Synopsis

In the second part of our tour of geoglyphs, Em and Dr Jesse examine the Nazca lines in Peru. One of the best known large-scale features of the Americas, they are also one of the most mysterious, at least in the popular imagination. Join us as we discuss who built them, and some theories about why.

Sources!

“The Nasca Culture: An Introduction” by Donald Proulx (Originally published in German in: Nasca: Geheimnisvolle Zeichen im Alten Peru, Edited by Judith Rickenbach, Pp. 59-77. Zürich: Museum Rietberg Zürich, 1999. There are no modifications to the text but the illustrations were augmented 2007.)
UNESCO Nasca Lines
Nazca Lines in Live Science.
The Nazca Lines are visible from the ground.
Nazca Cat in Live Science.
New glyphs discovered.
Destruction of lines: in 2014 and 2018.

Notes

1/ Uncontacted tribes is a term that includes any indigenous people who are living without sustained direct relations with the larger world, but they may have interactions with neighboring peoples or have had contact in the past. Indigenous people in voluntary isolation have decided to remain uncontacted. Which, frankly, doesn’t sound like that bad an idea all the time. Periodically people try to contact them and get killed for their trouble.

2/ Jesse recommends the recent Anaconda (2025), which is not-exactly-a-remake with Jack Black and Paul Rudd

3/ Unfortunately, tourists dying from the heat has become a regular occurrence in the summers.

4/ Actually, the Rorschach test is considered controversial, similar to claims on various “history” tv channels that the Nazca lines were drawn by aliens. (Also, the cards are supposed to be a secret! I didn’t realize that. They’re all on the wikipedia page.)

5/ A labyrinth, besides being the place you can keep your minotaur, is a pattern (often on the floor of a cathedral) that Catholics can walk as part of a walking meditation.

6/ The comic is here: https://ehlupton.com/2019/12/23/em-oi-441-o-christmas-tree/

7/ Shapes: