Their culture has been divided into three stages, Early, Middle, and Late. One of the reasons the Nazca are known for, is their polychrome pottery, which practically no one seems to know about, as they are more recognized by their other accomplishments. Their pottery is well-known (to archaeologists) because they used quite advanced techniques for their time. In the Early stage, their pottery wasn't very colorful, but in the Middle and Late stages, they used at least eight different colors. However, the reason almost no one knows about their pottery, is because this craft is somewhat eclipsed by their other artwork, the Nazca Lines.
Since the 1930s, the Nazca Lines have been object of great wonder to anthropologists. The Nazca Lines are these huge geoglyphs located in the Nazca Dessert, which is an arid plateau 53 miles wide, between the towns of Nazca and Palpa. The lines were created by the Nazca between 200 B.C. and 700 A.D. These lines form many shapes, some are just simple lines, whereas others are as complex as hummingbirds, lizards, monkeys, and spiders; there are also some humanlike figures. The way the lines were made has an easy enough explanation. The stones that cover the desert are coated with iron oxide. By shifting some of these stones, you can uncover the lighter stones beneath. However, some of these shapes are 270m. (900ft.) long.
The area encompassing the lines itself is 200 sq. miles, though some sources on internet say 400, and another says 800, so I am not sure on which one to believe. The reason that the lines still persist to this day, is that the Nazca desert is dry, windless, and maintains a temperature of about 25º C. year round. Another queer aspect of these lines is that the shapes can be recognized only from air; as the Nazca had no such vantage point, how they created these huge shapes has always been a mystery. Yet, the greatest enigma is why they made these lines.
There are many theories about why the Nazca Lines were created. A certain David Johnson, believes that the Nazca Lines work as a giant, full-scale map, to locate wells and other water sources. He studied the Lines for a long time, and discovered that the areas with most geoglyphs are centered around areas with a lot of water in the ground. According to him, as the Nazca lived in such a vast dry place, they must have needed at least some sort of indication on where the closest water source lies. Another anthropologist, G. von Breunig, believed that the lines were used for footraces. After examining them, he concluded that the lines were partially shaped by continuous running.
This other person, Paul Kosok, briefly theorized that the lines were an irrigation system, but then rejected the idea, as it was impossible. He then theorized that the lines might have been used as a giant calendar. An archaeologist, Maria Reiche, building on Kosok's idea, spent most of her life to prove that the lines have an astronomical meaning. She found many interesting astronomical alignments, which, if the Nazca knew about them, would have been useful in planning for harvesting and planting. However, there are many who don't believe in this theory because there are so many lines, all going in different directions, that not finding astronomical alignments would have been improbable. An eclipseologist, Robin Edgar, said that the Lines were created for what they believed to be a divine “Eye in the Sky.” During a full solar eclipse, the sun sort of looks like a pupil with an iris around it. There was an unusual amount of solar eclipses over southern Peru around the time that the lines were created. Apparently, the lines might have been created so that they could be viewed by this “Eye,” who they believed to be a god.
Jim Woodmann, for example, said that the Nazca used hot air balloons to create the lines, as they can only be viewed from the sky. He actually made a hot-air balloon using the materials and techniques available at the time of the Nazca, and it flew, sort of, but there is no hard evidence to prove this theory. Erich von Däniken, in his book Chariots of the gods, said that the Lines made were used as an airfield for alien spaceships. This theory has been argued by many because it would have been a very strange airfield, depicting plants and animals, rather than having a straight runway instead. Also, if a spaceship had landed in the desert, it would have been hard for it not to damage the lines while doing so, and there is no evidence of such damage, but the Nazca might have just redrawn the lines after each damage, or the aliens might have just fixed the lines with a powerful laser after departing.
However, some believe in Erich's idea because there are a few lines that depict strange creatures. One of them, for instance, shows a weird thing with two huge hands, one with four fingers, and one with five. If you look at it closely, it almost seems like an alien, and that the two hands are actually antennae. There also is a picture of a man, discovered in 1982, which can be viewed at an altitude of 32 m. above the ground, whose head is overly circular. Eduardo Herran, the person who discovered it, called it "The Astronaut."
Most people now believe that the Nazca Lines had a religious purpose. According to most anthropologists, the straight lines are sacred paths; the trapezoids represent the flow of water, while the zigzags represent lightning and the river. The condors, herons, pelicans, and other birds apparently show signs of faithfulness to the mountain gods, who protected the humans, controlled the weather, and affected the water sources. Monkeys and lizards represent the hope for H2O, while sharks and other fish symbolize success in fishing. Spiders and millipedes have something to do with the rain, though I'm not sure what.
