Space images allowed archaeologists to answer the long-held question of scientists - what was the true purpose of the craters located in Peru on the Nazca plateau. It turned out that for the ancient civilization that in the past inhabited this territory, these funnels and the channels surrounding them served as a source of drinking water.
One of the geoglyphs on the Nazca plateau in Peru
Photo: Ljuba brank / Wikipedia
The plateau, to which scientists have focused their attention, is primarily famous for the mysterious Nazca lines - images on Earth, which in the past were considered by many to be almost messages for aliens. Scientists were also surprised by another fact - how the representatives of the ancient civilization that created these geoglyphs could survive in the territory where drought sometimes lasts for years. The new data allowed experts to answer, at least to the last question.
Studying images of spiral lines on the plateau, in the center of which there were funnels, taken from space, experts came to the conclusion that in the past these systems served as aqueducts, channels for water supply. Water to supply the inhabitants came from an underground aquifer, which allowed civilization to survive even in dry periods. Most likely, the water was used for drinking and various other purposes. The quality of the aqueduct system was so great that, as the study showed, it partially functions even now, thousands of years after its creation.
The researchers argue that the existence of such technologies can tell a lot about the people who inhabited the plateau from about 1,000 BC to 750 AD. First, the level of their technological development, in all likelihood, was even higher than it is generally believed today - the canals had to be laid, including along tectonic faults, which is not an easy task. The discovery also indicates a high level of social organization of the Nazca civilization, since the construction of aqueducts required the carefully coordinated work of a large number of people.
Dmitry Erusalimsky
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