The Nazca Peru flourished in Peru from about 200 AD to 800 AD before evidence of its existence was lost below the desert sands. Now, large numbers of Nazca graves have been uncovered by both grave robbers and archaeologists. In the fifteenth century, the Inca state expanded from the Cuzco Valley through conquest and assimilation of other cultures. It became the most powerful empire in the New World. But from the time of its expansion the remarkable Inca Empire lasted only around one century before it was destroyed by the Spanish conquest in the sixteenth century.

The lines of Nazca are a variety of geometrical figures, trapezoids, triangles and lines, plus animal and bird figures of hummingbirds, a whale, a monkey, a spider (shown here), a bird likened to a pelican, another like a condor, and one called the astronaut. They range in size up to 1000 ft (300m) across and are about 2000 years old. The figures on the hills, such as the astronaut, are visible from the ground, and there is the Mirador, a viewing platform along the side of the Pan American highway. Paracas people 900-200 BC, Nazcas 200 BC-AD 600 and the settlers from Ayacucho at about 630 AD. The Nazca were potters, like the Moche, and their pottery shows their daily life.

An American scientist Paul Kosok's discovery in 1939, the lines on the rocky Pampa San Jose near the small desert town of Nazca have perplexed scholars. Originally thought to be the remains of irrigation lines beyond the verdant Nazca valley, it wasn't until they were seen from the air that the lines were recognizable as figures. Maria Reiche has photographed and charted las lineas on the Nazca Plain for more than 30 years, putting together a map of the hundreds of designs and figures that score the land some 30 miles long, which is threaded by the Pan American Highway. Throughout the pampa the lines stretch for miles crossing valleys and traversing hills, never swerving from their courses. Along some of the lines have been found the remains of posts at intervals of approximately a mile; these were perhaps sighting stations with men standing behind them!

The drawings drew the attention of German mathematician Maria Reiche, who worked as Kosok's translator. She studied the lines from the 1940's to her death in 1998. She lived nearby, walked and photographed the lines, drew maps, developed theories, and drew the attention of the world to Nazca. Maria Reiche has photographed and charted las lineas on the Nazca Plain for more than 30 years, putting together a map of the hundreds of designs and figures that score the land some 30 miles long, which is threaded by the Pan American Highway. Throughout the pampa the lines stretch for miles crossing valleys and traversing hills, never swerving from their courses. Along some of the lines have been found the remains of posts at intervals of approximately a mile; these were perhaps sighting stations with men standing behind them!

chauchilla cemetery: The most popular excursion from nazca...-With Aero Condor Peru