Lines in the Desert – Part 4/4: Maybe Not Aliens After All…? (300 BC – 800 AD)
A specialist by the name of David Johnson has done some work of his own on the Nazca 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 underground waterways that made use of some of the excellent reservoirs located below the desert surface.
Through a somewhat controversial method known as dowsing, Johnson tracked the water tunnels, in order to determine whether the areas of the ground around the images contain water or not, and it is his belief that the pictures lie in correlation to water sources. The images were thus created as large-scale maps so that inhabitants of the area could find water, no matter where in the desert they were located. The glyphs themselves were then depictions of water gods, or religious figures that the Nazcans believed to represent each water source.
In 1985, archaeologist Johan Reinhard published a report using archaeological, topographical, ethnographic and historical data to demonstrate that Nazca religion and ritual was greatly centered around the worship of mountains and water sources. It was his belief that the figures were a part of Nazcan religious practices involving crop fertility and water provision, wherein the Nazca lines were used as sacred paths that led to places where each deity could be worshiped. The gods could see the images on the ground that honored them, and thus act benevolently toward the people, knowing they were being venerated. The various figures were thus symbolic of the gods and their attributes, though the specific meaning of each image has yet to be deciphered.
Reinhard’s theory built on the work of Johnson, and has since become the most accepted explanation for the Nazca lines, due to the ethnographic information that compared what archaeologists know of the ancient Nazca people with the modern religious habits and practices of some Andean cultures.
Although Reinhard’s theory is widely understood as the most logical explanation for the Nazca lines, they still present a fascinating visual wonder along the Peruvian coast, and will continue to serve as objects of wonder about this ancient culture and their curious but fascinating drawings on the desert floor.
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Tomorrow: Who’s up for a 2000 year old bowl of fruit salad?
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