The little town of Nazca is in the news this week thanks to two fortuitous events: sandstorms which swept up a layer of sand from the desert floor, and an eagle-eyed pilot who spotted newly exposed Nazca lines which include a nearly 200ft long snake, a very long zigzag, a giant bird, and some camelids which appear to be llamas. The newly discovered lines were found on two hillsides, to the left and right of the El Ingenio valley, close to the San José and Jumana Pampas where the world-famous Nazca Lines are congregated.
The main lines were discovered in 1939 and have captivated the imagination of scientists and laymen alike ever since. The mysterious designs are thought to have been created more than fifteen hundred years ago, although the newly uncovered lines must still be confirmed as genuine by the archaeologists who are currently studying them. If genuine, they might belong to the Paracas, the culture which predated the Nazca. Multiple scholars suspect that the serpent, found near the already well-known hummingbird, might be from the transition people between the two cultures. If genuine, the finding will provide new inside on the Paracas and Nazca people and the reason that they made these lines.
The reigning theory that the lines were astronomically aligned and served as some sort of calendar to remind the gods of different agricultural needs in different seasons is losing popularity among academics. The designs served a clear ceremonial purpose, and were perhaps used to render cult to sacred mountains and water sources.
