RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A cat about 37 meters long resting on a sand hill is the new figure that archaeologists from the Peruvian Ministry of Culture found in the Nazca Pampa, home to the famous geoglyphs that have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1994.
The feline was carved on the slopes of a hill in the middle of the desert of the Nazca region about two hundred years before our time, long before the appearance of the famous figures – the “monkey”, the “spider” or the “bird” – which makes the area one of the most interesting archaeological sites in Peru, and they remained hidden there for almost two thousand years, a few meters from the Panamericana, the main highway that stretches from North to South of the country.
Casual find
Archaeologist Jhonny Isla, responsible for the management system of the Nazca-Palpa Archaeological Park, told Efe that the find occurred when the authorities decided to improve access to the main natural lookout that allows visitors to view part of the gigantic figures that dominate the area’s landscape from the ground.
“From the Ministry of Culture we realized that the access to the viewpoint in fact ran over a geoglyph, and we considered altering it, since access can not cause damage to the heritage… Another issue is that the climb was difficult and we wanted to make the passage safer… And in that process, we realized that there were traces on that slope that were not natural at all,” said Isla.
Despite the area’s erosion, revealed through photographs taken with drones, it was noted from the beginning “a zoomorphic figure that looked like a feline” that had been hidden from everyone’s view for hundreds of years.
“It is surprising that new figures can still be found, but we know that there are others still to find. In recent years, the use of drones, which above all allow us to take images of slopes, has made this possible,” said the archaeologist.
The find occurred earlier this year, but with the shutdown of activities in the country due to Covid-19, the field work had not been completed until now, revealing the figure of an animal looking forward and sideways, drawn with lines about 30 centimeters thick.
Paracas culture
Everything seems to suggest that the animal is part of the Paracas culture, which preceded the Nazca culture for several centuries, giving rise to the geoglyphs for which the region is known.
“In recent years, between the Palpa and Nazca valleys, some 80 to a hundred new figures have been identified, preceding those of Nazca culture. These are smaller and drawn on the hillsides, clearly from the previous tradition. It is known as iconographic comparisons. For instance, Paracas textiles bear birds, cats or characters easily comparable to these glyphs,” explained the researcher.
In this respect, Isla pointed out that the historical and cultural interpretation of these findings is different from that of Nazca geoglyphs, which are much larger and difficult to perceive with the naked eye.
“The significance of Nazca’s geoglyphs has one sure answer: they were linked to water and fertility. Nothing strange for a people who lived in the desert and for whom water was central (…) But these new, smaller ones appearing in groups, because they involve a different conception: they were made for people to see,” argued the archaeologist.
Thus, while the figures of Nazca culture are made “by men for the gods,” those of the Paracas “are made by men for men,” he said.
“In any event, it is clear that this immense desert was a cultural landscape that was integrated and occupied by society; it was not an abandoned landscape and had a very special meaning for hundreds of years,” Isla added.
The Nazca Lines, discovered in 1927, are a vast complex of zoomorphic, geometric or plant images, which reached the world thanks to German-Peruvian María Reiche (1903-1998), who devoted a large part of her life to the study and preservation of geoglyphs.
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo