Kind: captions
Language: en
foreign
huge drawings etched into the Peruvian
desert Plains Birds
a monkey
and lines that stretch for miles
they're one of the masterpieces of
Indian Society here in Peru
they are the Nazca Lines remnants of a
long gone civilization that left its
Mark quite literally on the landscape
most of us in Peru the same from these
populations but the Nazca people are a
mystery
they had no written language
and the desert drawings they left behind
had been baffling archaeologists for
almost a century
it's a question we're still asking
ourselves
now researchers are using 21st century
technology to closely study the
landscape
and they're discovering figures made
before the Nazca were known to have
existed
who lived here before the Nazca it's a
mythological being wow
archaeologists are trying to piece
together more than a thousand years of
History
and have found evidence of of thriving
civilizations in Peru's Southern desert
it is the largest Adobe ceremonial
Center in the whole world
how did the Nazca line start
what did they mean
and why did they end
Nazca desert mystery right now on Nova
[Music]
it is one of the most arid deserts in
the world
averaging less than an inch of rainfall
a year
and running along Peru's southern coast
[Music]
more than 1500 years ago the people here
created remarkable Earthworks across an
area spanning about 200 square miles
giant figures
hummingbird
a spider
a monkey
and thousands of lines
some more than five miles long
etched in the ground
they are known
as the Nazca Lines
technically they're called geoglyphs
drawings on the Earth
the NASCAR geoglyphs can be seen in all
their Splendor from the air
erosion and the remoteness of many of
the lines meant that these vast designs
were all but forgotten for more than a
millennium
they were rediscovered in the 1920s but
it was not until airplanes started
flying across the region that their true
scale was revealed
[Music]
there are estimates about how many
geoglyphs there are around six or seven
thousand geoglyphs
most almost 90 percent were geometric
motifs lines trapezoids and around 10
figures
but what were they for
created them
Peruvian archaeologist Johnny Isla has
been studying the Nazca geoglyphs for
more than 30 years
[Music]
we're a social group that developed
along the southern coast
this territory is pretty arid because
there's no water for most of the Year
their dwellings were along valleys which
are really small Oasis in the middle of
the desert
foreign
archaeologists named the ancient group
of farmers and fishermen who once lived
here the Nazca after the local River
Valley
[Music]
they used the surrounding desert
plateaus as a canvas for drawing giant
geoglyphs
covered these paints with geoglyphs and
turned this desert into a space which
was inhabited Dynamic social and vibrant
Through Time
[Music]
over the years there have been many
theories about these geoglyphs
but they were astronomical calendars
[Music]
signs left by aliens
or appeals to Gods looking down from
above
but whatever the reason
the ancient people who lived in this
area left a lasting Mark in the desert
[Music]
Urban expansion means some geoglyphs are
on the outskirts of town
[Music]
I live 500 meters from the geoglyphs
here in Nazca we are proud of what the
ancestors left us
[Music]
who knows what the ancestors were
thinking when they did this
but it's very beautiful
[Music]
Nazca civilization disappeared more than
a millennium ago
but a growing interest in the past has
spurred a Revival of ancient indigenous
Traditions like the yakureimi a
celebration of water
the matter of indigenity is very complex
here in Peru people will not often
identify as indigenous
it is still something that is associated
with an underdevelopment or a lack of
progress but they will identify
themselves through the answers they will
say I dance that so I am that
um I sing that so I am that
[Music]
candy Hurtado is an ethnomusicologist
from Hawa in the highlands east of Lima
he's studying rituals and has come to
Nazca to record the Water festival
[Music]
the worldview
so that we are always through ritual
connecting with the past the present and
the future we're connected to our
ancestors we are connected to the people
that come after us in a very real way as
well as to the environment the
environment is also considered our
ancestors
[Music]
foreign
[Music]
archaeologists studying the environment
to piece together the Nazca story have
made surprising discoveries
using drone images they've identified a
different type of geoglyph
not on the flat desert plateaus but on
the hillsides
foreign
and his team are restoring his latest
discovery
a very faded geoglyph
I foreign
years of erosion have damaged the
geoglyph
Johnny's team moves Stone after Stone by
hand to re-expose the lighter layer
below
it's a painstaking process
when we realized that on the hillside
there were other figures other geoglyphs
we realize we have to change the way we
thought and look to the hillsides where
we didn't think there were any drones
[Music]
the team has revealed the outline of a
group of people walking
but it needs more work
[Music]
the desert hillsides have long been
overlooked
but now there is Newfound interest in
them
most striking finds of recent times
[Music]
it's the Mountain Cat the Pampas cat an
animal in danger of extinction
[Music]
10 000 miles away in Yamagata Japan
archaeologist masato Sakai studies Drone
footage from the Nazca desert
he's turned to a high-tech method of
searching for geoglyphs
artificial intelligence
at the beginning we were looking at the
northern Nazca planes where hummingbirds
monkeys and other famous geoglyphs are
concentrated
we let AI learn from these famous
geoglyphs and other data from this area
by analyzing aerial images
cuter algorithms can spot the cleared
surfaces that form the figures
[Music]
once the AI knows what to look for it
begins scanning the desert for patterns
that appear human made
[Music]
the software homes in on a very faint
shape
[Music]
we discovered it is a geograph of a
person holding a club in the right hand
[Music]
person with the club the people walking
and the pompous cat were all found on
the sides of hills
and Johnny thinks this unexpected
positioning is the clue to their purpose
[Music]
these geoglyphs were made by people for
people
as they're drawn in size of fields
people could see them as they cross the
desert or the valleys
they seem to be markers of territory or
roots to the desert
[Music]
but it isn't only their position that is
unusual
they're in a different style from the
classic Nazca images like the monkey and
the hummingbird
[Music]
so were these giant geoglyphs made by
the same people
or someone else
to find out researchers turn to other
sources for designs and imagery that
might match the figures on the hillsides
to identify and categorize these
geoglyphs we take a stylistic approach
we
paired them with Ceramics and textiles
[Music]
they find similar motifs
but not from the Nazca period
these geoglyphs date to the year 200 or
300 BCE which means that they were made
before the famous Nazca geoglyphs
the hillside geoglyphs were created
earlier than the Nazca are thought to
have existed
so who was making geoglyphs before the
Nazca and why
[Music]
in the 1920s Julio Cesar Tayo
first Peruvian archaeologist found 429
mummies wrapped in extraordinary
textiles in an ancient burial ground
in the paracas peninsula
so archaeologists called the ancient
people the paracas
funerary bundles are stored in Lima in
the national museum of archeology
anthropology and history of Peru
[Music]
Fabrics the mummies were wrapped in
revealed the extraordinary skill and
Artistry of the paracas
[Music]
and the images and symbols provide
insight into their world view
there are shamans and trances
deities
[Music]
and severed heads
[Music]
one of the most iconic paracas textiles
has only recently arrived at the Museum
wow okay Linda
in the 1930s after Julio teo's
excavations in the paragas peninsula
there was a lot of looting and some
pieces this one among them were taken
out of the country it ended up in Sweden
first time archaeologist Delia Aponte
has been able to examine the two
thousand year old mantle
estoy Feliz I'm happy
I've always wanted to see this piece I'm
surprised by the use of color
for the paracas colors half meaning and
the way they organize them is important
it's part of their identity there is a
symbolism which haven't deciphered yet
but which is definitely there
the paracas imbued their funerary
textiles with meaning and Delia is
particularly interested in their
symbolism
here we have a toad associated with
humidity and agriculture a few plants
are sprouting from its back
here there is a condor
hummingbirds drinking from a flower
a bean in the form of a human
the imagery related to animals and
edible plants throughout the seasons
suggests that the paracas textile is a
symbolic representation of the
Agricultural cycle
I think this is a masterpiece the
Pinnacle of 900 years of these society's
development
[Music]
many of the paracas images strongly
resembled the newly identified Hillside
geoglyphs found in the Nazca region
suggests the desert Figures were created
by the paracas
[Music]
the paracas were ancient Peru's most
accomplished Weavers
[Music]
today communities in the highlands of
Cusco keep some of their ancient
Traditions alive
um
they are warping
which is also traditional technique from
the paracas culture
[Music]
Alvarez is a weaver an expert in
textiles from chinchero in the Cusco
region 350 miles from Lima
she has made it her mission to preserve
and promote pre-hispanic weaving methods
and here in pietermarca she works with
Weavers who practice parakas weaving
techniques
have managed many techniques which they
adorned the huge mantips for afterlife
textile tradition practice today part of
the traditional clothing and part of our
identity so different regions will have
different types of textiles
[Music]
we are very lucky to have ancestors
civilizations cultures like paracas who
left us such Rich textile tradition
we as a Weavers
today we like to learn those techniques
and we like to reintroduce pass to the
younger generation for the future
[Music]
Caracas fines were not limited to the
peninsula
[Music]
archaeological discoveries reveal the
civilization stretched across a swath of
land almost 250 miles north to south
and there is evidence of a settlement at
a site called Animas altas Animas bajas
[Music]
I can see that this figure was cut at
the neck
it could be the sacrifice of a figure
which could actually represent a human
sacrifice
archaeologist Aisha Bashir Basha has
been piecing together the history of
this 250 Acre Site
[Music]
since 2009 we've discovered the facades
of pyramids and also tombs of members of
the elite
and we also discovered low platforms
which were workshops and residential
sites
don't yell
at the end of the Dig season the
excavated areas get filled in to protect
them
but Aisha can use the data the team
collected to reconstruct the ancient
paraka site
Constitution
of the building
help us to show that under all that sand
we really have an Andean town which
developed
2500 years ago
this settlement appears to have been
abandoned around the year 100 when the
site was covered in Earth and buried by
the paracas creating Earthen Mounds
known by the quechuan name of Waka
something sacred and revered
the fines at Aisha's site reveal objects
and practices similar to other paracas
locations
[Music]
some 75 miles to the north in the
chincha valley lie more paracas sites 20
massive wakas overlooking today's
farmland
[Music]
archaeologists Charles Stanish and Henry
tantalian have worked here for more than
a decade
some of the wakkas now have buildings or
entire Villages built on top of them
Charles and Henry's team have been
Excavating some of the Mounds such as
this one called Waka Soto
[Music]
you can see a giant sunken Court here
so we assumed that this would have been
painted in beautiful colors at least
white and red probably yellow
we found stairs on either side of these
courts we discovered a spondylous shell
and various other evidence of feasting
spondylus shells the remains of
shellfish brought from as far away as
Ecuador were considered Prestige
offerings associated with water and
fertility
Charles and Henry believe that it means
this Waka Soto was a paracas ceremonial
site
foreign
Adobe walls erode over time so it's
difficult to be sure exactly what Waka
Soto looked like
[Music]
but it was clearly a Monumental
structure
for many years we thought that these
were only ritual centers but now we
realize after our excavations down below
that there's at least a square kilometer
of Village adjacent to the pyramids
we had a huge population living down
there
Charles and Henry realized that the
wakkas were right in the middle of a
densely populated landscape
we have buried Villages it's a massive
settlement system the number of
political centers the ritual Center
and this was the demographic political
and cultural capital of Caracas
[Music]
several miles away in the desert Charles
and Henry found a network of five more
walk-ups
[Music]
archaeological finds suggests these
remote platform Mounds were also
religious centers
people used to get together here to do
celebrations
over here we found a group of six
mummies from the paracas era they were
women
[Music]
we also found the remains relating to
Elites who were possibly directing the
worship that took place in this pyramid
[Music]
as well as looking at the walkas the
archaeologists studied the surrounding
desert
and made a startling discovery
as you can see behind there's a long
line a couple kilometers long that goes
all the way to right in the middle of
the aracas site
[Music]
it's one of several lines that leads
straight to the desert Mounds
but that's not all so we can see up
ahead
a large pile of rocks it's an
intentional Mound that is integrated
into all of the lines and this was one
of the many many places about 200 that
we found throughout the entire geoglyph
area
[Music]
paraka's pilgrims might have left
offerings
if you use the analogy of pilgrimages
from around the world from almost all
cultures Hindu Christianity Muslim they
all have these kinds of pilgrimages
where people stop and they know exactly
what's to be done and when it's to be
done and this is exactly what we see
throughout all of these lines
Charles and Henry think that these
altars were ritual stops on the lines
which led people to their ultimate
destination
the desert ceremonial centers
but what motivated people to go on this
journey
[Music]
classic way of joining spaces together
end of survival is by exchanging goods
from different ecological zones
so people from the coast gave fish and
those from the mountains crops for
example
but the fines of the desert walk us
raise a question
with the paracas capital in the Lush
Green Valley just a few miles away why
would the paracas choose to meet and
trade in the desert
the archaeologists have a theory
the reason they chose this landscape is
because it was Barren it wasn't owned by
anybody and it was neutral
baraka's had a lot of intra ethnic
fighting going on trophy head taking and
all this and that and so we know from
history and ethnography that people will
set up these neutral spaces in between
zones where both all parties feel
comfortable and here you can feel quite
comfortable
Charles and Henry believe that the
desert was the setting for periodic
markets where goods were exchanged
[Music]
the orientation of the lines and mounds
suggests the paracas markets may have
been held during the winter solstice
in Peru takes place in June
one of the great theories as to why
civilization developed is that people in
pre-capitalist times develop these
elaborate marketplaces Bears pilgrimage
areas
where the people came together and they
exchanged products and Marriage Partners
and gossip and have a good time and this
is how civilization really gets a
Kickstart
[Music]
the last paracas offerings and
sacrifices at this site were made around
250 BCE before the ceremonial Center was
covered with Earth
abandoned
so what happened to the barakas
[Music]
bio archaeologist and forensic
anthropologist Elsa tomasto kahigao
looked to DNA for an answer
and got a surprise
there is a DNA type which is
specifically inherited from the mother
and it's very easy to classify in Native
American populations there are only four
lineages ABCD and when I did a test for
research purposes it turned out I
matched the delineage most common among
the paracas
DNA analysis of human remains dating
from 800 BCE to the year 800 helps
explain what became of the paracas
area it's very difficult to
differentiate biologically between the
barakas and the Nazca they are
genetically very similar yes we find
cultural differences which makes sense
as the centuries go by people changing
the way they behave
the research suggests that sometime
before the year 100 the culture of the
people living in the region shifted
and the paracas became the Nazca
and while the Styles changed the Nazca
continued the paraka's line making
traditions
but there were other similarities too
as archaeologist Giuseppe oreffici found
when he arrived in this area 40 years
ago
when we got here we found a hill which
had the remains of walls on this surface
it was a clue that there was something
there not just a natural hill
[Music]
the site called kawachi turned out to be
a huge Nazca complex
is
the largest Adobe ceremonial Center in
the whole world 24 square kilometers of
Great Pyramids large ceremonial
enclosures
[Music]
there was a lot going on with pilgrims
arriving from almost 1 000 kilometers
away
[Music]
was the center the Beating Heart of
Nazca civilization
but there were no signs of permanent
settlements so although similar to the
older paracas sites of chincha kawachi
was a different type of ceremonial
Center
[Music]
it was a pilgrimage site where people
cannot access all areas they have places
they are allowed in and where they can
perform their rituals
[Music]
Giuseppe believes that priests perform
their own rituals inside the pyramids
while the pilgrims remain camped outside
we excavated a few temporary campsites
people went to
they ate the food they had brought and
they could see from a distance what was
happening inside kawachi
foreign
just outside kawachi a team of
researchers has made a discovery
[Music]
is
foreign
we do
this with satellite remote sensing
remote sensing planes drones and also
with geophysical exploration techniques
a Masini and his team have found lines
leading to the Nazca ceremonial site
we can see a clear spatial and
functional relationship between the
geoglyphs and the pyramids it
[Music]
is
they found evidence that the pilgrims
outside the Nazca ceremonial Center were
more than just Spectators in the events
in this area the entire setting of The
geoglyphs is mainly made up of
Meandering elements
clearly evokes the ritual activity of
the processions imagine the Nazca
praying singing
[Music]
foreign
believes that while the Nazca religious
Elite could perform in the pyramids the
pilgrims carried out their own
ceremonies along or within the lines in
the desert
the joke lives and the pyramids can be
seen as two faces of the same coin
of ceremonial activity which took place
inside those structures in the runes and
corridors of the pyramids
but ceremonial activity also took place
along these geometric shapes
at the height of the Nazca civilization
sometime before the year 400 the
evidence suggests different lines were
created for different purposes
[Music]
straight lines led to ceremonial centers
Meandering ones were a stage for ritual
foreign
and the famous images were also used for
rituals
and perhaps to appeal to the Gods
[Music]
but barely 300 years later Nazca
linemaking Fades away to nothing
why
we raised or deliberately covered up by
denaska themselves
before linemaking dies out the Nazca
draw new shapes over some of their
earlier figurative geoglyphs
[Music]
and large geometrical shapes such as
trapezoids become more common
finds Within These new geoglyphs hint at
them no longer being simply Pathways for
processions
the Nazca were using them differently
[Music]
we're at the base of a trapezoid made of
stones and the borders are well laid out
they finish at a more narrow point where
there are two small platforms where we
think rituals took place
Johnny believes that the shift in design
means there was a widespread change in
the Nazca rituals
and there was a new element to the
geoglyphs
[Music]
we identified small Mounds or altars in
the desert Alters with a series of
things the ancient people left offerings
like things they grew in The Valleys
seashells from the ocean objects made of
copper or semi-precious stones and
spondylus shells
[Music]
foreign
these altars were no longer ritual stops
along the way as they had been in
parakas times
for the Nazca they were a focal point of
worship on the trapezoids playing a much
more Central role
what happened to cause such a change
from menozca's previous geoglyph making
tradition
[Music]
in kawachi Giuseppe found some Clues
this is a big ceremonial Precinct one of
the places where ceremonies were held
when we excavated it it was completely
covered by a layer of alluvial soils
alluvial soils are deposited by surface
water
they're evidence of flooding
we found a boy in it who had been
carried here by the water who had
drowned
there is evidence that the area had been
hit by a major flood
and the layers of sediment here revealed
this flooding wasn't an isolated
incident
it was a recurring event
[Music]
there are frequent flights one after the
other as well as a terrible earthquake
which destroys a large part of kahuchi
today the region experiences Flooding at
two to seven year intervals
caused by the weather phenomenon known
as El Nino
a warming of Pacific seawater leads to
low air pressure increased rainfall and
flash flooding
was a mega El Nino event followed by an
earthquake which destroyed large parts
of the ceremonial Center of kawachi
sometime around the year 400.
Giuseppe found thousands of shards at
kawachi remains a valuable pottery
which was smashed at the pyramids most
likely as a sacrifice as the Nazca
appealed to the Gods
[Music]
there was a big change in NASCAR society
and its relationship with the deities
it seemed the gods had abandoned them
[Music]
and Giuseppe believes that in response
the Nazca abandoned kawachi
[Music]
the floods were followed by periods of
prolonged drought
and the layout of big trapezoids hints
at the nazca's main concern
many point towards the most important
mountains in the region which where the
water comes from in the summer months
[Music]
in Las Trancas one of the Region's
valleys Nicola messini and his team
think they may have found an answer to
how the Nazca dealt with their
increasingly serious water problem
from satellite images we discovered
these peculiar round shapes
foreign
near the round Mounds they come across
something else I
uh
[Music]
they find a trapezoid geoglyph close to
these Mounds
points to settle matcha the mountain
that provides the region with water in
the summer months
it suggests the Mounds are significant
for something
today we'll do a 3D study with the Drone
and then we'll go over with Geo radar a
geophysics a research tool
drone and ground penetrating radar find
evidence of an underground tunnel
the remains of an ancient Aqueduct
called apukio
the Nazca engineered an extensive
network of aqueducts but tapped into
Subterranean water coming from the
mountains
allowing them to bring it to the surface
to store and distribute
[Music]
so we have four elements of the
landscape
the sacred Mountain the geoglyph where
the ceremonial and ritual activity takes
place
seen for its ability to produce Walter
almost as some sort of miracle
which is why they thank the baby
and the result of all of this is the
valley
an oasis where they farmed
there may have been as many as 50
aqueducts in Nazca times
36 are still in use today
[Music]
the rise of the trapezoid geoglyphs
coincides with an increase in dramatic
and violent images on Nazca Pottery
around the year 500
including trophy heads in greater
numbers than before
[Music]
are things getting desperate for the
Nazca
triconography is very common among
the unreal trophy heads have been found
it could have been confrontations
between different communities between
enemies but another theory is that it
could be a ritual
Elsa believes the Nazca may have
appealed to their deities in a way
similar to an ancient and violent ritual
still practiced today
[Music]
today in the Cusco region in Canada a
ritual war is waged among communities
there are no enemies and who on a given
date in a given space come together in
confrontation it's a real confrontation
people die and are injured and the blood
that is spilled from these clashes is
seen as an offering to the Mother Earth
relating to fertility
could the Nazca have practiced bloody
rituals as a response to a lack of
rainfall
thank you
[Music]
what was causing the droughts
were they just part of natural climate
Cycles or was something else going on
[Music]
more than 6 000 miles away at Britain's
royal Botanic Gardens queue
[Music]
conservation botanist Oliver Whaley and
archaeobotanist David Beresford Jones
have been trying to understand the
environmental and ecological pressures
the Nazca were facing
about 20 years ago they were studying
changes in the ecosystem
traveling off-road through the desert
they found one environment they didn't
expect
we came across a dune and we found a
twittering
warm and green verdant forests almost
sunken into the desert
the Osaka Forest is six miles long and
only a few miles from the Nazca
ceremonial Center at kawachi
it was full of absolutely enormous trees
a very cool Shady beautiful forested
environment and it suddenly made me
think that perhaps the environments of
the past were rather different to the
sorts of environments one sees today
in order to test this hypothesis David
and his team analyzed soil from
different areas in the Nazca desert
we took samples from the floor of the
Osaka Woodland and then we compared
those two soil samples from parts of the
South Coast which are today desertified
and we found that the pollen samples
were directly equivalent in other words
these now desert Landscapes had once
been forested
what happened to the forests
[Music]
the soil samples show trees in the
earlier layers were later replaced by
agricultural crops
the forests had been cut down by the
Nazca
but why
after the year 500 a rising Empire from
the Andean Highlands the wari was
spreading out across Peru
distinctive worry fines show they
reached the Nazca region one of the
reasons why were on the south coast was
because they wanted to extract cotton
which they couldn't grow in the
highlands the Nazca valleys kept fertile
by the aqueducts were perfect places to
grow cotton and other crops
coming under the influence of a more
powerful civilization the Nazca cut down
their Force to make space for
agriculture
the Nazca were pushed by the worry to
overextend their agriculture eating into
the last relics of forest
[Music]
David and Oliver tried to gauge just how
much of the nazca's forests still exist
we estimate that from the original
early Nazca Forest extent we've probably
got less than five percent is probably
two or three percent of the original
Forest cover
[Music]
for centuries the trees had maintained
an ecological balance
and large-scale deforestation led to a
Tipping Point causing irreversible
damage to the ecosystem
the ground became vulnerable to erosion
and the lack of trees sped up
desertification
for the Nazca it marked the beginning of
the end
so this is what the flourish was like in
2001.
today what little remains of the ancient
Nazca Woodland is under threat once
again
it is being cut down and burnt to be
sold as charcoal
um trudgy yeah
to try and stop the illegal
deforestation
Royal Botanic Gardens Q supports
scientists and conservationists who
monitor the remaining usaka Forest
Alfonso orellana Garcia is local to the
area
[Music]
this is a warango tree Forest
the mother tree the tree of life that's
what we call the warango by burning
felling our trees and making forests
disappear we are repeating past mistakes
foreign
Haven for wildlife familiar to the Nazca
like hummingbirds
and the pompous cat
etched into the hillside
geoglyph making which began with the
parakas but reached its peak in Nazca
times
starts declining as Nazca Society falls
apart
this tradition of making geoglyphs ended
around the year 650 700 winneska Society
in this region also came to an end
the evidence suggests that as they faced
ecological collapse many Nazca abandoned
this landscape and Scattered
assimilating into the worry
went South
the remnants of the great civilizations
of the paracas and the Nazca remained
etched into the landscape virtually
forgotten for hundreds of years
today archaeologists believe that the
geoglyphs were multifunctional they were
ritual pathways
territorial markers
[Music]
stage for ceremonies
their design and use changing over a
millennium
and the legacy of the sophisticated
societies that created the lines lives
on
the descendants of the barakas of the
Nazca of the Incas we are alive we are
here
most of us in Peru the same from this
ancient populations
[Laughter]
and we are very proud of our indigenous
past and interested in learning about it
and we cherish it
[Music]
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foreign
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
thank you