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The Nazca Lines are a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru. They were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The high, arid plateau stretches more than between the towns of Nazca and Palpa on the ''Pampas de Jumana'' about 400 km south of Lima. Although some local geoglyphs resemble Paracas motifs, scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 500 BCE and 500 CE. The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, orcas, and lizards. The designs are shallow lines made in the ground by removing the reddish pebbles and uncovering the whitish/grayish ground beneath. Hundreds are simple lines or geometric shapes; more than 70 are zoomorphic designs of animals such as birds, fish, llamas, jaguars, monkeys, or human figures. Other designs include phytomorphic shapes such as trees and flowers. The largest figures are over across. Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose of the designs, but in general, they ascribe religious significance to them. Due to its isolation and to the dry, windless, and stable climate of the plateau, the lines have mostly been naturally preserved. Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily alter the general designs. As of recent years, the lines are said to have been deteriorating due to an influx of squatters inhabiting the lands. Contrary to the popular belief that the lines and figures can only be seen with the aid of flight, they are visible from atop the surrounding foothills.〔Katherine Reece, Grounding the Nasca Balloon, In the Hall of Ma'at: "It is incorrect to say that the lines cannot be seen from the ground. They are visible from atop the surrounding foothills. The credit for the discovery of the lines goes to Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe who spotted them when hiking through the foothills in 1927."〕 ==History== The first mention of the Nazca Lines in print was by Pedro Cieza de León in his book of 1553, where he mistook them for trail markers.〔In the Antwerp edition of 1554, see: Pedro Cieza de León, ''La Chronica del Peru'' (The chronicle of Peru), (Antwerp, (Belgium): Martin Nucio, 1554), (page 141 ). On page 141, Cieza discussed the Nazca region of Peru and then mentioned that: ''" … y por algunas partes delos arenales se veen señales, paraque atinen el camino que han de lleuar."'' ( … and in some parts of the desert are seen signals, so that they (the Indians ) find the path that has to be taken.) In 1586, Luis Monzón reported having seen ancient ruins in Peru, including the remains of "roads": Luis Monzón (1586) "Descripcion de la tierra del repartimiento de los rucanas antamarcas de la corona real, jurisdicion de la ciudad de Guamanga. año de 1586." in: Marcos Jiménez de la Espada, ed., ''Relaciones geográficas de Indias: Peru'', volume 1 (Madrid, Spain: Manuel G. Hernandez, 1881), pp. 197–216. On (page 210 ), Munzón mentioned seeing ancient ruins, including ''" … y hay señales de calles."'' (… and there are signs of streets.) Munzón asked elderly Indians about the ruins. They told him that before the Incas, a people whom ''" … llamaron ''viracochas'', …"'' (… they called ''viracochas'' …) inhabited the area, and ''"A éstos les hacian caminos, que hoy dia son vistos, tan anchos como una calle … "'' (To those () they made paths, that are seen today, as wide as a street … .)〕 Interest in them lapsed until the Peruvian archaeologist Toribio Mejia Xesspe spotted them while he was hiking through the foothills in 1927. He discussed them at a conference in Lima in 1939.〔Mejía Xesspe, Toribio (1939) "Acueductos y caminos antiguos de la hoya del Río Grande de Nazca" (Aqueducts and ancient roads of the Rio Grand valley in Nazca), ''Actas y Trabajos Cientificos del 27 Congreso Internacional de Americanistas'' (Proceedings and scientific works of the 27th international congress of American anthropologists), 1: 559–69.〕〔 Paul Kosok, a historian from Long Island University, is credited as the first scholar to seriously study the Nazca Lines. In the country in 1940–41 to study ancient irrigation systems, he flew over the lines and realized one was in the shape of a bird. Another chance helped him see how lines converged at the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere. He began to study how the lines might have been created, as well as to try to determine their purpose. He was joined by Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and archaeologist, to help figure out the purpose of the Nazca Lines. They proposed one of the earliest reasons for the existence of the figures: to be markers on the horizon to show where the sun and other celestial bodies rose. Archaeologists, historians, and mathematicians have all tried to determine the purpose of the lines. Determining how they were made has been easier than figuring why they were made. Scholars have theorized the Nazca people could have used simple tools and surveying equipment to construct the lines. Archaeological surveys have found wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines, which support this theory. One such stake was carbon-dated and was the basis for establishing the age of the design complex. Scholar Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky has reproduced the figures using tools and technology available to the Nazca people. ''Scientific American'' called his work "remarkable in its exactness" when compared to the actual lines.〔(Nickell, Joe (2005). ''Unsolved History: Investigating Mysteries of the Past'' ), The University Press of Kentucky ISBN 978-0-8131-9137-9, pp. 13–16〕 With careful planning and simple technologies, a small team of people could recreate even the largest figures within days, without any aerial assistance.〔 On the ground, most of the lines are formed by a shallow trench with a depth between . Such trenches were made by removing the reddish-brown iron oxide-coated pebbles that cover the surface of the Nazca Desert. When this gravel is removed, the light-colored clay earth which is exposed in the bottom of the trench produces lines which contrast sharply in color and tone with the surrounding land surface. This sublayer contains high amounts of lime which, with the morning mist, hardens to form a protective layer that shields the lines from winds, thereby preventing erosion. The Nazca "drew" several hundred simple but huge curvilinear animal and human figures by this technique. In total, the earthwork project is huge and complex: the area encompassing the lines is nearly , and the largest figures can span nearly . Some of the measurements for the figures conclude that the hummingbird is 93 m (310 ft) long, the condor is 134 m (440 ft), the monkey is 93 m (310 ft) by 58 m (190 ft), and the spider is 47 m (150 ft). The extremely dry, windless, and constant climate of the Nazca region has preserved the lines well. This desert is one of the driest on Earth and maintains a temperature around 25 °C all year round. The lack of wind has helped keep the lines uncovered and visible. The discovery of two new small figures was announced in early 2011 by a Japanese team from Yamagata University. One of these resembles a human head and is dated to the early period of Nazca culture or earlier, and the other, undated, is an animal. In March 2012, the university announced a new research center would be opened at the site in September 2012 to study the area for the next 15 years. The team has been doing field work there since 2006 when it found about 100 new geoglyphs. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nazca Lines」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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