Llama Geoglyphs Found in Nazca, Peru

News July 8, 2015

(Yamagata University)
SHARE:
Llamas Nasca lines
(Yamagata University)

YAMAGATA, JAPAN—A team from Yamagata University has found an additional 24 images etched into the dust in urban areas of Nazca, Peru, using a 3-D scanner. The geoglyphs, many of which are heavily eroded, date from 400 to 200 B.C., and are thought to be older than other Nazca Line images such as the hummingbird. Most of the newly found drawings depict llamas. “There are no other areas concentrated with this many examples. Yet with both urban areas and farmland encroaching on the drawings, they are under the threat of being destroyed without being recognized as geoglyphs,” Masato Sakai of Yamagata University told The Asahi Shimbun. To read more, go to "Rituals of the Nasca Lines."

  • Features May/June 2015

    The Minoans of Crete

    More than 100 years after it was first discovered, the town of Gournia is once again redefining the island's past

    Read Article
    (Jarrett A. Lobell)
  • Letter from Hawaii May/June 2015

    Inside Kauai's Past

    Ideal conditions within an ancient cave system are revealing a rich history that reaches back to a time before humans settled the island and extends to the present day

    Read Article
    Courtesy Lida Piggott Burney
  • Artifacts May/June 2015

    Late Roman Amulet

    Read Article
    (Courtesy Joachim Śliwa)
  • Digs & Discoveries May/June 2015

    The Charred Scrolls of Herculaneum

    Read Article
    (Fotonews/Splash News/Corbis)