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The Nazca Lines: Giant Drawings in the Desert

Ancient Peruvians scratched giant animals and lines kilometres long into the desert. In 2024, AI found 303 more.

Ancient mysteriesNazca, Peru500 BCE to 500 CE

The hummingbird, one of the best-known Nazca geoglyphs, seen from the air.
The hummingbird, one of the best-known Nazca geoglyphs, seen from the air. Unukorno, CC BY 3.0

On the dry plains around Nazca, about 400 kilometres south of Lima, the ground is covered with lines and figures: animals, plants, imaginary beings and straight lines several kilometres long.

UNESCO dates them to between 500 BCE and 500 CE. They were scratched into the desert surface, and the dry climate has preserved them ever since.

Many figures are so large that they are best seen from the air, which has fuelled claims that they were made for, or by, visitors from the sky.

In 2024 a team from Yamagata University and IBM used AI to scan the whole region. Within six months of field survey they confirmed 303 new figurative geoglyphs, nearly doubling the 430 found over the previous century.

Evidence

  • The lines are a UNESCO World Heritage site, dated by archaeologists to 500 BCE to 500 CE.
  • The 2024 study found two kinds: small relief figures beside ancient footpaths, mostly of people and domesticated animals, made to be seen by individuals or small groups.
  • The giant line figures mostly show wild animals and sit beside the network of straight lines, suggesting community rituals.

Verdict

CONFIRMED

Backed by strong, verifiable evidence.

Who made the lines, and when, is established. Their exact meaning is still studied, and the evidence points to ritual use.

Theories vs evidence

  • Landing strips or signals for ancient astronauts

    UNPROVEN

    No evidence supports it. The figures are shallow scratches beside ancient footpaths and ritual routes.

  • Made for ritual and ceremony

    SUPPORTED

    Where the figures sit and what they show point to ritual use, as UNESCO and the 2024 study describe.

Sources

Image credits

  • Nazca Lines Hummingbird (cropped).jpg. Unukorno, CC BY 3.0

Published 2026-10-25. Spotted an error? Email provenmysteries@gmail.com.

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