Lines in the Desert – Part 3/4: It Was The Aliens, Obviously… (300 BC – 800 AD)
Why did the Nazca people make these pictures? It’s a good question, and one that actually hasn’t received a satisfactory answer yet. But for the sake of entertainment, here’s a list of the various theories that have popped up over the past few decades since the lines’ discovery. Who knows…maybe one of these ideas will spark a conspiracy theory of your own!
Maria Reiche (1903-1998): a German mathematician and archaeologist, Reiche believed the Nazca lines were an astronomical calendar that determined planetary events like solstices and when important stars rose. She associated certain drawings with known constellations, and thought the lines could be used as observatories. She completed a lot of work and managed to have the lines declared a World Heritage Site in 1995, though she was never able to prove her own theories.
Erich von Daniken (born 1935): Daniken was the first to suggest seriously that the geometric Nazca lines were built by alien astronauts as a landing strip for their UFOs. His 1968 book, Arrival of the Gods, made the claim that the soft soil and layer of desert rocks were blown away by the spaceships’ rocket propulsion systems, so they left, dissatisfied with the landing space. The people of the area then apparently tried to call the aliens back by drawing their own images in the desert.
Simone Waisbard: Waisbard was also convinced of the lines’ purpose as an astronomical calendar, though she added the idea that the lines were part of a system that could be used to measure precipitation in the area. She thought that some of the figures, such as the seabirds, had a place in Nazcan meteorological prophesy. She also believed that the geometric figures were places for animals to be kept before sacrifice or places for ritual ceremonies of different Nazca clans.
Robert Bast: an Australian author, Bast has suggested that all the plant, animal and human figures lying together randomly on the ground appear like corpses after a catastrophic flood. In his book Memory of the Deluge, Bast explains that the Nazca plateau might be a memorial place of the ‘Big Flood’.
Jim Woodmann: making a balloon out of Peruvian cotton and a reed basket, Woodmann created himself what he thought could be a replica ‘ancient hot-air balloon’, believing this method could have been used to direct the creation of the images… though he didn’t quite explain how the directions could have been communicated to those on the ground. The test flight was nearly fatal for Woodmann, however – without proper equipment, his balloon began to rise too quickly, and both he and his co-pilot barely jumped to safety before the balloon flew off into the desert, uncontrolled!
These are just a few of the theories on the Nazca lines that have developed over the decades… but what do the more recent – and less controversial – archaeologists have to say on the matter?
…to be continued…
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Tomorrow: Okay, probably not really Aliens…
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Lines in the Desert – Part 4/4: Maybe Not Aliens After All…? (300 BC – 800 AD) - The Ancient Standard at June 16, 2007
[...] lines, and has come up with a theory that is considered somewhat more plausible than some of the previously suggested ideas. Because the region is one of the driest in the world, the Nazca people actually created known [...]
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