Priests may have designed Nazca lines, expert says
NAZCA, Peru — High priests at an ancient religious compound in southern Peru may have designed the mysterious Nazca lines, a set of huge geometric patterns, animal figures and long lines etched in the desert, the area's top archaeologist said.
Researchers say the Cahua-chi compound, built in 400 B.C., is just across the Nazca Valley from the lines, one of Peru's most popular tourist attractions and a U.N. World Heritage site.
"It is logical to think that the Nazca people's religious beliefs originated in this ceremonial site and got expressed on the wide-open plain," Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici, who leads research at Cahuachi, said last week.
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Researchers say the Cahua-chi compound, built in 400 B.C., is just across the Nazca Valley from the lines, one of Peru's most popular tourist attractions and a U.N. World Heritage site.
"It is logical to think that the Nazca people's religious beliefs originated in this ceremonial site and got expressed on the wide-open plain," Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici, who leads research at Cahuachi, said last week.