Mysterious Nazca Drawings
One of the most mysterious
archaeological spectacles in the world is the immense complex of geometrical
symbols, giant ground-drawings of birds and animals, and hundreds of long,
ruler-straight lines, some right across mountains, which stretch over 1,200
square miles of the Peruvian tablelands, at Nazca.
Nazca was
first revealed to modern eyes in 1926 when three explorers looked down on the
desert from a hillside at dusk and briefly saw a Nazca line highlighted by the
rays of the sun. But it was not until the Peruvian airforce took aerial
photographs in the 1940s that the full magnificence of the panorama was
apparent. Hundreds of what looked like landing strips for aircraft were
revealed. There were eighteen bird-like drawings, up to 400 feet long,
four-sided figures with two lines parallel; and long needle-like triangles which
ran for miles. Among the many abstract patterns were a giant spider, a monkey, a
shark, all drawn on the ground on a huge scale.
The scale is
monumental, but from the ground almost invisible and totally incomprehensible.
The amazing fact about Nazca, created more than 1,500 years ago, is that it can
only be appreciated if seen from the air. Many, therefore, regarded it as a
prehistoric landing ground for visitors from outer space, but Jim Woodman, an
American explorer, who was long fascinated by the mystery of Nazea, had a
different opinion. He believed that Nazca only made sense if the people who had
designed and made these vast drawings on the ground could actually see them, and
that led him to the theory that the ancient Peruvians had somehow learned to
fly, as only from above could they really see the extent of their handiwork.
With this theory in mind, he researched into ancient Peruvian legends about
flight and came to the conclusion that the only feasible answer was a hot-air
balloon.
To prove his theory, Woodman would have to make such a
thing using the same fabrics and fibers that would have been available to the
men of Nazca at the time. He started by gathering information from ancient
paintings, legends, books and archaeological sites. After many attempts, Woodman
built a balloon-type airship. It took him into the air, letting him have the
sensation he had never had from viewing the same ground that he had seen many
times. His flight was a modern demonstration of an ancient
possibility. |
