The Nasca Lines are located in the district of Nasca, within the province of the same name, in the department and region of Ica. Specifically, they are located in the so-called Pampas de San José on the south margin of the Ingenio River and it is said that he is a man of the Nazca people, although also possibly of other later peoples.
The lines found in Nasca, were initially discovered by the expedition of Mejía Xespe, during the decade of the 20, later they would be restudied by Kosojk who maintained for a long time that it was an astronomical calendar; although the most outstanding works would not be until the 40s of the 20th century, by the archaeologist María Reiche who explained the way in which the lines were made; later the investigations of Hawkins would come, that concluded that the construction of this vestige Nazca would respond to religious reasons, because of the presence of broken vessels found under some of these, whose rupture is known, was common to finalize religious ceremonies. Horkheimer, later would support the affirmation of the previous one, affirming in addition that the biomorphs figures of Nasca would be representations of the deities of the town.
The lines and geoglyphs of Nasca occupy an area of more than 1 000 km2. One of the hypotheses that deals with its mode of elaboration, says that its directors took advantage of the presence of the so-called red patina of which the pampa is formed, below which there is sand of light yellow hue, to make its figures, Nazca, they only had to remove the part of the patina giving it the desired shape, until the earthy area remained surrounded by the rest of the patina.
Regarding the drawings made in Nasca, we can see that these can be classified into three different types: biomorphs, geometric and the pampas swept or clean. The most important drawings are biomorphic and are mostly located south of the Ingenio Valley and on the north side of the Nasca Valley,
Among the images of biomorphic forms, we can find: Birds, this mention is important since it is the figure of one of these animals that occupies a larger area of the set, since it reaches 300 meters, this is called “The giant bird” and is considered by some as the announcer of the Inti Raymi (Sun Festival). As for zoomorphic drawings, it follows this in size a lizard of approximately 188 meters, whose legs have been regrettably erased; a pelican, a condor and a monkey of 135 m; and a 46 m spider, which is located in what would be a network.
Also they exist together with the previous ones, drawings of geometric reasons, in which the basic figures are observed, within this group also it is understood to spiral forms.
To visit this pre-Inca legacy, you can take an overflight from the local Nasca airport with a 30-minute journey, it can also be done from the Ica aerodrome with a 1:15 hour flight or from the city of Pisco with a flight of 1:30 hours. Another mode is to access by land with a very light view from the metal lookout located in the pampas (not recommended).
