Nasca Geoglyphs: Technical Aspects and Overview of Studies and Interpretations (original) (raw)
Related papers
The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, 2013
Visualisation and GIS-based Analysis of the Nasca Geoglyphs
Doerr, Martin and Apostolos Sarris, eds. 2003. CAA 2002 - The digital heritage of archaeology. Athens: Hellenic Ministry of Culture, Archive of Monuments and Publications., 2003
On the south coast of Peru, the famous geoglyphs carved into the desert surface of the Nasca region constitute a dominant feature in the prehistoric landscape. In a joint archaeological-geodetic project we used photogrammetry to map more than 1 000 of these ground drawings around Palpa, to the north of Nasca, which we later on revised in detail in the field. In this article we describe the visualisation of the geoglyphs and the landscape they are found in. Furthermore, we present the outlines of a GIS which we are currently establishing for the spatial analysis of the geoglyphs within their natural as well as cultural environment.
The geoglyphs of Nasca: 3-D recording and analysis with modern digital technologies
Acts of the XIVth UISPP Congress, University of Liège, Belgium, 2-8 September 2001, section 1: theory and methods - general sessions and posters. Oxford: Archaeopress., 2003
A serious archaeological investigation of the famous geoglyphs of Nasca (Peru) has for a long time been obstructed by the lack of an adequate recording of the ground drawings. In this article we describe photogrammetric mapping procedures employed to record two important geoglyph concentrations at Palpa, to the north of Nasca. The use of digital photogrammetry and other modern tools for measurement and modeling allowed for the first time the complete, highly accurate, and three-dimensional recording of more than 1 000 ground drawings which will later on be integrated on a GIS platform for archaeological analysis. The recent stormy development in the area of visualization allows us to fly over and navigate through even very large data sets in real-time.
Drawing landscapes is a kind of figurative art in use since the prehistory, though less durable than rock engraving or painting. Either “additive” or “extractive” techniques have been used to produce distinct images, different in colour and relief from the ground. Ancient geoglyphs are known from Europe, northern and southern America and have been very recently reported in the Near East. They have in common the characteristic of large dimensions which render them well visible from the air, by implying the knowledge of proportion and mathematic. To the local Native Americans of the south-west, the images are living shrines made by their remote ancestors. Contemporary aborigines of north Australia make sand or earth sculptures during mortuary or healing rites. Ancient geoglyphs have been connected to religion and spirituality and those of Atacama and Nazca have been interpreted by some scholars as ceremonial pathways. Zoomorphic geoglyphs would have been totemic shrines of ancient people. The recent discoveries at Har Karkom postulate the origin of geoglyphs back to the Palaeolithic age.
Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology 2014, pp 3017-3029, edited by Claire Smith. Springer Link., 2014