The Nazca Lines in southern Peru are some of the most famous geoglyphs on earth, but they are not the only geoglyphs in the Nazca desert. About 200 kilometers to the northwest lies a remote and somewhat less popular geoglyph called the Paracas Candelabrum. It is also known as the "Andean Candelabrum" because of its resemblance to a candlestick with three branches.
The geoglyph is captured on a sloping hillside in Pisco Bay on the Peruvian coast. The lines were carved into the soil at a depth of about one meter and overlaid with stones at a later period. The figure, 181 meters high, is large enough to be seen from a distance of up to twenty kilometers on the high seas.
The Paracas Candelabrum is attributed to the Paracas Culture during the first millennium BC. This conclusion is drawn from the pottery found in the area. Its radiocarbon analysis showed an age of 200 BC. The pottery most likely belonged to the Paracas people, although their involvement in the creation of the geoglyph has never been fully confirmed.
The trident shape of the geoglyph probably represents the staff of the god Viracocha, a mythological figure in the ancient beliefs of South America. Some say it looks more like a cactus. Obsessed with alternative theories, writer Frank Joseph was able to discern the similarities with the hallucinogenic plant dope stramomium. His theory is that the prehistoric inhabitants of the Paracas region traveled north to California to collect the plant, and the geoglyph was used to make it easier to find their way back. The idea of assigning a geoglyph for navigational aid is far from unique. Locals believe that it was used by sailors to mark the peninsula.
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The Paracas candelabrum is still an unsolved mystery.