# The Nazca Lines — a desert drawing that is still being found Canonical: https://sockmonkey.com/places/nazca-lines (this is a plain-text copy of that page) Source: https://sockmonkey.com/places/nazca-lines Publisher: SockMonkey.com (https://sockmonkey.com) Part of: The Field Guide - https://sockmonkey.com/places/ Cite as: SockMonkey.com - sockmonkey.com Last reviewed: 24 October 2026 - **Where:** Pampas de Jumana, southern Peru, between Nazca and Palpa - **Coordinates:** 14.7390° S, 75.1300° W - **Biome:** Dry, windless stony desert plateau, on the Pacific side of the Andes - **Made:** Between about 500 BC and AD 500, by removing surface pebbles - **Extent:** More than 1,300 km of lines, largest figures about 370 m long - **Status:** UNESCO World Heritage, 1994 - **Best seen:** From the air (about 500 m), or from nearby hills ## The short answer The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru, on a high, arid plateau that stretches more than 80 kilometres between the towns of Nazca and Palpa, about 400 kilometres south of Lima. They were made between about 500 BC and AD 500 by removing the reddish-brown, iron-oxide-coated pebbles that cover the surface, which exposes a paler subsoil beneath. Most lines run straight across the landscape; others form figures — more than 70 animals, including a hummingbird, a spider, a condor and a monkey — and the largest figures are about 370 metres long. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 kilometres. UNESCO inscribed them in 1994. ## Why it's worth knowing Most people know the Nazca Lines as a mystery, and the best-known answer to it, that ancient astronauts made them, was set out by Erich von Däniken in 1968 and has not survived the evidence. In 1982 the American investigator Joe Nickell, with family and friends, reproduced the 134-metre condor full size on a field in Kentucky, scaling up a small drawing with stakes and string and no view from the air, in a matter of days; he reported it in the Skeptical Inquirer in 1983. The interesting mystery is quieter. Why make drawings on a scale that only reads from the air? The answers on offer are astronomical markers (Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche), water-and-mountain ritual (Johan Reinhard), lines that follow aquifers (David Johnson), a link to the temples at Cahuachi (Nicola Masini and Giuseppe Orefici), and, in the 2024 AI-assisted survey, a division of labour: the large line-type figures, mostly wild animals, built and used by the community for ritual, and the small relief-type figures, mostly humanoids, severed heads and domesticated camelids, set on average 43 metres from ancient walking trails and made to be seen by individuals or small groups. None of them has beaten the others, and the astronomical case took a knock: in 1990 the archaeoastronomers Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni concluded that the evidence was insufficient to support it. And the picture is still growing. In 2024 a team from Yamagata University, working with IBM Research, reported using artificial intelligence to sort aerial photographs and then sending people out on foot to check. Between September 2022 and February 2023 they confirmed 303 previously unknown figurative geoglyphs, all of them small relief-type figures, in 1,440 hours of field labour; the AI had suggested 178 of them individually. By the paper’s count, nearly a century of searching had found 430 figurative geoglyphs before that survey. The lines are an archive that is still being read. ## The field notes ### How they were made Most of the lines are shallow trenches, 10 to 15 centimetres deep, made by lifting the dark pebbles off the surface. The exposed subsoil is light-coloured and contains a good deal of lime, which hardens when morning mist wets it and forms a crust that protects the lines from the wind. Together with the dry, windless, stable climate, that is why they survive. More than half of the lines are a little over 33 centimetres wide, though the range is from about 30 centimetres to 1.8 metres, and most figures are drawn in one continuous line. Archaeologists have found wooden stakes in the ground at the ends of some lines, which supports the idea that the makers used simple surveying methods. One stake was radiocarbon-dated, and that date is the basis for the age of the whole complex. Two phases are recognised: the Paracas phase, 400 to 200 BC, and the Nazca phase, 200 BC to AD 500. The first systematic field study, begun in 1996 by Markus Reindel and Johny Cuadrado Isla, has documented and excavated more than 650 sites and dates the figurative motifs to 600 to 200 BC, which is earlier than the Nazca phase. ### Finding them The first published mention is by the Spanish conquistador Pedro Cieza de León, in 1553, who took the lines for trail markers. The twentieth-century story begins with pilots, and with the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe, who spotted them from the foothills in 1927. Paul Kosok, an American historian studying ancient irrigation in 1940–41, flew over them and saw that one was a bird; with Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist from Lima, he proposed that they were astronomical markers. Since 2006 a Japanese team from Yamagata University has been doing fieldwork there. It announced about 100 new geoglyphs by 2012, 143 more with IBM Japan in 2019 (one found by machine-learning methods), and the 303 of 2024. A cat figure on a steep hillside was found in 2020. In 2018 drones revealed 25 geoglyphs in the Palpa province that are assigned to the earlier Paracas culture, many of them a thousand years older than the Nazca lines, some showing warriors. ### What it takes to keep them The lines are shallow and the desert is fragile. Mudslides after flooding in February 2007 did not, in the assessment of Peru’s National Institute of Culture, cause significant damage. Other incidents have: squatters occupied land in the area in 2012 and damaged a Nazca-era cemetery; machinery from a limestone quarry was reported to have destroyed a small section of a line in 2013; in December 2014 Greenpeace activists set up a banner within the lines of one geoglyph and damaged the site, for which Greenpeace apologised and one activist was convicted and fined; and in January 2018 a truck driver left tyre tracks across three geoglyphs. Off-road vehicles from the Dakar Rally damaged geoglyphs outside the World Heritage area in 2012 and 2013. In 2025 a vice-ministerial resolution of Peru’s Ministry of Culture cut the Nazca Lines archaeological reserve from about 5,600 to about 3,200 square kilometres; the minister told a congressional committee the reason was conflicts with settlements. The cut drew criticism amid concerns that it exposed the geoglyphs to informal mining nearby, and a second resolution, published in El Peruano on 8 June 2025, annulled it and restored the boundary approved in 2004, 5,633.47 square kilometres. **A relic from the Nazca Lines** A wooden stake. At the ends of some of the lines, archaeologists have found wooden stakes in the ground, which supports the idea that the makers used simple surveying. One of them was radiocarbon-dated and became the basis for dating the complex; later fieldwork by Markus Reindel and Johny Cuadrado Isla dates the figures by comparing them with the pottery of the cultures that made them. Nobody should walk out looking for a stake: the lines are shallow trenches in a fragile surface, and feet and tyres have damaged them before. ## Getting there How to get there. The lines lie about 400 kilometres south of Lima along the Pan-American Highway (the PE-1S), which runs parallel to the plateau. Long-distance buses and drivers work the route from Lima; allow most of a day and plan to travel in daylight. The town of Nazca is the base for flights and viewing. How to see them. The shapes are best seen from the air, at about 500 metres, and that means a sightseeing flight in a small aeroplane from the Nazca area. Ask the operator about the aircraft, the pilots and the safety record before you book, and expect banking turns. The lines are also visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places, which suits anyone who does not want to fly, but you will see far less of the figures. Do not walk on the lines. When to go. It is a desert with a dry, windless, stable climate, so visits are possible year-round; ask the operator when the calmest flights are, since wind and heat shake small aircraft. Practical notes. Peru is at Level 2 for crime, civil unrest, the risk of kidnapping and terrorism. Nazca is in the Ica Region, which is not among the Level 4 areas the State Department names, and the advisory notes that criminal groups sometimes set up roadblocks outside Lima and that road safety is a concern, which is a reason to travel by day with an established bus company or driver. Demonstrations can close highways with no warning, so leave slack in the schedule. ## Common questions #### What are the Nazca Lines? The Nazca Lines are geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert of southern Peru: shallow trenches, mostly 10 to 15 centimetres deep, made by removing dark pebbles to expose lighter soil. They include more than 70 animal figures, such as a hummingbird, a monkey, a spider and a condor, and many straight lines and geometric shapes, with more than 1,300 kilometres of lines in all. UNESCO inscribed them in 1994. #### How old are the Nazca Lines? They were made between about 500 BC and AD 500. Two phases are recognised, the Paracas phase from 400 to 200 BC and the Nazca phase from 200 BC to AD 500, and a carbon-dated wooden stake from the end of a line is the basis for the age. Markus Reindel and Johny Cuadrado Isla, working since 1996, date the figurative motifs to 600 to 200 BC, earlier than the Nazca phase. #### How were the Nazca Lines made? By removing the reddish-brown, iron-oxide-coated pebbles from the surface to reveal light-coloured, lime-rich soil beneath. Wooden stakes found at the ends of some lines suggest simple surveying. In 1982 the American investigator Joe Nickell and a small team reproduced the 134-metre Nazca condor full size in Kentucky, using stakes, string and a scaled drawing, in a matter of days and with no aerial view. #### Why were the Nazca Lines made? Nobody has settled it. Paul Kosok and Maria Reiche proposed astronomical markers, though Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni concluded in 1990 that the evidence was insufficient. Johan Reinhard argued for rituals about water and mountains; David Johnson argued that some lines follow aquifers; Nicola Masini and Giuseppe Orefici link geoglyphs at Pampa de Atarco to the temples of Cahuachi. Erich von Däniken suggested in 1968 that visitors from other worlds made them; Joe Nickell’s 1982 full-size copy of the condor showed that no aerial help was needed. #### Did AI find new Nazca Lines? Yes. In 2024 archaeologists at Yamagata University, working with IBM Research, reported using an AI model to screen aerial photographs for candidates, then confirming 303 previously unknown figurative geoglyphs on foot between September 2022 and February 2023. The field survey took 1,440 hours of labour; all 303 are small relief-type figures, and the AI had suggested 178 of them individually. #### Can you see the Nazca Lines from the ground? Only partly. The shapes are best seen from the air, at around 500 metres, though they are also visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places. The largest figures are about 370 metres long, and the hummingbird is 93 metres, the monkey 93 by 58 metres and the condor 134 metres, which is why they read as drawings from above and as scratches at ground level. #### How many Nazca geoglyphs are there? It is not a fixed number. The 2024 paper by Masato Sakai and colleagues counts 430 figurative Nazca geoglyphs found in nearly a century before its survey added 303; Yamagata University and IBM Japan had announced 143 new ones in 2019 and a further 303 figurative geoglyphs in 2024, and drone surveys in Palpa province found 25 more from the earlier Paracas culture in 2018. The count depends on what is counted, and on how much of the plateau has been searched. #### Are the Nazca Lines protected? They are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, inscribed in 1994, but they have been damaged repeatedly: by a quarry in 2013, by a Greenpeace banner in December 2014, by a truck in January 2018 and by Dakar Rally vehicles outside the protected area in 2012 and 2013. In 2025 Peru’s Ministry of Culture cut the reserve from about 5,600 to about 3,200 square kilometres, then annulled the cut on 8 June 2025 after criticism. What to pack: the Desert & salt kit ## Related places Machu Picchualso in Sacred & ancient places · about 330 km away Salar de Uyunialso in Deserts · both tagged photography Atacama Desertalso in Deserts · same region Ischigualastoalso in Deserts · same region Cueva de las Manosalso in Sacred & ancient places · both tagged archaeology Notes on sources. This entry draws on Wikipedia’s article on the Nazca Lines and the works it cites, chiefly Anthony Aveni (ed.), The Lines of Nazca (American Philosophical Society, 1990), Johan Reinhard, The Nazca Lines: A New Perspective on their Origin and Meaning (1996), Markus Reindel and Günther Wagner (eds), New Technologies for Archaeology (Springer, 2009), Joe Nickell in Skeptical Inquirer, and the 2024 study by Sakai and colleagues at Yamagata University and IBM in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(40), e2407652121, read in full on 24 October 2026 (Europe PMC, PMC11459208) for the survey dates (September 2022 to February 2023), the 1,440 labour hours, the 303 new relief-type figures (178 individually suggested by the AI), the 430 figurative geoglyphs known before, the 43-metre average distance to trails and the proposed purposes. An earlier version of this entry listed parrots, cats, monkeys and killer whales among the new figures and named a “Nazca Institute”; the paper says neither, and both were cut. The 2025 reserve cut and its annulment are from Exitosa Noticias (8 June 2025, read 24 October 2026), which names Resolutions 000128-2025-VMPCIC/MC and 000134-2025-VMPCIC/MC and the restored 2004 boundary of 5,633.47 km²; the “42 per cent” and “updated archaeological studies” of earlier versions were not in a source read and were cut. Nickell’s reproduction is his own report, ‘The Nazca Drawings Revisited: Creation of a Full-Sized Duplicate’ (Skeptical Inquirer, spring 1983): the condor, in 1982, in Kentucky. Wikipedia dates his work to the early twenty-first century and says he recreated “even the largest figures”; this entry follows his report instead, and drops the Scientific American quotation the article gives, which could not be traced. Von Däniken’s book is dated to its first (German) edition, 1968; the article gives both 1968 and 1969. The other primary works were not opened for this entry, so their findings are reported as that article gives them and named to their authors. The wooden stakes at the ends of lines, and the radiocarbon dating of one of them, are reported as the article gives them. The purpose of the lines is not asserted; each explanation is attributed to the person who proposed it. Figures are reported side by side, not reconciled: the article gives the area of the lines as about 50 km² in its first paragraph and nearly 450 km² later, and this entry does not choose between them; the dating of the figurative motifs (600–200 BC) is Reindel and Cuadrado Isla’s and differs from the general 500 BC–AD 500 range; the count of 430 figurative geoglyphs known before 2024 is the PNAS paper’s own. The exact coordinates are for the main concentration of figures, not the town of Nazca. Travel advisory: the United States has Peru at Level 2, exercise increased caution (reissued 4 September 2026); its Do Not Travel areas are the Colombia–Peru border area in Loreto, the VRAEM (including Vilcabamba), and Abancay, Ayacucho, Huancavelica and Huancayo; Ica Region, which contains Nazca, is not among them. Read from the State Department’s advisory feed on 24 October 2026. Written and fact-checked by SockMonkey.com. Last reviewed 24 October 2026.