The Nazca Drawings Revisited:
Creation of a Full-Sized Duplicate
Re-creation of a 440-foot Nazca figure on a Kentucky field shows how the Peruvian drawings were most likely made.
Joe Nickell
Called “Riddles in the Sand” (Discover 1982) they are the famous Nazca lines and giant ground drawings etched across 30 miles of gravel-covered desert near Peru’s southern coast.
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I decided to attempt to reproduce one of the larger Nazca figures – the 440-foot-long condor in the center of Figure 1 – using a means I thought the Nazcas might actually have employed. I was joined in the project by two of my cousins, John May and Sid Haney. The method we chose was quite simple: We would establish a center line and locate points on the drawing by plotting their coordinates. That is, on the small drawing we would measure along the center line from one end (the bird’s beak) to a point on the line directly opposite the point to be plotted (say a wing tip). Then we would measure the distance from the center line to the desired point. A given number of units on the small drawing would require the same number of units – larger units – on the large drawing.
For this larger unit we used one gleaned by Maria Reiche from her study of the Nazca drawings and approximately equivalent to 12.68 inches. For measuring on the ground, we prepared ropes marked off with paint into these Nazca “feet,” with a knot tied at each ten-“foot” interval for a total length of 100 units. To aid in accuracy in plotting on the ground, we decided to employ a “T” made of two slender strips of wood. With this we could ensure that each measurement made from the center line would be at approximate right-angles to the line.
My father, J. Wendell Nickell, took charge of logistics – including obtaining permission to use a suitable giant “drawing board” (a landfill area in West Liberty, Kentucky, owned by Dr. C. C. Smith, to whom we are grateful) and securing the services of a pilot for the subsequent aerial photography. Since we could not mark the lines by clearing gravel to expose lighter-colored earth, as the Nazcas did, we planned to simply mark them with white lime, as one marks a playing field. With the addition of my young cousin, Jim Mathis, and my 11-year-old nephew, Conrad Nickell, our work crew of Indians was complete.
As Figure 2 shows, our work was a success. In fact the results were so accurate that we are convinced we could have easily produced a more symmetrical figure by this method. Thus it would seem – unless they employed an even simpler method of making the enlargement – that the Nazcas plotted considerably fewer points. That, coupled with mere visual estimation of right angles and less careful measurement (distance might simply be stepped off), could account for the imperfections we observed. Also, an entire small area, such as a foot, could have been done completely freehand. (Our own freehand work was minimal: We produced the circle of the head by scribing it with a rope. All other curves were marked freehand; of course we had plotted the numerous points that served as a guide, although we bypassed stakes slightly in attempting to draw smoothed curves.
Figure 2. A duplication of the giant "condor" drawing made full size and utilizing only sticks and cords such as the Nazcas might have employed. The experimental drawing - possibly the world's largest art reproduction - is viewed here from just under 1,000 feet. More:
http://www.csicop.org/si/8301/nazca.html
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