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Nazca Civilisation sealed its own fate...

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posted on Nov, 1 2009 @ 06:43 PM
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Here is a recent article about the findings of a team of British scientists who were trying to discover why the ancient civilisation responsible for the Nazca Lines died out.

Quote from article:



The fate of an ancient and enigmatic South American civilisation which carved a strange network of ritual lines and drawings into the landscape before its sudden collapse has been pieced together by British scientists.

Some 1,500 years after the disappearance of the Nazca culture of what is now southern Peru, its demise has been attributed to a combination of a freak extreme weather event and its own despoliation of the environment, which left it unable to survive.



www.timesonline.co.uk...

Here are some pictures;

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d6f76c37bceb.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0e876f205c5a.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/7a5f85d8f93b.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/f72e8702c0e5.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 1-11-2009 by berenike]



posted on Nov, 1 2009 @ 07:11 PM
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I've taken on board that sometimes people don't have time to go to the links, so for anyone in a hurry - here is the sad conclusion from The Times:



The standard explanation for the Nazca’s collapse is that the region was struck by an extreme El Niño event — the intermittent climate oscillation of the southern hemisphere that brings higher temperatures and increased rainfall.

Dr Beresford-Jones’s new research, however, has established that this was only part of the story. In a study published in the journal Latin American Antiquity, his team has used the effects of the 1998 El Niño event — the most intense of modern times — to model the impact of similar extreme weather at the end of the Nazca age.

The 1998 El Niño flooded the modern city of Ica to a depth of two metres, and a computer reconstruction shows that the ancient El Niño would have had still more catastrophic effects on the lower Ica valley, one of the two centres of the Nazca civilisation.

The Nazca might have survived this potentially devastating event, however, had it not been for their past behaviour, the research suggests. The lower Ica valley, though now a desert, was at the time heavily wooded, with a tree known as the huarango, which can live for more than 1,000 years.

As well as providing the Nazca with wood for fuel and construction and seeds to supplement their diet, the huarango trees played an important ecological role. Their deep root systems held the soil together, protecting it against water and wind erosion.

The trees were also a defence against flash floods. Analysis of ancient pollen has shown that huarango trees declined in the years before the collapse of the Nazca, to be replaced by pollen from crops such as maize and cotton. This suggests that the forest was cleared to make way for agriculture.This forest clearance seems to have removed natural defences that would have protected the Nazca civilisation against the severe El Niño that coincided with their collapse, Dr Beresford-Jones said.

“This catastrophe was preceded by human-induced changes, particularly chopping down the woodland,” he added. “In time, gradual woodland clearance crossed an ecological threshold, sharply defined in such desert environments, exposing the landscape to the region’s extraordinary desert winds and the effects of the El Niño floods. The climate wasn’t enough to induce collapse on its own. The Nazca partly wrought their own demise.”

Deforestation is also widely acknowledged as a factor in the demise of the Easter Island civilisation, and in the fall of the Anasazi people of the southwestern United States.


For anyone with a little more time there is more information about the Nazca Line Drawings (and the incas) on this site:

www.about-peru-history.com...



[edit on 1-11-2009 by berenike]



posted on Nov, 1 2009 @ 07:13 PM
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Yea thats it, but what about the drawings and lines that can only be seen from the air. You mean to tell me that they happen to get it right without looking at their work which happens to be a spider or monkey or whatever.



posted on Nov, 1 2009 @ 07:18 PM
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reply to post by hoghead cheese
 


I'm guessing there was a little guy in a hang-glider (or possibly riding a condor) yelling out instructions to the artist on the ground.

No really - I've read a lot about these lines, it's a fascinating subject. Since you posted I've added another link which you may find interesting. See my post just above yours.

Here's the blurb which I hope will whet your appetite:



The Nazca Lines in Peru are one of the world’s best known and most controversial mysteries.
There are many theories about why they were created: as an astronomical observatory, a calendar, underground water supplies mapping, as spiritual pathways or as landing marks for UFO´s (you can only see them from the air).
What was the reason for this messages to future generations?.
A german researcher, Dr. Maria Reiche, studied the Nazca line drawings for 50 years.
She explains how these lines were used by ancient peruvian astronomers as if they were a gigantic solar and lunar calendar, nestled in the sand, legends and myths of the locals.




And another article about the new findings, from The Independent:

www.independent.co.uk...

They've thoughtfully provided a picture of a huarango tree:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/43536bac4cd5.jpg[/atsimg]

And a rather disappointing explanation of how the designs could have been made:



After the Nasca Lines were discovered by the first passenger flights over the region, some pseudoscience authors suggested that since they could only be seen frome above, they must have been made with the help of space aliens. It is now accepted that the geoglyphs were created mundanely with long ropes tied to stakes in the ground, rather like present-day crop circles.



[edit on 1-11-2009 by berenike]



posted on Nov, 1 2009 @ 07:38 PM
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Seems the Nazca weren't the only the only ancient civilization to deplete their surroundings and leave themselves vulnerable to fickle mother nature. It's thought the Mayans also depleted their surroundings and collapsed as a civilization during a time of extreme drought.

Maybe modern man may yet learn to live in harmony with his environment, but based on our track record I rather doubt it.



posted on Nov, 2 2009 @ 10:50 PM
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Originally posted by berenike
reply to post by hoghead cheese
 

And a rather disappointing explanation of how the designs could have been made:



After the Nasca Lines were discovered by the first passenger flights over the region, some pseudoscience authors suggested that since they could only be seen frome above, they must have been made with the help of space aliens. It is now accepted that the geoglyphs were created mundanely with long ropes tied to stakes in the ground, rather like present-day crop circles.



cheers.... thanks


that last one reminded me of......

news.bbc.co.uk...
www.reuters.com...
www.telegraph.co.uk...




posted on Nov, 3 2009 @ 09:46 AM
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reply to post by mcrom901
 


Thanks for putting a couple of these
as a warning that the links led to something funny. I was eating my lunch when I had a look and might have choked


Did you ever start a thread with these articles? If not, I really hope you do, it deserves a wider audience.



posted on Nov, 3 2009 @ 01:45 PM
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i am SO glad i am half Peruvian and half Mexican. All i need is a lil Egyptian and im SET! FO' LIFE!

seriously tho the history of Peru is amazing. why couldnt we all come from Peru instead of Africa? No offense! i just want bragging rights...

peace.



posted on Nov, 4 2009 @ 06:22 PM
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Here's another newspaper article with some beautiful pictures:

www.dailymail.co.uk...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/01d98162d3c7.jpg[/atsimg]

Nazca pottery depicting humming birds:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3bb144767a52.jpg[/atsimg]

And a human figure:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/beb1ec754655.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 4-11-2009 by berenike]



posted on Nov, 7 2009 @ 04:22 AM
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Originally posted by berenike
Here's another newspaper article with some beautiful pictures:

www.dailymail.co.uk...

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/01d98162d3c7.jpg[/atsimg]

Nazca pottery depicting humming birds:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/3bb144767a52.jpg[/atsimg]

And a human figure:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/beb1ec754655.jpg[/atsimg]

[edit on 4-11-2009 by berenike]




God the Nazca lines are an amazing mystery, and have been in NO WAY explained by conventional means.

Oh and I love the pic of the little human figure, Im pretty sure the bulge on his head is representative of the power and importance the concept of the 3rd eye held to the ancients, the Egyptians would depict the same thing and call it the lamp of Osiris, just thought Id tell ya!!!!




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