geometric shapes stretch for 8 kilometers! Without the opportunity to rise high above the “canvas”, it is more than difficult to get an idea of the nature of the drawing and, moreover, the correctness of the direction taken. And that is not all. Careful studies of drawings and figures have shown that all geoglyphs are subject to strict mathematical laws.

How were these “canvases” created? Like many other geoglyphs, with the help of digging trenches: moving along a given contour, the ancient creators plowed the desert earth, digging up soil along the entire length of the pattern, 120-140 cm wide and 25-35 cm deep. Due to the peculiarities of the semi-desert climate, the drawings of the Nazca plate have survived to this day.

Another mystery that haunts researchers: how did it happen that the workers digging numerous trenches (remember that some lines are several kilometers long) did not leave any traces of their presence - at least trampled paths? By and large, pundits do not have exact answers to any of the pressing questions - only hypotheses.

Except that the time of creation of the drawings and lines was determined relatively accurately - the geoglyphs were formed before the 12th century, when the Incas settled the valley. This means that the authorship of the marvelous patterns is attributed to the predecessors of the Incas - the Nazca civilization. One can only guess about the purpose of creating a “gallery” in the desert. Based on the fact that the huge paintings are visible only from a great height, it is logical to assume that the ancient people who inhabited the desert tried to communicate with the deities in this way.

According to other versions, representatives of the Nazca civilization tried to reproduce a celestial map of constellations using patterns and drawings or transmitted an encrypted message to someone. One of the idle assumptions is completely devoid of common sense: the signs supposedly inscribed on the face of the earth served runway for alien ships. One thing is clear: there are still far more questions in the matter of the geoglyphs of the Nazca plateau than answers - huge drawings in the middle of the desert remain an unsolved mystery to this day.

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