MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

New discovery at Peru's Nazca lines reported

With these new findings, the group has discovered a total of 358 geoglyphs since it began studying the Nazca lines in 2004

Japanese researchers from Yamagata University have announced the discovery of some 168 new geoglyphs in Peru's Nazca Lines.

The team led by Professor Sakai Masato in collaboration with Peruvian archaeologist Jorge Olano found in the site included in the UNESCO World Heritage List geoglyphs believed to date between 100 BC and 300 AD, according to a press statement, which also noted that 77 of the findings were concentrated in an archaeological park established in 2017 near the center of the city of Nazca. Another 36 of these geoglyphs were discovered in the Aja area, near the city of Nazca.

The discovery of 41 geoglyphs in this area was previously announced by Yamagata University in 2014 and 2015, leading to the creation of an archaeological park in 2017 in collaboration with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture. With this discovery, it is now known that a total of 77 geoglyphs are concentrated in this archaeological park.

The results of this research will be applied to future artificial intelligence-based surveys on the distribution of Nazca geoglyphs and their protection, it was announced.

The geoglyphs appear to represent humans and animals. They were created by removing black stones from the earth's surface to expose a white sand surface beneath.

Research has determined that there are two types of geoglyphs: a linear type and a relief type. Of the total number of geoglyphs discovered in the study, only five are of the first type, while 163 are of the second type. Most of the geoglyphs of the latter type are small, less than 10 meters in diameter, and are distributed mainly along ancient trails.

With these new findings, the group has discovered a total of 358 geoglyphs since it began studying the Nazca lines in 2004.