Geoglyphs Found in Southern Peru

News April 6, 2018

(Courtesy Luis Jaime Castillo, Palpa Nasca Project)
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Peru Paracas glyphs
(Courtesy Luis Jaime Castillo, Palpa Nasca Project)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Live Science reports that approximately 50 geoglyphs have been newly discovered in Peru’s Palpa Province with the use of low-flying drones carrying high-resolution cameras. Similar glyphs, known as Nazca Lines, were first discovered in 1927 on flat lands in adjacent Nazca Province. The newly identified images are thought to have been laid down on hillsides by the Paracas and Topará cultures between 500 B.C. and A.D. 200, and are therefore slightly older than the Nazca glyphs, which were crafted between A.D. 200 and 700. Many of the once-visible lines have become just faint depressions in the soil that were not visible in satellite imagery. The lines are already within a UNESCO World Heritage Site and will be submitted to Peru’s Ministry of Culture for registry. To read about another feature in Peru, go to “An Overlooked Inca Wonder.”

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