Nazca Lines

Why in news?

• A giant cat drawing on ground (geoglyph) was unearthed recently at Peru’s famous Nazca Lines.

About Nazca lines:

• The Nazca Lines are a group of very large geoglyphs made in the soil of the Nazca Desert in southern Peru.
• They were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving differently colored dirt exposed
• These are believed to be the greatest known archaeological enigma, owing to their size, continuity, nature and quality.
• The images on the ground are so big in size that the best way to get a full view of them is overflying them.
• Drawn on the surface of southern Peru’s arid Pampa Colorada (“Red Plain” in Spanish), the geoglyphs feature different subjects, but mainly plants and animals.
• The figures include pelicans (the largest ones sized around 935 feet long), Andean Condors (443 feet), monkeys (360 feet), hummingbirds (165 feet), and spiders (150 feet).
• There are also geometric shapes, such as triangles, trapezoids and spirals, and some have been associated with astronomical functions.
• The Lines were first discovered in 1927, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1994.

PRELIMS QUESTION

In which of the following countries is the famous historical site of Machu Pichu, recently in news, located:
(a)Chile
(b)Peru
(c)Venezuela
(d)Bolivia

Answer to prelims question