The Mysterious Nazca Lines
Past assignments have included known artists, their works and time period. I selected this subject matter because the Nazca Lines in southern Peru continue to remain a mystery and continue to puzzle both laymen and scholars alike for nearly a hundred years since their existence was made known outside of Peru.
Presently, no one person can confirm the artists, the exact time period nor the meaning of the Geoglyphs and Biomorphs; such as the Hummingbird image.
Earth Drawing, southwest of Peru 200 B.C.E. – 200 C.E. Nazca Desert
Hummingbird length 450′ and wingspan 200′
The Nazca Desert is one of the driest deserts in the world and it is located on a plateau about sixty miles long and five miles wide near the coast of Peru. Lima one of the nearest cities is approximately located 250 miles away. Located inside the desert are ancient lines, geoglyphs, trapezoids and biomorphs such as a whale, monkey, and a giant man who appears to be an astronaut.
Antiquity works from an ancient civilization that seemed to have ended abruptly leaving no written history. What is the meaning of these lines and images? Were they created for spiritual or astronomical reasons? Were they created for meditation purposes like Labyrinths or for mythical creatures?
Were they used as a guiding map or in connection with man and the creatures that surrounded the ancient people? Were they created for agriculture practices? Some have even theorize they were made for Extraterrestrials. What is the purpose of their existence or message? There are many theories with unanswered questions, which make them all the more intriguing. In addition, scholars cannot seem to agree on the exact time period or periods they were created.
Nazca Line
Created by removing the rock debris (iron oxide pebbles) and exposing the white soil underground. (Photo courtesy of Michael J. Way. Copyright Michael J. Way)
Three key individuals seem to surface frequently in my research on the Nazca Lines.
In the 1920s’ Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejía Xesspe came across the lines and later gave a presentation about them in the 1930’s.
Paul Kosak (1896-1959) an American Professor of History and Government was the first scholar to study the Nazca lines from the academia point. His field of study was on form’s of irrigation in ancient cultures; including studying the culture in Peru,1940-1941 and 1948-1949.
Maria Reiche (1903-1998) born in Germany and attended Dreden Technical University. She spoke 5 languages, and was a mathematician. In the 1930’s she traveled to Peru to work as an Nanny, about the 1940’s she became an assistant to Paul Kosak who arrived in Peru to study agriculture and irrigation. Paul Kosak became a mentor to Maria Reiche. After Kosak returned to America, Reiche remained in Peru and devoted her life to studying and preserving the Nazca Lines. With sales from a book she wrote, she hired assistants and guards to monitor and help protect the Naztec Lines. In 1994 she became a Peruvian citizen she passed on in 1998 at the age of 95 at an Airforce hospital in Lima. Maria Rieche was buried with honors near Nazca, her home is now a museum.
Endearing name “Lady of the Lines”
Sisters, Renate on the left and Maria Reiche on the right both photo credits unknown
I selected the following photo because of Maria’s physical appearance and in her choice of clothing. I believe the photo shows Maria’s immense devotion to Peru and the Nazca Lines.
Optional click photo to enlarge.
Note: Her sweater’s sleeves are tattered and long, overlapping her hands, she keeps a shawl clutched tightly to ward off the elements of the desert weather, the background shows the desert terrain with its peaks and valleys an arduous journey for anyone, she is shown walking away from the terrain on a plain, her face is weathered from years of being in the sun, creased like the lines of Nazca, her hands spotted and weathered like the rocks on Nazca’s desert floor, her stooped walk shows her age, and her silver hair shines white like the Nazca Lines, strands of her hair and the fringes of her shawl are windswept towards the right of the photograph, she is wearing sandals and a dress her feminine side, “Lady of the Lines”, she has something in her pocket on the right side it is slightly pouched. What is in her pocket? A mystery item we will never know. We can theorize is it a tool or a rock she collected on her walk? It seems as if Maria Reiche has merged into one with her beloved Nazca Lines, aged into Peru’s ancient history.
Maria Reiche’s home in Peru
Meeting her basic needs, simple and with purpose.
(photo credit http://www.rodneydodig.com)
Music for stress relief, tranquility, and rejuvenation. Beautiful crisp images with rain and nature sounds, (ahhh… so relaxing) be sure to listen to the Andean Pan Pipe music which begins at 1:40 minute/seconds into the video.
SOURCES
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/nazca/nazca-lines.htm
Benton, Janetta R., and Robert DiYanni. Arts and Culture. third ed. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. 234. Print.
http://www.voutsadakis.com/GALLERY/ALMANAC/Year2011/May2011/05152011/MARIA-REICHE-GROSSE.jpg Maria Photo with scarf
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maria_Reiche_y_Renate.jpeg
http://am-sur.com/am-sur/peru/Nasca/Munoz_Reiche-d/43-Maria-Reiche-1980s-apr-en-ropa-del-invierno.jpg Maria walking the Nazca lines
http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/nazca.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines
http://www.voutsadakis.com/GALLERY/ALMANAC/Year2011/May2011/05152011/2011may15.html
http://www.rodneydodig.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Maria-Reiche-Museum-3.jpg
Helaine Silverman, David Browne (1991). “New evidence for the date of the Nazca lines”. Antiquity 65 (247): 208–220
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