Brenton
Nazca Lines
April 1st 2008 06:59
In the middle of the Nazca desert, Peru, are massive animal shapes. These are known as the Nazca lines, and are the subject of much discussion over their unknown origin. The largest is almost 900 Feet in size. The main confusion over these markings is that while impressive in scope and appearance, there would seem to be no real means for the creators to have SEEN their creations.
WHY?
There are a number of theories as to why the Nazca lines were built. The one I hold most stock in is that they’re creations of some religious significance. In the area in which they were made, Solar Eclipses are not unheard of, and it has been theorised that these images may be designed to be viewed not by man, but by ‘The Eye in the Sky’.
A variation on this themes is that the lines were walked along, in a kind of religious practice similar to the practice of Labyrinth walking.
Another theory would be the obvious concept of Artistic merit or beauty, though it’s difficult to imagine why one would make such an incredible piece of art, when nobody could possibly be able to see it, but we’ll revisit this briefly when we look at the Hows.
There’s also a theory that the markings were made on account of Extra Terrestrial life, though there is fairly skint evidence to this effect. One drawing that comes up regularly in relation to this theory is one referred to as 'The Astronaut', which has a resemblance to a spaceman.
HOW
One theory, again, my favorite, is that the lines were made simply through good mathematics. The Area would be graphed into squares, the image drawn on graph paper, and the image converted to its epic scale.
There is a theory though, that the creators would have in fact been able to view their creation through the aid of Hot Air Balloons that would have been used to ensure the quality of production. This could also lend a little more weight to the idea of the images as art designed for human eyes.
This theory is further given credibility by researcher Jim Woodmann who proved that it was possible to make a functional hot air balloon with technology and material available to the Nazcas, but the theory is as yet neither proven nor disproved.
Perro (dog) licensed under creative commons Attribution Share alike by GuildNavigator84.
Hummingbird by Kanjroushi, licensed under a creative commons attribution license.
Whale by Mild_Swearwords, licensed under a creative commons Share-alike attribtuion license.
Astronaut licensed under a creative commons Attribution Share alike license by Welsh boy.
Ant and Hummingbird by Warren H licensed under a creative commons attribution license.
WHY?
There are a number of theories as to why the Nazca lines were built. The one I hold most stock in is that they’re creations of some religious significance. In the area in which they were made, Solar Eclipses are not unheard of, and it has been theorised that these images may be designed to be viewed not by man, but by ‘The Eye in the Sky’.
A variation on this themes is that the lines were walked along, in a kind of religious practice similar to the practice of Labyrinth walking.
Nazca Whale with more modern Graffiti nearby, emphasised in red
Another theory would be the obvious concept of Artistic merit or beauty, though it’s difficult to imagine why one would make such an incredible piece of art, when nobody could possibly be able to see it, but we’ll revisit this briefly when we look at the Hows.
There’s also a theory that the markings were made on account of Extra Terrestrial life, though there is fairly skint evidence to this effect. One drawing that comes up regularly in relation to this theory is one referred to as 'The Astronaut', which has a resemblance to a spaceman.
The Astronaut; - cited on occasion as evidence of extra-terrestrial life
HOW
One theory, again, my favorite, is that the lines were made simply through good mathematics. The Area would be graphed into squares, the image drawn on graph paper, and the image converted to its epic scale.
There is a theory though, that the creators would have in fact been able to view their creation through the aid of Hot Air Balloons that would have been used to ensure the quality of production. This could also lend a little more weight to the idea of the images as art designed for human eyes.
This theory is further given credibility by researcher Jim Woodmann who proved that it was possible to make a functional hot air balloon with technology and material available to the Nazcas, but the theory is as yet neither proven nor disproved.
Perro (dog) licensed under creative commons Attribution Share alike by GuildNavigator84.
Hummingbird by Kanjroushi, licensed under a creative commons attribution license.
Whale by Mild_Swearwords, licensed under a creative commons Share-alike attribtuion license.
Astronaut licensed under a creative commons Attribution Share alike license by Welsh boy.
Ant and Hummingbird by Warren H licensed under a creative commons attribution license.
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Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
putting Von Daniken's theories aside for the moment, the images are as beautiful as they are perplexing, the reason for their construction forever lost. I doubt the balloon theory, maybe they had some sort of theodolite-like, surveyor system?
I love the whale, hummingbird and spider particularly.
cheers
fog
Comment by Brenton
Dr Spin
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Obviously you know a bit about it all.
I personally don't put much stock in the balloons either.
There's some kind of raomance in the idea they were made by peopple who could never see their work, don't you?
Comment by Mountain Fog
Infognito
Screen Trek
QUOTE ME NO QUOTES!
yes, I do agree, it really is bizarre!
WHY do such a thing, when its grace and beauty are unable to be seen? So, I understand why someone today would try to imagine a way for them to see their own work, after it was done.
Maybe they thought, as you seem to suggest, that they could appease the 'gods' above, who looked down on them?
here's a pretty picutre 'god'...now DON'T KILL MY CROPS THIS YEAR! Or whatever..
Of course, the alien connection is also intriguing, but it still leaves one to think, WHY BOTHER? Just turn up in your spaceship!!
Well...of course, there is another possibility!
It could be fantastic intergalactic graffiti, a permanent version of the crop circle type, perpetrated by delinquent astro-boys...
now I wonder what they are saying...
"hey dude ape people...wanna see somethin' really groovy...try this out for size!"...hehe!
cheeers
fog
Comment by Anonymous
If the Nazca lines converge at points near the river, they could be standing around the river's edge waiting for the water to flow... Watching the stars in the evening. When the water finally starts to flow, they make a note of where the stars were in the sky so they have a better idea of when to expect the water to return in the years to come.
As they were waiting for the water to return each year, they no doubt observed many events happening in the night sky.
Most obvious events would be meteors and comets. I wouldn't be surprised if the comets gushing tails (as we have seen them do quite repeatedly and explosively recently) were imagined to be whales spouting water. I will have to look at the image of the whale they marked on the Nazca plain again, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a line passing through the whale at the point where the spout comes out of the whale, to mark the visible point of the "comet" spout.
And the Spider, if you look at the back and the head, the back is the Earth and the Head is a crescent moon. The arms and legs are the tracks of a giant meteor as it circles the visible horizon of the earth, then appears again on the other side of the earth and heads toward the moon, where it then circles the moon, disappearing behind one side of the moon and reappearing on the other side. The many legs represent a repeating of the cicuits of the meteor. The long leg off to the right is the meteor approaching the earth and being caught in the Earth's gravity. They believed the moon was actually a floating mountain that was somehow connected to the earth..shown as the body of the spider connecting the Earth and the Moon.
There is one very good repesentation of what happened to this meteor in the image of the humming bird. The long beak is the trail of the meteor entering the earth's atmosphere.. The head is the bright ball the meteor became just before it exploded in the atmosphere into the multitude of firey fragments that formed the wings and tail.
If you read about the "legend" of giants that visited this area from across the sea, they were destroyed by a ball of fire that fell from the sky in a large/loud explosion.
There are sets of various lengths of measuring rods called Quimpu that the Inca could have used to measure the altitude of stars above the horizon, as some stars would never actually "set", but they could track those stars as well by knowing their position in the sky. They could have drawn the lines at Nazca as reference lines from which to measure using the Quimpu rods. I will have to look into them more on how they work, but I suspect you could pinch them (at a swivel point along their length) between two fingers so they point vertically. Align the lower stem of the rod with a certain Nazca line, the pinch point with the horizon, and the upper end points to the limit of some star in the sky. This is probably why someof the Nazca lines never actually point to some star's setting point on the horizon.
I would like to hear from anyone with any input into any of these theories.
Anthony Colbourne
antoncolbo#hotmail.com
acolbournex2#ns.sympatico.ca
Comment by Brenton
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