Enduring mystery: AI discovers 303 more line drawings carved into the Nazca Desert

The Nazca Desert, a barren and windswept landscape in southern Peru, holds one of the world’s greatest archaeological enigmas — an intricate collection of colossal drawings that stretch across the arid plains.

Known as the Nazca Lines, these ancient geoglyphs, carved into the earth more than two millennia ago, have fascinated historians, archaeologists, and adventurers alike.

Spanning hundreds of square miles and stretching hundreds of feet in diameter, they depict a variety of animals, plants, and mysterious symbols.

Though the exact purpose of these designs remains a subject of debate, their sheer scale and complexity suggest they were deeply meaningful to the ancient Nazca civilization.

Nazca Lines remain a mystery

From the ground, the massive figures blend seamlessly into the landscape, their true forms obscured by the vastness of the desert.

Yet, from the air, their beauty and precision are revealed in striking detail, drawing scholars from across the globe to unravel the secrets behind their creation.

These figures — some as large as football fields — continue to stir imaginations, sparking theories ranging from religious and astronomical significance to ritualistic offerings aimed at appeasing the gods.

The enduring mystery of the Nazca Lines lies not only in their purpose but also in how the Nazca people managed to craft such monumental artworks with ancient tools, all without the benefit of aerial observation.

As technology advances, new methods of exploration have opened a fresh chapter in the study of these ancient wonders, offering us the possibility of finally understanding the motives behind their creation.

AI finds hundreds of new Nazca Lines

The archaeologists from Yamagata University in Japan, along with researchers from IBM Thomas J Watson Research Center in New York, recently made a substantial breakthrough.

Their powerful partner in this venture? An efficient artificial intelligence (AI) model from IBM.

Together, they discovered as many as 303 new geoglyphs, raising the figure of remarkable Nazca drawings to a grand total of 733.

It took nearly a century to discover a total of 430 figurative Nazca geoglyphs, which offer significant insights into the ancient cultures at the Nazca Pampa.

“Here, we report the deployment of an AI system to the entire Nazca region, a UNESCO World Heritage site, leading to the discovery of 303 new figurative geoglyphs within only six months of field survey,” the authors explained.

Magic of machine learning in archaeology

The AI’s role in this discovery can’t be overstated. Of the 303 geoglyphs unearthed, 178 were individually suggested by the AI.

The model was trained to search for potential patterns in drone-captured aerial photos of the Nazca region, identifying markings in the landscape that the human eye might overlook.

The newly discovered glyphs predominantly depict wild animals such as killer whales, domesticated camels, and human-related motifs, including alien-like humanoids.

More intriguing depictions include pairs of primates playing together, and one with large tails, holding balls, and even a feline with a surprised expression.

Not all fit into neat categories, with some presenting distorted forms of the human figure.

Nazca lines only visible from the sky

The purpose behind these enigmatic Nazca Lines has long been a topic of heated debates among archaeologists.

Some propose that they might have served as an ancient observatory, marking places where the sun and other celestial bodies rose or set during solstices.

Others argue they were designed as signals for the gods in the sky or were merely artistic expressions akin to modern-day creations.

Interestingly, many geoglyphs are too colossal to be fully appreciated at ground level. Only when viewed from a substantial height are their intricate designs discernable.

Airplanes were crucial to this end, with the full gravity of the Nazca artwork only truly understood once it could be observed from the sky.

However, contrary to popular belief, many figures are also visible from the surrounding foothills.

The first recorded sighting was in 1939, when a pilot flew over the Nazca plains, although it’s highly likely that local hilltop-dwelling inhabitants spotted them much earlier.

Exciting future prospects

The successful integration of AI into the field of archaeology promises a bright future for discoveries.

The experts speculate that IBM’s AI could discover even more Nazca geoglyphs, possibly in the thousands.

The researchers admitted in their paper, “AI may be at the brink of ushering in a revolution in archaeological discoveries like the revolution aerial imaging has had on the field.”

With this exciting prospect on the horizon, the secrets of the Nazca Desert may soon be revealed, as we delve deeper into this captivating mystery.

The full study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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