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Using a form of artificial intelligence, researchers have discovered four new Nazca geoglyphs in Peru, according to a new study recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The Nazca lines are UNESCO-protected geoglyphs dating from between 100 BCE and 300 CE that depict humans, camelids, birds, orcas, felines, and snakes. There are a range of theories surrounding their purpose, including that the Nazca geoglyphs depict deities, are a form of irrigation, or are a calendar with astrological alignments, though it remains unclear. Related Articles A hand holds a stone, penis-shaped object. Penis-Shaped Stone Used for Sharpening Weapons Found in...

Thousands of years ago, a child in Peru was sacrificed as part of an ancient ritual, their head severed at the neck and made into a type of trophy. A new analysis of a single hair plucked from the mummy’s skull reveals that the child consumed a psychoactive cactus prior to execution, as part of the ceremony. The child’s preserved head was one of 22 human remains associated with the ancient Nazca society examined in a new study; all of these individuals lived during the pre-Hispanic era (3500 B.C. to A.D. 476) and were buried near the southern coast of...

The plane went down near the Maria Reiche airfield in the city of Nazca.... The head of the Nazca police, Cmdr Edgar Espinoza, told journalists that the plane apparently caught fire after hitting the ground. Aero Santos, the tour company that owns the plane, said the craft carried five tourists, a pilot and a co-pilot. The Nazca Lines, one of Peru’s most popular tourist attractions... The protected 400-square-kilometer (250-square-mile) region, which lies some 450km south of the capital, Lima, between the towns of Nazca and Palpa, is often viewed by tourists from the sky to get the best view of...

Japanese archaeologists have discovered 24 new geoglyphs on the Nazca Plateau in Peru that were created two centuries earlier than the giant images that the region is famous for. Archaeologists from the University of Yamagata in Japan made the discovery a mile north of the city of Nazca, in central Peru. The shapes are mostly geometrical, including a figure resembling a flame, along with what appears to be a llama, with the largest being 20m long. The geoglyphs, found in surveys between last December and February, have been reported to the Peruvian government. The geoglyphs are almost invisible on the...

ver 100 new geoglyphs depicting fish, snakes and humanoids, among other things, have been identified near Nazca, Peru—thanks, at least in part, to artificial intelligence. Researchers at Yamagata University and IBM Japan used AI technology belonging to the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York to locate 142 geoglyphs, which are thought to date back to a period between 100 BCE and 300 CE. A plethora of living things are represented in this ancient artwork, from fish and birds to monkeys, camelids and humanoids. They were constructed by removing rocks, leaving a negative image in the white sand...

PALPA, Peru, May 28 (Reuters) - Archaeologists using drones have discovered more than 25 geoglyphs etched into a swath of coastal desert in southern Peru near the Nazca Lines, a culture ministry official said Monday. Most of the newly found geoglyphs, which include figures of a killer whale and a woman dancing, appear to have been made by the Paracas culture more than 2,000 years ago, hundreds of years before the Nazca people created similar giant drawings nearby, said Johny Isla, an archaeologist who heads the culture ministry's conservation efforts in the region. An additional 25 geoglyphs that had previously...

A semitrailer driver ignored warning signs and drove over Peru's famous Nazca Lines on Saturday, causing significant damage to the UNESCO World Heritage site. The driver, identified as 40-year-old Jainer Jesús Flores Vigo, was detained and released, according to newspaper Peru21. The lines were scratched into the ground approximately 2,000 years ago and depict animals, plants, imaginary creatures and geometric figures miles long. Nazca's lines and geoglyphs stretch across an area of about 280 square miles. A magistrate concluded that there wasn't sufficient evidence to indicate the driver acted with intent, Peru21 reports. Peru's public minister announced that Nazca's prosecutor's...

Nations around the world reject its eco-terrorism tactics. Governments and courts around the world are finally cracking down on the eco-terrorist organization Greenpeace. The crackdown, which is long overdue, couldn’t happen to a more misguided bunch of people. In early December 2014, more than 20 Greenpeace activists damaged a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of a publicity stunt meant to motivate greater government support for renewable-energy sources they think are necessary to battle supposed human-caused climate change. The activists walked into a “strictly prohibited” area where the Nazca Lines are located in Peru and laid big, yellow cloth letters...

In one of the most arid regions in the world a series of carefully constructed, spiralling holes form lines across the landscape. Known as puquios, their origin has been a puzzle -- one that could only be solved from space. The holes are from the Nasca region of Peru -- an area famous for the Nasca lines, several enormous geometric images carved into the landscape; immaculate archaeological evidence of ceremonial burials; and the rapid decline of this once flourishing society. What adds to the intrigue in the native ancient people of Nasca is how they were able to survive in...

American researcher David Johnson has advanced a theory that Nasca Lines may be related to water. He thinks that the geoglyphs may be a giant map of the underground water sources traced on the land. The Nasca Lines are located in the Peruvian desert, about 200 miles south of Lima. The assortment of perfectly-straight lines lies in an area measuring 37 miles long and 1-mile wide... While looking for sources of water, he noticed that ancient aqueducts, called puquios, seemed to be connected with some of the lines... Johnson gave each figure a meaning: the trapezoids always point to a...

The environmental group Greenpeace has not given Peru the names of the activists accused of damaging the world-renowned Nazca lines during a publicity stunt, Peruvian officials claim. The government has threatened extradition for the activists involved and said it would seek charges for 'attacking archaeological monuments' - a crime punishable by up to six years in prison. During a protest at the U.N. World Heritage site in Peru's coastal desert, activists laid a message promoting clean energy beside the famed figure of a hummingbird comprised of black rocks on a white background.

I am deeply disappointed that Greenpeace engaged in an action at the sacred Nazca Lines in Peru. We have been hearing from many of you and I share your frustration and anger about this situation. The decision to engage in this activity shows a complete disregard for the culture of Peru and the importance of protecting sacred sites everywhere. There is no apology sufficient enough to make up for this serious lack of judgment. I know my international colleagues who engaged in this activity did not do so with malice, but that doesn’t mitigate the result. It is a shame...

The environmental activist group Greenpeace has apologized after damaging the Nazca Lines, an ancient Peruvian site. The group placed a series of yellow banners very close to the hummingbird geoglyph spelling out a message calling for environmental awareness. In doing so, the members of the group trespassed on the area and disturbed the otherwise-pristine grounds around the lines with a series of footprints. The area around the Nazca Lines is so protected that even the president of Peru cannot walk around there without express permission, and those who are permitted to enter the site have to wear specialized footwear...

Culture ministry says it will press charges against activists for damage to world heritage site as UN climate talks began in Lima Greenpeace has apologised to the people of Peru after the government accused the environmentalists of damaging ancient earth markings in the country’s coastal desert by leaving footprints in the ground during a publicity stunt meant to send a message to the UN climate talks delegates in Lima. A spokesman for Greenpeace said: “Without reservation Greenpeace apologises to the people of Peru for the offence caused by our recent activity laying a message of hope at the site of...

“What’s done cannot be undone.” Lady Macbeth Never in living memory has there been such a heartbreaking cultural calamity as that inflicted earlier this week by Greenpeace on the 2,000-year-old Nazca Lines in Peru. The only exception, perhaps, would be the Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan in 2001. It is poetic therefore, in a morbid sort of way, that both acts of cultural sacrilege were committed by terrorist organizations. The Taliban, of course, are conventional terrorists whose heinous acts of violence have claimed countless lives across the globe. But Greenpeace, by its actions in Nazca, is just...

Castillo said no one, not even presidents and Cabinet ministers, is allowed without authorization where the activists trod, and those who do have permission must wear special shoes.The Nazca lines are huge figures depicting living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary figures scratched on the surface of the ground between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago. They are believed to have had ritual astronomical functions.

When the stunt-planners at Greenpeace sent teams of activists to trespass this week at Peru's Nazca archeological site, they must have thought their bumper-sticker messaging would look good on a Facebook page next to the 2,000-year-old geodesic drawings. After all, the group is known for stringing banners from bridges and skyscrapers to draw attention to its environmental campaigns, and with U.N. climate talks taking place in Lima this week, the activists clearly wanted to make an impact. And so they have. The impact of their footprints on the fragile desert site, in fact, will last "hundreds or thousands of years,"...

The United Nations is holding climate talks in Lima, Peru, featuring delegates from 190 countries. To get their attention, the anti-science extremists of Greenpeace illegally entered a prohibited area adjacent to one of the most famous Nazca Lines. The activists trampled across the fragile, 1,500-year-old site to install large cloth letters reading: “Time for Change; The Future is Renewable.” To put it mildly, Peruvian officials are not amused.

Greenpeace was so proud of their vandalism that they signed their name to it.Images BBCGreenPeace extremists have gone to great lengths to harass whaling vessels with rubber rafts and chain themselves to trees in the rain forest in order to protest what they consider to be the destruction of the planet, they don’t seem to mind personally destroying cultural treasures.Greenpeace Defaced Ancient Peruvian landmark:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvmpFm4xzAAGlobalPost.com reports that on Wednesday Greenpeace apologized to the Peruvian government for vandalizing and damaging one of the country’s cultural treasures in a campaign to fight Global Warming junk science: “Environmental group Greenpeace apologized Wednesday after Peru...

Peru has vowed to prosecute Greenpeace activists after they allegedly damaged the world-famous Nazca lines during an environmental publicity stunt. Activists from the group unfurled cloth letters spelling out a green energy slogan at the millennia-old site on Monday, adjacent to where the figure of a hummingbird is etched into the ground. Peru has said the activists damaged the ground by leaving footprints, which could last for thousands of years. “It’s a true slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred,” Luis Jaime Castillo, the deputy culture minister, said. In a statement, the Peruvian culture ministry said: "After the...