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What do you think caused the Nazca lines?


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dccruibay66

Paranormal Novice
The Nazca lines in Peru have been a curiosity for centuries. Who drew these mysterious lines in the desert and why? Why did they draw artwork that can only be seen from the air centuries before the era of aviation?
 
Archaeologists came to the conclusion that the figures etched in the Nazca plateau were created as processional lines over which the peoples of the area walked, playing pan pipes and leaving offers to the gods (broken pottery, etc). They were meant to be seen by the gods up above. The amount of geometrical (lines and trapezoids) and animal figures increased with the longer periods of drought the populations faced. They asked for the much needed rain for their agricultural fields located in the valleys below.
 
Angel of Ioren said:
They were images meant for their gods, which were up in the sky.
Click to expand...

Makes you wonder why humans associate "gods" with the sky, doesn't it?

I think that these lines are pretty interesting, but to say that ancient man wasn't technologically capable of creating is a bit of a stretch. We may not know how they created them, but we cannot arbitrarily proclaim "aliens" did it either. Just my opinion.
 
I seem to remember being told that the lines were drawn on a grided surface i.e parchment or skin then scaled up. Although I have always liked the idea of ancient hot air balloons.
 
The Nazca lines were created as cultural landmarks that reflected the local population's belief systems and society. Pretty much the same reason any religious landmark has been built across the world.

The difference with the Nazca lines is how subsequent people have re-interpreted them through their own cultural influences. For instance, in the early 20th Century, the Nazca lines were assumed to be earthly reflections of Nazcan constellations. Maria Reiche was one of the major researchers of Nazca and held to that concept for most of her life. As Von Daniken's book came out, people shifted their perceptions and imagined they were calling cards to ancient astronauts.

The more widely-held and current understanding is the lines are pictograms writ large across the mountain landscape. They are no longer considered to represent anything from the skies...constellations, aliens etc. Instead they are considered to represent the pantheon of spirits, protectors and gods who the Nazcans believed controlled weather, fertility and food.

This idea is certainly probable as it mirrors the same activities and concepts of other early societies. Far Eastern domestic shrines or Egyptian temples to their numerous gods...

The pictograms have been found on pottery sherds and carved into stones across parts of South America. Similar lines in the tundra have been found in Bolivia too.

Imagine an early society holding to the belief that gods and spirits were controlling everything behind the scenes. Now consider that concepts of gods have actually evolved over the millennia. In the Nazcan's society, success was because the gods favoured them and illness, failed crops etc was due to angry gods and displeased spirits. By representing the figures across the landscape it was hoped to gain favour with the gods. Offerings could be made to these gods in the hope of bestowing good crops, rains etc. The Western harvest festival is an echo of the same pre-Christian notions of giving food to the harvest gods and water to the water gods.

Water was a paramount concern in this desert land with some of the pictograms crossing irrigation ditches. Even today, people make offerings of sea shells or stones from rivers to the gods in the hopes of rain.

In this light, the Nazca lines are physical manifestations of internal and societal concepts. They have different guises, but in general can be seen across the world going back into dim history.
 
Forget the lines. :) Look over yonder. Somebody shaved off the tops of several damn mountains. Didn't do that with a homemade shovel. I think Giorgio Tsoukalos got it right. If ancient aliens didn't flatten the tops of entire mountains, who did?
 
There are many examples of geoglyphs outside Nazca. One of my favorites is the "Atacama Giant" in Chile. The area around Cerro Unitas is filled with etched figures, but this is the most impressive one. When I first saw it on a documentary I was completely astonished.

Atacama Giant.jpg
 
pong said:
Forget the lines. :) Look over yonder. Somebody shaved off the tops of several damn mountains. Didn't do that with a homemade shovel. I think Giorgio Tsoukalos got it right. If ancient aliens didn't flatten the tops of entire mountains, who did?
Click to expand...

Don´t doubt human ingenuity, i believe given the time and manpower it would be possible.
The other question though is, where did the material go ?
 
i think a sarcastic little tribal man about circa 500-1000 years came up with the idea of "Lets confuse the hell out of the humanity of the FUTURE"! by making doodles in the dirt
 
Kandinsky said:
The Nazca lines were created as cultural landmarks that reflected the local population's belief systems and society. Pretty much the same reason any religious landmark has been built across the world.

The difference with the Nazca lines is how subsequent people have re-interpreted them through their own cultural influences. For instance, in the early 20th Century, the Nazca lines were assumed to be earthly reflections of Nazcan constellations. Maria Reiche was one of the major researchers of Nazca and held to that concept for most of her life. As Von Daniken's book came out, people shifted their perceptions and imagined they were calling cards to ancient astronauts.

The more widely-held and current understanding is the lines are pictograms writ large across the mountain landscape. They are no longer considered to represent anything from the skies...constellations, aliens etc. Instead they are considered to represent the pantheon of spirits, protectors and gods who the Nazcans believed controlled weather, fertility and food.

This idea is certainly probable as it mirrors the same activities and concepts of other early societies. Far Eastern domestic shrines or Egyptian temples to their numerous gods...

The pictograms have been found on pottery sherds and carved into stones across parts of South America. Similar lines in the tundra have been found in Bolivia too.

Imagine an early society holding to the belief that gods and spirits were controlling everything behind the scenes. Now consider that concepts of gods have actually evolved over the millennia. In the Nazcan's society, success was because the gods favoured them and illness, failed crops etc was due to angry gods and displeased spirits. By representing the figures across the landscape it was hoped to gain favour with the gods. Offerings could be made to these gods in the hope of bestowing good crops, rains etc. The Western harvest festival is an echo of the same pre-Christian notions of giving food to the harvest gods and water to the water gods.

Water was a paramount concern in this desert land with some of the pictograms crossing irrigation ditches. Even today, people make offerings of sea shells or stones from rivers to the gods in the hopes of rain.

In this light, the Nazca lines are physical manifestations of internal and societal concepts. They have different guises, but in general can be seen across the world going back into dim history.
Click to expand...

What is the point if you can't see it? I can agree with much of what you said, but in order to have any impact on the people don't they need to see the work? My understanding is that you can only see it from an elevated point of view. I had the same conversation with a friend and I'll ask the same question here. "If it is so easy to make a drawing and scale it up, then prove it." I would impose some restrictions however, no GPS, no computers, no ladders over 12 feet, no spray paint or current marking technology. Also it has to be made to the same scale as the lines we see today.
Could you do it?
 
i read somewhere that they used sunlight and mica mirrors to project straight lines to follow.
 
Producing the straight lines is quite simple and can be done with a very rudimentar method. They have been reproduced by groups of young locals (see Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World for video reference). I don't know if the animal figures have been reproduced, but I read about a method of magnification from a smaller drawing on the ground using poles and ropes. It's now pretty clear that the lines, trapezoids and animal figures were used by the Nazca peoples as ceremonial procession routes.
Links with shamanist beliefs have also been established, since many of the creatures portrayed in the Nazca plateau are also present in the shaman religions of South America (the humming bird, the monkey, the condor, etc). Essentialy, by walking over the lines you become aware of their purpose and overall shape, without the need of flight. To propose that those amazing etchings were created by aliens is an insult to the culture and history of Peru and Mankind as a whole.
 
What Caused them? They represent shapes in nature that signify life ... and therefore the "cause" might be seen as a desire to communicate that idea into the heavens. Fundamentally that idea isn't any different than the gold plaque Sagan fastened to Voyager. We humans seem to have an inner drive to perform this task, perhaps it is something that has been programmed into our behavior and when we finally succeed, it will signal our technological coming of age ...

V1-01a.jpg

As for the best hypothesis regarding who made them ... probably the Nazca people. If you are interested in possible theories on alien involvement, you might want to cast your vote for the Best UFO Hypothesis in the UFO Forum thread ( What Is The Best Hypothesis ).

https://www.theparacast.com/forum/threads/8820-What-Is-The-Best-Hypothesis
 
I used to ask my friend who was a member of a high school marching band the same thing. They would do these elaborate lines and images but unless you were way up in a blimp (not many of those at a high school event) you really couldn't see em that well. But, they knew what they meant and so did the followers of that particular band. :)
 
tyder001 said:
I used to ask my friend who was a member of a high school marching band the same thing. They would do these elaborate lines and images but unless you were way up in a blimp (not many of those at a high school event) you really couldn't see em that well. But, they knew what they meant and so did the followers of that particular band. :)
Click to expand...

but most bands do those lines and images so a camera in a blimp can show them on TV...
 
pixelsmith said:
Why make perfect lines for those on earth that cannot see they are perfectly straight from the ground?
Click to expand...

I think it is pretty obvious they were attempting to transmit the ideas that the geoglyphs represent in to the heavens, presumably because they thought something up there might see them. What made them think anyone is up there isn't really clear, but it is probably based on myths conjured up during some of the shamanic rituals. After all if you sit up long enough outside on a pitch black plateau doing hallucinogens, you're bound to see something out of the ordinary. Imagine how clear the sky and stars must be up there on a dark night. So far I haven't run across any Nazca mythology that could be interpreted as UFO or alien visitation. Although there are plenty of examples of anthropomorphic mythical beings ... so who knows for sure. Maybe these creatures were their "aliens" or "chupacabras".

j.r.

P.S. Head on over the the UFO Forum and vote in the Best Hypothesis thread.
https://www.theparacast.com/forum/threads/8820-What-Is-The-Best-Hypothesis
 
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