Scratching the surface: drones cast new light on mystery of Nazca Lines

Dan Collyns in Palpa
@yachay_dc

Sun 24 May 2020 05.00 EDTLast modified on Sun 24 May 2020 14.35 EDT

An aerial search in the Peruvian desert has revealed intriguing figures of humans and animals that predate the nearby Unesco world heritage site



A faded decades-old black-and-white photograph was the only lead Johny Isla had when he set out on the trail of a sea monster.

The Peruvian archaeologist spotted the image at a 2014 exhibition in Germany about the Nazca Lines, the vast and intricate desert images which attract tens of thousands of tourists every year.

The photograph taken in the early 1970s showed a mysterious killer whale deity carved in an arid hillside. The figure bore some resemblance to others he knew but he had never seen this one before.

Isla, now Peru’s chief archaeologist for the lines, spent hours poring through archives, before returning to Peru – armed with a drone and a lifetime of local field experience – to find it.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/may/24/nazca-lines-drones-new-discoveries-peru