Quote:
Originally Posted by troutman
I was there in 1994 - IIRC I met Maria Reiche who was in her 90s at the time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Reiche
Eventually scholars concluded that the lines were not chiefly for astronomical purposes, but Reiche's and Kosok's work had brought scholarly attention to the great resource. It is widely believed that they were used as part of worship and religious ceremonies related to the calling of water from the gods.[2]
Reiche used the profits from the book to campaign for preservation of the Nazca desert and to hire guards for the property and assistants for her work. Wanting to preserve the Nazca Lines from encroaching traffic after one figure was cut through by the Pan American Highway government development, Reiche spent considerable money in the effort to lobby and educate officials and the public about the lines. After paying for private security, she convinced the government to restrict public access to the area. She sponsored construction of a tower near the highway so that visitors could have an overview of the lines to appreciate them without damaging them.
Her theory at the time was that the lines had astronomical and agricultural significance. The drawings could represent the constellations as known to the Nazca people, and many of the lines point to solstice events.
To see the lines you had to go in a plane, or observe them from an elevated platform. It is so dry at Nazca there is not not much erosion.
The idea that the lines were done with the help of ETs was ridiculed. |
Agreed. I wrote a research paper back in university for a South American anthropology course on the Nazca Lines, and after studying the physical evidence, most researchers now believe the lines/creations had to do with a ritualistic gathering of water by the Nazca people. Especially in a dry area like Peru (though it wasn't as dry back then as it is now), water would take on an especially spiritual quality. Archaeologists have found remains of markings in the ground around the area which appear to be holes created for large ancient tent pegs, most likely set up for the mass holy pilgrimage, and the ceremony with it. Some of the drawings themselves show evidence of pointing to what appear to be (now) dried up former sources of underground water.
As for the giant markings, sure, they can't be seen properly from the ground. However, they can be seen quite well when crossing over the mountain range (which are not as steep now as they were back then, due to erosion), where the Nazca people would have been coming from. It's simply religious ceremony/pageantry, not alien. The whole ridiculous "aliens" theory was started by Swiss author and alien buff Erich von Daniken, who back in the 60's wrote how they appear to be runways and pictures of spacemen, and conspiracy theorists have run with it ever since (oh, and he's also served jail time for jewelry embezzlement and fraud to acquire a 6 figure loan, so you know he's legit).
Regarding Greenpeace, I fully agree with creating environmental awareness, but the way they went about it here is just mind-boggling. After viewing the photos, I do believe they weren't actually intending on desecrating the hummingbird itself (they put the words beside it, not on it). But the complete lack of awareness and knowledge on the sacred area, and how fragile the ground is there, is simply staggering (they walked right through the lines in sneakers, for jebus sake!).
Reading Greenpeace's response, its pretty clear this had been planned for months, which makes it all the more damning for the complete lack of an attempt to educate themselves on how to not disturb the area. I'm truly blown away at the sloppy, careless, and lack of cultural & historical sensitivity employed here, especially since they claim to hold themselves to a higher standard than big industry in these areas. As already mentioned in this thread, it truly is on par with desecrating Stonehenge. The Nazca Lines are such a huge part of Peruvian identity, criminal charges absolutely need to be laid here. Greepeace deserves all the flack they get over this fiasco.
When you're a large, well-known corporation widely seen as
the defensive voice on environmental preservation, and it's regarding an organized, pre-planned stunt on a fragile, culturally significant UNESCO site, "Oops, we didn't realize..." is far from an acceptable response.