Unraveling the mysteries of Nazca Lines – Part 2

Reiche, who died in 1998 at the age of 95, devoted her life to studying the Nazca lines, which she measured, cleaned, analyzed and charted daily from the air and from a 15-meter high platform she built. She developed the most widely accepted theories on the hundreds of drawings that cover a 50km belt between Nazca and Palpa, describing them as an “astronomical calendar”.

“This work was done so that gods could see it and from above, help the ancient Peruvians with their farming, fishing and all their other activities, “ said Reiche. For example, she speculated that he drawing of the monkey was the Nazca symbol for the Big Dipper, the constellation representing rain. When the rain was overdue, a common occurrence in the plain where it only rains the equivalent of about half an hour every two years – the monkey was sketched so that the gods, looking down would be reminded that the earth was parched.

Reiche also shed light on how the Nazca people could have made the huge sketches with such symmetry. She determined that they used a basic unit of measurement, probably the distance from their elbows to their forefingers and based all calculations upon this. As for symmetry, Reiche believed they used ropes tied to stakes to form circles and arcs that they cut with straight lines.

There are of course those who do not accept Reiche’s theories, denying that Nazca people would have drawn something they themselves could not see. Because the drawings are only visible from the air, the International Explorers Club set out in 1975 to prove a theory that the Nazcas had aircraft. They made a hot air balloon, the Condor I, out of cloth and reed and flew it for 60 seconds, reaching an altitude of 100 meters. But the flight proved little.