I. Lines
So, if you try to understand the question, the first thing you come across is a huge number of theories based on fairly modest factual material. And when you see the diagram of lines and drawings of the most famous part of the Nazca desert, for example, this one:
at best, it does not add clarity.
I decided to take an interest in the topic and somehow imperceptibly got involved in a small study, the results of which I post here. There will be no revolutionary classifications and theories, just the emphasis is slightly shifted based on the factual material from Google Earth and, in my opinion, logical interpretations are offered.
The first thing I did was, according to established tradition, left the found, or rather flown, tourist routes and decided to take an interest in the surroundings (using Google, of course). The results were stunning! If the literature mentions an area of the Earth's surface 70 by 15 km, then in fact the lines can be seen almost on the entire coastal strip, up to the city of Trujillo, which is 900 km to the north. I marked places on the map where the lines were obvious.
For example, well-preserved lines near the town of Casma 650 km north of Nazca.
Promotional video:
It is quite possible that there were a lot of lines along the entire coast, and the preservation of the Nazca lines is only the uniqueness of the natural conditions plus the heroism of the tireless explorer Maria Reiche, largely thanks to which the whole place (the Nazca plateau is now a reserve) remained in good condition.
At the periphery, the density of lines is much less, there is less chaos in them, and while I got used to finding them, some patterns became clear.
The first (well-known) - ancient lines are almost always perfectly straight for hundreds of meters, and sometimes kilometers (it is very easy to check with a ruler), have a characteristic edging on the sides, often ignore the relief and there is always a feeling that they were made from that place, where you look at them in Google.
Human footprints are either obviously modern (mostly automobile), or "walk" depending on the relief. And besides, people often use lines for their own purposes:
The second and most important regularity is ATTACHMENT TO THE RELIEF, and not just to the relief, but to changes in the relief - river valleys, desert junctions to mountains, plateau edges, flat tops of hills, etc.
The marks are well-preserved lines. The connection to river valleys and foothills is very clearly visible. The blue squares in the center are just that very untwisted place with a twist of lines and drawings.
Detailed layout of the Palpa area.
Plot of the same in 3D.
Below I give examples of the most typical places where lines meet (for a while, let's forget about the plateau with its chaos of lines and drawings and try to find elementary algorithms using simple examples).
The foot of the hills-mountains:
near Lima (360 km from Nazca).
Hill with the "astronaut":
The ridges of the hills:
Near Lima:
River valleys:
The following line classification was formed by itself.
SCAN LINES - thin long lines, straight lines, zigzags, etc. They also applied drawings.
LINE LINE - long thin strips of the same thickness or expanding.
BASIC STRIPES - wide, up to one hundred meters, rectangular or widening strips, in which the length is commensurate with the width.
The classification is not rigid, i.e. a short and thick line of passage can be called a long and thin main strip, etc.
Very often, the flow lines are joined to the main lines and a line with “variable geometry” is obtained. The joints are clearly visible almost everywhere and are sometimes marked with characteristic heap points.
There is another distinct class of stripes, but more on that later.
Another interesting pattern was discovered. I call it the rule of heights. Almost all bands of unequal width expand with decreasing height. The rule is not absolute if, say, the height difference is small. Sometimes there are groups of bands with an inverse relationship, for example, as here:
And in general, it seems that the change in bandwidth does not depend on the height, but on another factor.
So, I am publishing the working version.
Something that interested the ancients was washed away from the mountains either by a cataclysm, or by rains and rivers, and settled in the river valleys and on the plateaus. It could be anything - rare earths, precious metals, building materials for megaliths, orichalcum, quantum fluids, etc. Let's call it “ore” for now. And the Nazca plateau, and, it seems, the entire western Peruvian coast was a large development of this ore deposit. I do not deliberately touch upon the question “how was it done”, it is a question of technology, and in my opinion it is very rash to comment on, say, the operation of a nuclear reactor from the perspective of a medieval city dweller. Now we are interested in the question “what did they do”.
Let's consider the main algorithms for mining on the Nazca plateau.
Classics of the genre. For now we will not pay attention to spirals and drawings, we will leave that for later. So, three runs. We select a site, scan it, in this case in a zigzag pattern, select the ore with a straight line and select the most delicious in small main strips. All.
I cannot fail to note the following.
A very famous drawing of this figure. We slightly corrected the ends of the passage line (in fact, the scanning line goes far beyond the drawing), called it a whip and voila, the meaning has changed. You can launch the Indians with a tambourine and enjoy the greatness of science …
Sorry, distracted.
More examples.
At the bottom left is a modern road. The same algorithm - only scanned in different ways - longitudinal, radial, and even a little zigzag. And then we went through the main ones. Even the dots were left behind.
And yet, in the schemes.
It is very possible that the spirals are something like a calibration, or a special way of scanning.
Over large areas, straight scanning lines several kilometers long were used.
Five ways of scanning are very clearly visible:
Let's make a preliminary summary.
Everywhere there is one regularity - first scanning, on top of them are checkpoints, and they cover all the main ones. It can be assumed that the walkers were scanning deeply, taking samples and mining. The main lines were intensively developed.
The next example is very important.
The algorithm is the same, but the work is in two stages, between which there seems to be a long period of time. Either a renewable resource, or, more likely, the evolution of technology (they began to work with poorer ore). Here comes the 4th class of stripes. There are few of them. They are wide (up to one hundred meters), rectangular, with characteristic points and always run across and over the main ones. I called them technological.
The rule of heights (the expansion of lines with a decrease in height) is not related to the height, but to the concentration of the ore (flowing down, the flow expands), but somewhere this does not work.
The question arises. Why don't they just remove the entire upper part of the land and drive it into processing, as they would have done it now?
They probably had a different view of ecology. Another level. Only people who were very careful about the environment could lay over streams, rocks and stones with polygonal masonry. And, in spite of the fact that they cut the rocks as they wanted and moved the megaliths like wooden cubes, they, it seems, did not tear off the mountains, did not turn the rivers, but simply carefully modified the places where they lived and did something.
Nevertheless, there are examples of intensive processing.
The next place is 800 km to the north. And if it were not for the line of dots-heaps, stretching for almost 4 km in spite of the relief, one would think that this is a modern activity.
There are many more details (regarding the lines themselves) that I would like to draw attention to.
These are the same heap points:
curvature of lines:
line structure:
strange joints:
drawing lines as 3D ribbons:
But all this already refers to technologies and requires a more detailed and qualified approach. We are moving on to the second part.
II. Drawings
So, the drawings.
In a completely natural way, all images that do not belong to lines are divided into three groups.
The drawings themselves are drawings of animals, plants and various kinds of spirals.
Enlarged petroglyphs - anthropomorphic, and similar images.
Blueprints. All kinds of strange blueprints, circles, groups of points, etc.
Consider the first group. Let's remember that drawings are creativity, and subjective assessment is inevitable here. The author is always present here, the meaning that he puts, the instrument and the medium. Everything is clear with the carrier, but we will try to clarify the first three positions. And for the sake of clarity of perception, I propose to temporarily forget about the size of the drawings, the time of creation, theories, etc., and perceive them as they look right here on the monitor screen.
Drawings have three main features. Actually, all this has been known for a long time, but I think it is necessary to repeat myself and place the necessary accents.
First. The general style, one manner of drawing, everything is done in one line. According to M. Reiche, there is an extraordinary, mathematically accurate alignment of the lines. Now this is called the elements of computer graphics.
Let's note one more subtlety. If, say, ancient Egyptian drawings-drawings breathe arrogance and grandeur, images of the Maya give off otherworldly nightmares, then Nazca drawings have, on the one hand, lightness and simplicity, as in graffiti on concrete fences, and on the other - design grace.
Second feature. Correlation of all patterns and spirals with lines or line directions.
Third. The attitude of the creators of stripes to drawings. Very often, drawings are superimposed on stripes and vice versa, and sometimes the main stripes completely cover them.
We can add, and now almost no one doubts that they were intended for the viewer from the air, and from a considerable height.
The second group is enlarged petroglyphs.
Comments, as they say, are unnecessary. Made with one hand. On the left are ordinary petroglyphs left in abundance by Indians along the coast, on the right are geoglyphs from the Nazca plateau and the surrounding area.
I will only add that all geoglyphs from the second group are always separated from the stripes, located on the slopes of hills, and are clearly visible from the ground.
You can even try to draw by hand, say, the simplest bird from the first group (group of drawings), and then the well-known astronaut (or any other petroglyph) from the second. The first will make a freak, and the second will turn out, in any case, no worse, and maybe better.
So the second group is, as they say, a hogwash made by the Indians. Let's forget about her.
Third group.
Let's put it aside for now. Regarding the third group, it is customary to sing praises of mystery and enigma. I will refrain, and I promise that we will return to her.
As a result, one group remains - drawings.
Forced to retreat. I really don't want to touch on the topic of technology, but I have to. The drawings were made with some kind of tool. They obviously have computer graphics. And we will dwell on this in more detail.
Here you will have to remember the different scanning methods mentioned in the previous part.
Always confused one thing - why a spiral? After all, concentric circles are much simpler, and they knew how to make them.
But because the spiral is made in one line, as all the drawings are made. The conclusion suggests itself - it was no problem to work with the tool, but turning it on and off was difficult. My humanitarian education does not allow me to draw any conclusions about this technical nuance, but it was most likely that there were some restrictions imposed by the energy source.
Nevertheless, one factor has already been found that influenced the design of all the drawings.
Move on. Let's imagine that we have a graphics editor that uses all five of the above elements in its constructions. Let's see an example:
Each of the pictures is practically a combination of these five elements.
It can be assumed that the operator drew a figure, designated the entrance - exit, the editor, using the elements used during scanning, drew the details, and where it turned out badly (these are almost always paws, fillets and all sorts of small details), the operator completed the drawing manually (the monkey is generally all drawn by hand).
I understand that these are slippery assumptions on shaky ground, but I have no other explanation for the fact that all the drawings have a common design, and at the same time, each is individual in its own way. So I'll go to the end. We have a tool with a specific energy source and operators who, with the help of a computer device, worked in the field and sometimes, due to their artistic abilities, applied drawings.
In order not to be unfounded, I decided, using the principles described above and a simple paint.net editor, to draw a little animal. Here's what happened.
I drew it 15 minutes after it dawned on me that the fewer lines from the hand, the more it resembles the figures of Nazca. And I will say more - both the monkey and all the small details were also drawn not by hand, but with the help of lines with variable curvature (even a bad thought flashed that they used approximately the same software). Everyone can try it for themselves. And it became clear what kind of mathematical verification so embarrassed Maria Reiche. So we can even clarify the technology - the operator put points on the map and appointed the scanning method, and the editor himself already drew the line (all this, in this case, concerns only the scanning lines). But the question arises - what about radial scanning?
This is where you caught me. I do not know. Need to think. There was probably some kind of special regime.
And two more words about the tool. Like any other (the instrument was not weak!), It needed, in my opinion, all sorts of adjustments, calibrations, checks, etc. While writing all this, I remembered what bothered me so much in the famous drawing "Estrella".
This drawing looked terribly like something.
And here's what:
Yes, and I would very much like it to be a blueprint of some intergalactic engine … Or at worst a stargate … But it looks like it really is something like a tuning table. Estrella is one of a kind. Our TV also shows a lot of things, but there is only one table. And it looks like an artifact compared to regular transmissions. And all the drawings from the third group are also very similar to some kind of test printout. It would be a good idea to try to match the width of the frequently used lanes with Estrella. And analysis of the table in this vein could provide information about the tool.
But enough about the sad things and let's get back to our drawings.
Imagine that the first stage of the development of the Nazca plateau (the very tourist one) has passed and you need to start the second, i.e. on top. We are moving over the surface of the desert and we need to orientate to start (or continue) work. And then the devil will break his head, in these lines (try in Google to fly over Nazca at an altitude of about 2 km, from where all the drawings were clearly visible. Do not forget that there were no wide technological stripes and the drawings themselves).
Of course we need a marker.
So the markers.
There is too little material - several tourist maps from the LAI website, and some photos and sketches from Maria Reiche's website. But what is - that is. Let's designate at least general ideas and directions.
Let's start again simple. Long-suffering monkey.
Having made the scanning in a dense zigzag (the direction of movement is indicated), the operator marks the scanned area with a monkey (gray arrow). There is a version that the case was different. Having carefully scanned the area and did not find anything, the operator, most likely a male, was upset and drew a grimacing monkey with a causal place, expressing his attitude to what was happening. Maybe among the ancients it was some kind of indecent curse. But let's not get distracted.
It is possible that this is generally the first drawing, because nowhere is there such a conjugation with scanning lines, there are no straight lines (in the drawing), and there is an irregular spiral, which is rather troublesome to draw even with a line with a variable curvature (and it seems that they did it, moved point by point). And there are not so many working lanes in this place.
But someone noticed that it was good to navigate by the drawings and the process began.
I call the next figure a triad.
Most likely, at first (the direction is indicated), the operator depicted a tree as a mark, scanned and put two marks in the form of a lizard and a Pokemon frog (he tends to say “set” - it’s too neat, like a woman, all the legs, twigs are drawn with love, ears; the frog even raised its paw and walks towards us; there is even a line of a hill on which a tree grows. Compare with the previous boorish monkey). There is practically no doubt that all three drawings are made with one hand - the structure of the tree trunk and the body of the lizard, the similar geometry of the paws and the root of the tree.
Two baobabs.
And I wonder if baobabs grow in South America?
The first thing you see is that the trees are drawn by various authors. The style and geometry of the parts are noticeably different.
And secondly, the same tree is drawn! And from slightly different angles (the right observer from his corner may not see the extra left upper branch in the left figure). Perhaps both operators saw this tree from their windows at the base.
And an example of how different an image style can be.
Two pelicans:
The drawing of the first author could easily be placed among the Egyptian hieroglyphs. And the second one is a fashionable designer thing from the category of “you can't immediately understand”.
Based on the above, we will try to group the drawings by authors (as is done in the triad). I see the following four groups most likely:
Group 1 (top row) - made in the same style (the presence of straight lines in the dog should not confuse us, the operator simply did not use this option in the other two drawings). All of them have anatomy, long legs, entrance and exit through the genitals (in the Ricipulea spider, the elongated right hind leg acts as a genital organ)
Group 2 - the same style, a similar drawing of the internal structure, one theme (fish).
Group 3 - the same entry-exit, similar geometry of paws and feathers and one theme.
Group 4 - the triad itself.
I drew the following diagram for myself, trying to find some patterns. I didn't find anything, and the groups on it are quite dubious (except for the above four), but nevertheless, I give the diagram. Each colored contour contains groups of drawings belonging to one author, and on the map, respectively, the location of their location and possible movement. On the right are drawings that are not included in any group.
And if the stated version (lines are traces of developments, drawings are markers) is at least partially correct, then it is possible that the head of the Nazcan ancient mining enterprise saw a similar picture on his monitor (or on the one that performed a similar function for them). Colored - active operators, on the right - holidays. And note that markers are grouped precisely in the places of the most intensive development.
And in conclusion, if you look at the map with which I scared everyone at the very beginning, now it seems to be not scary.
It can be seen that intensive development was carried out in two or maybe three stages; that in large areas they used mainly radial scanning and straight lines, but they also did not disdain zigzag; you can see the general direction of the main strips and covering all technological ones. There are no large spirals (tool properties?) And it seems that spirals were used mainly on rough terrain. Well, quite natural marks in such a process in the form of markers, marking some details necessary for operators. You can even try to map the deposits themselves. But this is already a topic for a completely different study.
* * *
As usual, there are more questions than answers. I constantly pursued the question - if there are markers, then why not crosses, circles, letters, numbers, some simple symbols? Why is this, according to my friend, the artist, to whom I turned for advice, the work of a stoned artist? Or did they have the Nazca plateau like a concrete fence for modern teenagers? Isn't this a pictographic letter for an hour? Indeed, among a little more than thirty drawings, there are three pairs of almost identical images:
Or is it adherence to Progressor ethics? And representatives of a higher civilization visiting different worlds already have blanks for pictographic writing that uses the local fauna and flora and thereby solving the problems of conspiracy and communication with the natives?
* * *
Of course, this work does not pretend to be serious scientific research. And I deliberately adhered to a somewhat frivolous style, in order to stir up the right hemisphere a little, and try to see the forest behind the trees, see who they are, these ancient gods, omnipotent and terrible, maybe it will come in handy somehow …
IGOR ALEXEEV