Peru Guide
The south coast
The Nasca Lines
One of the great mysteries of South America, the NASCA LINES are a series of animal figures and geometric shapes, none of them repeated and some up to 200m in length, drawn across some five hundred square kilometres of the bleak, stony Pampa de San José or, more simply, the Nasca plain.
On the Nasca plain, each of the lines and drawings, even sophisticated motifs like the spider monkey or a hummingbird design, is executed in a single continuous line, most created by clearing away the brush and hard stones of the plain to reveal the fine dust beneath. They were possibly a kind of agricultural calendar to help regulate the planting and harvesting of crops, while perhaps at the same time some of the straight lines served as ancient sacred paths connecting huacas, or power spots. One theory proposes that the Lines were used as running tracks in some sort of sporting competition; whichever theory you favour, they are among the strangest and most unforgettable sights in the country.
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