Decode mystical drawings in Peru

Since its discovery in the 20s, the giant Nazca civilizations in southern Peru are still considered a great mystery. During the past few decades, the scientific community has only given three hypotheses about their existence.

Parrot drawing.Photo: go2peru.com .

The following three theories are published on National Geographic .

The drawings are related to the location of celestial bodies

In 1941, Palu Kosok, a historical professor, came to Peru to admire the famous giant figures of the Nazca civilization and accidentally saw the sun rising above one of the long straight lines on the vast field. He immediately thought that drawings could be related to the position of the sun and stars at different times of the year. Thus, it can be said that the drawings are a form of terrestrial calendar or the world's largest astronomical book.

Maria Reiche, a German mathematician, was interested in Kosok's hypothesis and spent a lot of time in his life studying the Nazca drawings. The effort to preserve the drawings made her a legendary figure for people in southern Peru.

However, many studies by two world-famous astronomers, Gerald Hawkins (England) and Anthony Aveni (USA), show that Nazca drawings are not related to the position of the stars. So Kosok's hypothesis has no value.

The Nazca people drew a creature shaped like astronauts waving.Photo: go2peru.com.

Extraterrestrial creatures once landed in Peru

Erich von Daniken, author of the book Chariots of the Gods? argued that alien creatures have built many great ancient buildings, including Nazca drawings. According to his argument, mathematical drawings - such as trapezoidal triangles - could be signs of 'airports' that spacecraft of extraterrestrial beings could land. Many other giant drawings on the ground can also serve as a guiding signal for extraterrestrial organisms. In the book Chariots of the Gods ?, Daniken describes those creatures as humans but possesses yellow skin and shimmering light.

Daniken's hypothesis suggests that extraterrestrial beings have visited wilderness in southern Peru since ancient times. After they left, the natives drew giant paintings in the hope that strange creatures would return. It is possible that the Nazca people considered these creatures to be gods.

However, archaeologists and scientists do not find any evidence that extraterrestrial creatures ever landed in Peru or created drawings on the ground.

Giant trapezoid on the ground.Photo: go2peru.com.

Map showing groundwater

The latest hypothesis of Nazca civilization was initiated by an American scientist named David Johnson. He thinks that groundwater sources are very important to the Nazca people because they live in the desert. So they created giant drawings to mark milling lines (also called geological fault lines) that contained groundwater. In other words, we can see Nazca drawings as complex maps of groundwater sources.

Some figures - such as trapezoid - are drawn just above the milling lines, while many others show the direction of the groundwater circuits. Some pictures mark the boundaries of aquifers or locations where the water changes direction.

Although the hypothesis is very attractive, most archaeologists around the world believe that Johnson does not have enough evidence to prove his argument.