Lines and giant figures on Peru's coastal desert: the Paracas and Nasca peoples who made them, Maria Reiche's forty years on the plain, how a trapezoid was cleared and used, and the hundreds of small figures found beside old footpaths in 2024.
The lines lie on the coastal plain of southern Peru, about 400 kilometres south of Lima, near the towns of Nasca and Palpa, in one of the driest places on Earth. The ground is covered with small stones weathered dark and rusty, over much paler ground beneath. Across it run thousands of lines, some straight for kilometres, along with trapezoids, triangles and spirals, and figures of animals and plants: a hummingbird, a monkey, a spider, a killer whale. Many figures are drawn with a single continuous line that a walker can enter at one point and leave at another without crossing it. From ground level, the big figures are almost impossible to make out.
Nobody made all of this at once. The tradition began in the hills around Palpa with the Paracas people, who by around 400 BC were laying out mostly human-like figures on hillsides. These were made to be seen from the ground, at a distance. The Nasca followed, from about 200 BC, and took the practice onto the flat plateaus and the plain, making most of the famous animal and plant figures and many more lines and trapezoids. The work faded out by about the seventh or eighth century AD. What survives is centuries of additions, newer over older, rather than one master plan.
The people who measured
In the 1920s the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe began studying the lines, publishing in 1939. In 1941 the American historian Paul Kosok flew over the plain, and on 22 June, around the southern winter solstice, he stood at the foot of a long line and saw the sun set nearly in line with it. He called the plain the largest astronomy book in the world. Scholars have argued about the lines' purpose ever since.
Working with Kosok was Maria Reiche, born in Dresden in 1903 and trained in mathematics. She had come to Peru in 1932 as a tutor in Cuzco. From 1946 the lines became her life's work; one of the first figures she uncovered and recorded in full was a spider. She lived in a simple house at the edge of the desert, swept the lines by hand through many brooms, and carried a ladder onto the plain for a view from above. For about forty years she measured and mapped them, and in 1949 she published her view that they formed an astronomical calendar. She died in Lima in 1998, aged 95.
In the late 1960s the astronomer Gerald Hawkins tested the calendar idea and found no match between lines and sky. Others found that most lines point at nothing in the sky and many lead to places tied to water, and the astronomer and anthropologist Anthony Aveni concluded they were made to be walked on. From 1997 a Peruvian and German project led by Johny Isla and Markus Reindel mapped the Palpa geoglyphs from the air and excavated on them. People, they found, walked the lines again and again and gathered on them for rituals, many linked to water.
How a trapezoid was made and used
To make a trapezoid, builders chose a flat plateau and cleared the dark stones off a long, tapering area, exposing a lighter, sandy layer. Most geoglyphs are barely carved at all; the surface stones were simply removed, which on the flat plateaus was easy work that needed many hands rather than special tools. Heaped along the edges, the stones made dark borders that sharpened the contrast, so from a distance a cleared line reads as a pale strip on dark ground.
At one end of many trapezoids stands a stone platform, often at a plateau edge visible from the valley below. Aveni describes trapezoids as big, wide spaces where people could come in and go out, and measurements show soil packed down by people along the lines and most of all around the platforms. There, excavators found broken pots, at least one smashed deliberately, crayfish shells, crop remains and pieces of spondylus, the thorny oyster, which lives in warm seas far to the north. Andean peoples linked the shell with water and fertility, and researchers read these offerings as part of water rituals.
Why it is listed, and the view from the air
UNESCO calls the figures and lines a unique artistic achievement of Andean culture, unrivalled in extent and diversity, and an exceptional testimony to the beliefs of societies active here between the eighth century BC and the eighth century AD. It notes that they have survived intact for more than two millennia, helped by the arid climate, and that this use of the land is unusual. The site was inscribed in 1994.
It is often said the figures were made to be seen from the air. A 2024 study points the other way. A Yamagata University team used artificial intelligence to find likely spots, checked them in the field, and in about six months found 303 new figures, nearly doubling the 430 already known. Most are small, and they sit beside old footpaths, on average about 43 metres away, where people walking past could see them. The giant figures, by contrast, lie on average about 34 metres from the network of lines and trapezoids, and the authors think whole communities probably used those for ritual.
On the twenty-second of June, 1941, an American historian stood at the foot of a long line in a desert in southern Peru. He watched the sun set almost exactly in line with it. Scholars have argued over what the lines were for ever since.
This is Ours to Keep. I'm Mira, and today: the Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa. I'm an AI voice; the facts come from official records and checked sources.
Stones on a dark plain
The lines lie on the dry coastal plain of southern Peru, about four hundred kilometres south of Lima, near the towns of Nasca and Palpa. This is one of the driest places on Earth. The ground is a flat sheet of small stones, and their surfaces have weathered to a dark, rusty brown. Under them, the ground is much paler.
Across this plain run thousands of lines. Some are narrow and run straight for kilometres. Others widen into long trapezoids and triangles, or wind into spirals. Among them are animals and plants. There is a hummingbird, a monkey, a spider and a killer whale. The spider is less than fifty metres long, and the monkey is more than ninety. Many of the figures are drawn with a single unbroken line. A person can walk in at one point and out at another without ever crossing it. Standing out on the plain, though, the big figures are almost impossible to make out.
From the hills to the plain
Nobody made all of this at once. The story starts in the hills around Palpa, with the Paracas people. By around 400 BC, they were laying out figures on the hillsides, most of them human-like. Their motifs echo pictures carved into nearby rocks, and the designs on Paracas cloth and pottery. These early figures were made to be seen from the ground, from a distance. In 2018, archaeologists using drones found dozens of new figures around Palpa, some of them from this early period.
The Nasca people came after the Paracas, from about 200 BC. They took the practice down onto the flat plateaus and the open plain. There they made most of the famous animal and plant figures, along with many more lines and trapezoids. They kept at it for centuries, and the work faded out by around the seventh or eighth century AD. What survives is the sum of centuries of additions, with newer designs laid over older ones, rather than one master plan.
The people who measured
The lines were still there when scientists arrived. In the 1920s, a Peruvian archaeologist, Toribio Mejía Xesspe, began to study them, and in 1939 he published his work. Then came Paul Kosok, an American historian. In 1941 he flew over the plain and photographed it, and he also went out onto the lines themselves. On the twenty-second of June, around the southern winter solstice, he saw the sun set almost in line with one of them. He called the plain the largest astronomy book in the world.
Working with Kosok was Maria Reiche. She was born in Dresden in 1903 and trained in mathematics. She came to Peru in 1932 to work as a private tutor in Cuzco, and later earned her living partly by translating. From 1946, the lines became her life's work. One of the first figures she uncovered and recorded in full was a spider, drawn among the lines.
She moved into a simple house at the edge of the desert. She swept the lines clean by hand and wore out broom after broom. She carried a ladder out onto the plain to study them. She measured and mapped them for about forty years. In 1949 she published her conclusion, that the lines formed a vast astronomical calendar. Late in life, Peru made her a citizen. She died in Lima in 1998, at the age of ninety-five.
Not everyone agreed. In the late 1960s, the astronomer Gerald Hawkins tested the calendar idea and found no match between the lines and the sky. Others found that most lines do not point at anything in the sky, and that many lead to places tied to water. Later researchers asked who used the lines, and how. The astronomer and anthropologist Anthony Aveni concluded that the lines were made to be walked on.
In 1997, a Peruvian and German project led by Johny Isla and Markus Reindel began to study the lines around Palpa. Teams photographed the ground from the air and mapped the geoglyphs in detail. Then they excavated on them, and what they found points the same way. People walked these lines again and again, and they gathered on them for rituals, many of them linked to water.
Up close
So let's look closely at one kind of geoglyph, the trapezoid, from the ground up. Start with the desert floor. It is covered by a layer of stones, a desert pavement, and their surfaces have weathered dark. To make a trapezoid, the builders chose a flat plateau. Then they cleared the dark stones off a long, tapering area, and underneath lay a lighter, sandy layer.
Despite the word geoglyph, most of them are barely carved into the ground. The builders simply took the surface stones away. On the flat plateaus that was easy work, and it took many hands rather than special tools. The builders heaped the cleared stones along the edges, and those dark borders made the pale shape stand out even more. From a distance, each cleared line reads as a pale strip across dark ground. Wooden stakes or posts have been found on some lines and trapezoids, and they may have helped the builders lay the shapes out.
At one end of many trapezoids, the builders raised a platform of stones. Many of these platforms sit at the edge of a plateau, where people in the valley below could see them. Then the trapezoid was used. Anthony Aveni describes trapezoids as big, wide spaces where people could come in and go out. Measurements of the ground show soil packed down by people, along the lines and most of all around the platforms. People came back to these places again and again.
Around the platforms, excavators found what those people left behind. There were broken pots, and at least one had been smashed on purpose. There were crayfish shells and the remains of crops. And there were pieces of spondylus, the thorny oyster. It lives in warm seas far to the north, so these shells had travelled a long way to reach this desert. Andean peoples linked the shell with water and fertility, and the researchers read these offerings as part of rituals for water.
Over the centuries, many trapezoids were reshaped or repaired, and new geoglyphs were cut straight across old ones. The giant animal figures belong to this same web. A study published in 2024 found that they lie, on average, about thirty-five metres from the networks of lines and trapezoids, and its authors think whole communities used them together for ritual.
Why it's on the list
So why is it on the list? UNESCO sorts the drawings into figures of living things, and lines and geometric shapes, some of them several kilometres long. It calls them a unique artistic achievement of Andean culture. It says nothing else matches them for size or variety. It also sees them as an exceptional record of the beliefs of the societies that made them, people who lived here between the eighth century BC and the eighth century AD. UNESCO describes the plain as a landscape they shaped for ritual and social life, the work of a shared religion over a very long time. The record also points to how well the whole system has lasted. It has survived for more than two thousand years, with figures laid out on a vast scale and with precise geometry, and the dry climate has helped to keep it. UNESCO also notes how unusual this use of the land and its setting is. The Lines and Geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1994.
The surprise
Because the big figures are so hard to make out from the ground, it's often said they were made to be seen from the air. That 2024 study points the other way. Its team, from Yamagata University in Japan, used artificial intelligence to find likely spots, then checked them in the field. In about six months of fieldwork they found three hundred and three new figures, nearly doubling the four hundred and thirty already known. Most of the new ones are small, much smaller than the famous animals. They sit beside old footpaths, on average about forty metres away, where people walking past could see them.
Tomorrow, we climb into the Andes for the scissors dance, where dancers strike two metal blades together in time with a violin and a harp.
