Hypotheses about geoglyphs at Nasca, Peru: new discoveries

Abstract

The known hypotheses about the reasons why the geoglyphs in the Nasca and Palpa region of Peru were created are many: roads/paths, rituals/ceremonials, use of hallucinogens, astronomical meaning, influence of extraterrestrials, underground water… and so on. We present a new hypothesis, formulated by J. Sonnek (first published in 2011) in the context of all previous hypotheses.1 Sonnek explains the geoglyphs as tidied work areas for the production of rope and nets, although he goes much further than Stierlin. This eccentric hypothesis now has not only experimental but also archaeological and ethnographical support, which is presented here. Geoglyphs of a special shape were discovered in the pampas; they may represent technical objects – different types of ‘rope twisters’. Following this idea, Sonnek made technical devices (using today’s materials) and tested them in practice; they work perfectly, see his YouTube videos.2 In November 2012, wooden pieces, which may be the remnants of ropemaking, were collected from the pampa near the towns of Nasca and Palpa, in vicinity of these hypothetic ropemaking places. Radiocarbon testing by 14C standardized radio-carbon age according to Stuiver-Polach convention and Accelerator Mass Spectroscopy (AMS) of these wood pieces shows the age to be in a wide range from Early Nasca to the 17th century (and to our epoch with a fake geoglyph, too), thus supporting (but surely not proving) the new hypothesis. Moreover, in the Quechua language, the word huasca, waskha (read: uasca) means a rope or cord or place where these are produced. This word is very similar to ‘nasca’.

High Resolution Drone Surveying of the Pista Geoglyph in Palpa, Peru

“…14 C age is derived from samples gathered on pampa Palpa, Peru (Pista), in 2012, and the same samples were processed later by better 14 C AMS technology (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) in 2015. This analysis shows that e.g., sample Nr.13-098 is from the pre-Columbian age, but it is not evident if this sample has a relationship with "the Pista" geoglyph [19]. We cannot prove it.…”

“…The main hypothesis, which attempts to explain the origin of geoglyphs and lines, talks about the astronomical reason (calendar) [8,9,12], the designation of water resources [13], and religious rituals [9,[14][15][16]. There are also technical theories that they were areas for weaving or spinning long ropes [17][18][19]. There are also bizarre theories about extra-terrestrials, pre-Columbian Olympia games, art, etc.…”

“…Some wooden artefacts found directly on the "Pista" geoglyph by the Czech expedition to the Nasca region in 2012 could be probably a part of the geoglyph or original technical equipment, but it is not possible to prove it [11,19]. Table 1.…”