what do the lines + drawings mean?
It is not the intention of the Airship Nazca survey to prove or disprove any pet theories on the subject. The project's primary purpose is to compile the data and make it available to those more qualified to interpret.
Arguably the most prominent name in this field was that of the German mathematician Maria Reiche who was appointed by Dr Paul Kosok to carry out initial survey work and she stayed there until her death in 1998 at the age of ninety-five. Reiche likened the plains to a gigantic document that was difficult to read, and once commented, “Some parts of it have been decoded, others will be read in the future, and some will perhaps never be explained.” She believed that the drawings were astronomical pointers in a huge celestial calendar, but there is insufficient evidence to support this.
It is now considered more likely that the drawings played a role in the worshipping of the mountains as a source of water – so vital in the production of crops – which had been dominant in the Nazca culture since ancient times. In 1985 archaeologist Johan Reinhard presented a theory that the lines were sacred paths leading to places where these deities could be worshipped and the drawings represented animals and objects meant to invoke their aid.
Why do you think the drawings were made?
© WERNER FOREMAN ARCHIVE / NICHOLAS J SAUNDERS
