UPSC Articles
Place in news: Nazca Lines
Part of: GS Prelims and GS-I – Geography
In news
- Recently, Peru’s famous Nazca Lines was in news.
- A massive carving of a resting cat on the slope of a steep hill was discovered there.
Important value additions
Nazca Lines
- The Nazca Lines are a group of very large geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.
- They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving differently coloured dirt exposed.
- There are many figurative designs of animals and plants.
- The figures include pelicans (the largest ones sized around 935 feet long), Andean Condors (443 feet), monkeys (360 feet), hummingbirds (165 feet), and spiders (150 feet).
- Geometric shapes, such as triangles, trapezoids and spirals, are also found.
- Some designs have been associated with astronomical functions as well.
- The Lines were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.
