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More than 100 new designs discovered in Peru’s ancient Nazca plain
- dchuk 4y agoHow do they accurately assess the age of these things?
- nigamanth 4y agoFrom the fossils or artifacts of that time, the value will be estimated but even the estimated value shows just how big human history is.
- ljf 4y agoEstimates are around 500BC max - so nothing much in the picture of known human history, and a little too young for fossils. Still amazing, and a culture it would be fascinating to better understand.
- doitLP 4y agoA link with images of the new glyphs they discovered in 2019. Looks like they aren’t releasing the full set yet for this find. https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/13057833 https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/13057833
- 2muchcoffeeman 4y agoThis is just an exercise in scanning through google earth images now right? They don’t have to deploy their own hardware to get aerial images right?
- hedgehog 4y agoI'm not sure about this specific case but generally commercial wide coverage satellite imagery is not high quality enough to reliably see these kinds of formations. I'd guess they contract some combination of imaging including LIDAR to get better images to work from. That lets you see through vegetation etc. Here's an example from Tikal: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lidar-reveals-oldest-biggest-ancient-maya-structure-found-mexico https://www.sciencenews.org/article/lidar-reveals-oldest-big...
- deltarholamda 4y agoThe article explains. They are using drone footage and AI to recognize likely patterns. These geoglyphs (they think) are older than the classic Nazca lines as some of the designs are similar to people who were around before the Nazca people, around 200BC I believe, and the Nazca are somewhere in the 1000-1500 AD range. They are also on hillsides instead of on the plains, so they are susceptible to natural erosion. That's why they're using the AI to suss out likely designs from the "damaged" areas.
- 29athrowaway 4y agoThey're not new.
- lifeisstillgood 4y agoEvery time I dig into the Nazca mystery I am reminded of crop circles. Certainly in the UK they are not alien landing sites (!) but made by a couple of farm hands with rope and some planks. I can never prove it, but I hope in some Peruvian heaven there are a couple of generations of jokers looking down and absolutely pissing themselves over this, how their priests were fooled and now us. Pour a Pisco Sour guys and enjoy :-)
- jasonhansel 4y agoIt's not really a mystery. The geoglyphs are visible from surrounding hills and other vantage points on the ground. They're essentially just giant works of art.
- lifeisstillgood 4y agoThe mystery is not "did aliens do it", the mystery is who and why. I love the idea that it was not the High Priest who used their extensive elite status, wealth and power to create signs to the gods to bolster their own elite status, but that instead it was a bottom up rebellious act of "real" art
- philliphaydon 4y agoHopefully Greenpeace doesn’t feel the need to go protesting these lines. https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3jbk7/drone-footage-shows-extent-of-damage-from-greenpeace-stunt-at-nazca-lines https://www.vice.com/en/article/d3jbk7/drone-footage-shows-e...
- mjhay 4y agoGreenpeace is an anti-science group that does harm to what they claim is their cause. This sort of thing doesn't surprise me.
- reactspa 4y agoUnbelievable (to me) that they allowed this highway to be constructed: https://imgur.com/pYdShSA https://imgur.com/pYdShSA
- lostlogin 4y agoYikes. They needed to beat the travesty at Stonehenge. https://www.highwaysindustry.com/turner-townsend-wins-work-key-highways-england-programmes/ https://www.highwaysindustry.com/turner-townsend-wins-work-k...
- goodcanadian 4y agoThat is a very old picture. That road has been removed.
- muststopmyths 4y agoNot true. I was there less than 2 weeks ago. And it’s the panamerican highway. Not going to be just “removed”
- goodcanadian 4y agoI was referring to the Stonehenge picture that the grandparent linked to . . .
- muststopmyths 4y agoOops sorry!
- goodcanadian 4y agoAre you able to pinpoint it on google maps or some such? That image looks more like a render to me than a photograph.
- muststopmyths 4y ago
- JoyfulTurkey 4y agoNOVA on PBS just had an episode on the Nazca geoglyphs. If you have an interest in this and have PBS Passport you can watch it on their site or streaming device. For my local station, a monthly donation of $5 is the minimum for Passport. https://www.pbs.org/video/nazca-desert-mystery-66vtkw/ https://www.pbs.org/video/nazca-desert-mystery-66vtkw/