Nazca Lines
Peru · Americas · ✦ UNESCO World Heritage Site
A desert floor turned into a gallery of giants — drawings so vast they resolve only from the sky
Age
~1,500–2,400 yrs
Period
Paracas–Nazca cultures
Setting
Open-air
Art form
Geoglyphs
Discovered
1927
Status
Open (Flights & Viewing Tower)
Etched across the Peruvian desert between roughly 400 BC and AD 500, more than a thousand kilometres of lines, geometric figures and animal effigies — a hummingbird, a condor, a monkey, a spider — were made by lifting dark surface stones to expose the pale ground beneath. Their makers never saw them whole: the full designs read only from the air, and their purpose is still debated.
Gallery
Notable Features
- ◦ The Hummingbird
- ◦ The Condor
- ◦ The Monkey
- ◦ The Spider
Depicted Subjects
HummingbirdCondorsMonkeysSpidersWhalesGeometric/Linear Signs
Plan a Visit
AccessThis cave can be visited.
Sources & Further Reading
Hours & prices change — always confirm on the official site before travelling.
Photographs via Wikimedia Commons — image credits. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.