The labyrinth of the world
Project 2028: geophysical research and remote sensing of the Nazca lines
Our approach
Archaeological and geophysical works on the Nazca lines
When flying over Nazca, it is enough to observe the immensity of this desert to where these lines are observable to realize that their whole is chaotic; Some end up abruptly, others intersect in any direction, some are lost in front of the coast towards the Pacific Ocean, there are others that are directed towards the Andean mountain range, being impossible to determine that its design and utility are only astronomical. All of this without forgetting that many of the lines appear on other older, barely visible, that point to different directions.We have done many reconnaissance flights in an area from Paracas to beyond Nazca and we have observed many lines that still today have not been discovered or analyzed by official science. The scarce rains of this area, one of the driest on the planet, and the lack of obstacles to the wind, which releases its sand about a hundred kilometers to the north, make the drawings are maintained almost indefinitely.Observing this true chaos one realizes that the different interpretations that have been made on Nazca are far from the reality of what they are and for which they were constructed. We are convinced and this is where our work points out that it is necessary and essential to combine many more research disciplines such as studies of history, ancient symbology, geological studies, archaeastronomic and the latest advances in underground remote sensing systems among others.
Hypothesis to explore: the Nazca Plate and the ocean floor
This is a working hypothesis, not a result. The 1965 photographs have not been confirmed by any later expedition or by published scientific studies; they would need to be re-examined with modern means.
One of the investigations that we think is most important to consider is why the Nazca Lines are located opposite the critical point of suction in the Atacama Trench due to the push of the Nazca Plate in the Pacific against the South American Plate causing the Andes to rise increasingly.
When the earth's crust collapses at one of its inflection points, ancient archaeological remains of the area have been thrown into the ocean abyss. As a notable example of this we can cite the photographs of the “Milne-Edwards” pit taken by Dr. Menzies, of Duke University, from the oceanographic vessel Anton Bruun in 1965, off the coast of Peru.
The sonar recordings made in this area indicated very strange configurations in the ocean floor, which was apparently a muddy surface. The photographs taken at a depth of 6,000 feet, about 1,830 metres, showed what looked like huge pillars and walls, some covered with calligraphic signs.
When they tried to take other photographs they noticed that although the position of the special chamber was modified by the submarine currents, other plates of rocks with artificial forms were obtained that lay on the sides, and some of them in piles, as if they had rolled one on top other. This happened at a time when many archaeological remains sank to a depth of more than 1500 meters at the bottom of the sea.Although this incident shows one of the deepest depths of the ocean in which ruins have been found, it is probable that future underwater explorations, carried out at the same or similar depths, will provide definite evidence, in the relatively near future, of the existence of civilizations Whose remains lie now at the depth of the world
Can the Nazca Lines be related to these underwater remains?
Our experience in Nazca
Between 1982 and 1985, Anselm Pi Rambla and his team flew over Nazca regularly for almost three years with the airline Aerocóndor, from the airport of Ica, and analysed from the air all the lines from Palpa to Nazca and towards the Pacific Ocean. Those flights led to observations that had not been published at the time: some lines reached the sea, and figures such as the star of San Javier, which we photographed in 1982, could already be seen from the air before one of the Aerocóndor pilots made it public in 1984.
The conclusion of that stage was that the astronomical interpretations, such as that of María Reiche, did not explain the whole: the lines seemed to be related more to the subsoil than to the stars. That was our last analysis of the lines; the Nazca Project 2028 takes up the research where it stopped.
The anthropologist María Scholten de D'Ebneth, who discovered the American Unit on the Route of Wiracocha, also found it on the Nazca pampa. Her “crucial” discovery, she wrote, was that all the figures she analysed are oriented to the four cardinal points: each one fits within a rectangle or square whose length and width follow the measures of the American Unit, and its design develops from them by enlargement and reduction. The lengths María Reiche found again and again in the figures —3.32 and 6.64 metres— are practically 1 and 2 units, and the box that contains the great bird measures 28 × 32 units. One and the same measure thus links the Nazca lines and the Qhapaq Ñan.
Source: María Scholten de D'Ebneth, Nazca: Testimony of a High Culture, Lima, Juan Mejía Baca, 1984, ch. III.
What we want to find out
The Nazca Project will begin in 2028. It is not yet a set of results, but a research plan to put to the test the hypothesis that emerged from those flights, always with the authorisation of Peru's Ministry of Culture.
1. Lines over lines. Many lines run over older ones, barely visible, that point in other directions. Which came first, and did the orientation of the lines change over time? Method: high-resolution drone photogrammetry to map every superposition.
2. Lines that reach the sea. From the air we saw lines that reach the coast, and others that have not yet been documented. Method: systematic aerial survey and satellite imagery from Paracas to beyond Nazca, reporting every find to the Ministry of Culture.
3. A relationship with the subsoil? This is our main hypothesis. At the ends and crossings of selected lines we will look for buried structures or other anomalies underground. Method: ground-penetrating radar, which detects spaces and structures in the subsoil without excavating.
4. Or with the sky? To compare the two ideas fairly, we will measure the orientation of each line and compare it with the sunrise and sunset at the solstices and with the rising of the brightest stars, as we have done at the Koricancha and at the Candelabro of Paracas. The data will decide which explanation fits better. Method: archaeoastronomy with precise topography and the real profile of the horizon.
5. The Palpa Cross and the Qhapaq Ñan. Scholten showed that the Nazca figures are oriented to the four cardinal points and laid out with the American Unit. The San Javier star, the “Palpa Cross”, which we could already make out from the air in the 1980s, may follow the same rule and also bear an astronomical relationship to the Qhapaq Ñan. It is our own hypothesis: we will measure its orientation and dimensions precisely and compare them with the axes of the Route of Wiracocha and with the sky of the time when it was drawn. Method: precise topography, drone photogrammetry and archaeoastronomy.
The “Estrellas” of Nazca
In recent years, independent researchers have documented geoglyphs with star-shaped geometric patterns on the Nazca plateau, different from the classic lines. We show them here as context for our project; the credit belongs to their authors.
Nazca from the air
Video: New Nazca Lines (© Ombio Productions)
Unknown Estrellas of Nasca
These newly documented geoglyphs, unlike the famous Nazca Lines, show complex geometric patterns, some visible only from the air. Video: “Unknown Estrellas of Nasca”, © Ombio Productions.