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Classroom lesson 路 Wildlife 路 馃嚨馃嚜 Peru

The Nazca Lines

Giant pictures in the desert, only visible from the sky

Aerial view of the Nazca Lines monkey figure drawn into the desert

Photo 路 Wikimedia Commons

What is it?

In the desert of southern Peru there are enormous drawings scratched into the ground - monkeys, condors, spiders, hummingbirds, even a long line that looks like an astronaut. They are so big you can only see what they are by flying above them. They are called the Nazca Lines.

Tell me more

The Nazca people drew the lines around 2,000 years ago by moving away the dark stones on the surface of the desert to show the pale sand underneath. Because it almost never rains in this part of Peru, the drawings have stayed almost exactly as they were drawn.

Some of the drawings are huge. The monkey is about 110 metres long - longer than a football pitch. The condor is even bigger. There are over 800 straight lines, 300 shapes, and 70 animal and plant pictures spread across the desert.

The strangest thing is that the Nazca people had no way to fly. So how did they know how to draw something so big and still get the shape right? Most scientists think they planned each picture out on a small piece of cloth or sand, then measured it out very carefully across the desert using ropes and wooden stakes.

Why they did it is still a mystery. Some scientists think the lines were paths used in ceremonies, walked by groups of people. Others think they pointed to important spots in the sky like sunrise or sunset. Lots of people study them and there are still new ones being discovered today, with the help of drones and satellites.

In the classroom

Walk your class through this in 15 minutes.

Talk together

Discussion prompts

  1. 01How might you draw something so huge that you can't see it from where you're standing?
  2. 02Why do you think the Nazca people made drawings that nobody at the time could see from above?
  3. 03What kinds of pictures would you draw if you could draw one in the desert near your school?
Try this

Classroom activity

Tape together several sheets of A4 to make a giant rectangle on the floor. As a class, design one giant animal picture that uses the whole sheet - but only one or two people can stand back to direct it. Everyone else has to draw small bits from up close. Stand on a chair afterwards to look down. Does the picture look right from above?

More about Peru

Other things that make Peru special

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