Nasca lines in Peru may have been made for "prayer walking" in ancient times

London, Jan 27 (ANI): A new research has suggested that the Nasca lines in Peru, which are intricate geometric patterns, may have been made by ancient Peruvians for "prayer walking".

The Nasca lines are a collection of lines, giant trapezoids, and figures of humans, plants and animals in a desert 400 kilometers south of Lima, Peru.

They were created between 400 BC and AD 650 by the removal of reddish oxidised stones from the desert pavement to reveal the lighter sand beneath.

They were long been thought of as messages to the gods, or as markers that tracked celestial objects.

Now, according to a report in New Scientist, new details about these geoglyphs suggest they may have been made for "prayer walking".

Tomasz Gorka of Munich University in Germany analyzed five geoglyph complexes near the city of Palpa, focusing on the large trapezoidal structures that are etched on the plains there.

He measured anomalies in the Earth's magnetic field caused by changes in soil density at various depths.

The team walked the entire site, an area of about 60 hectares, using hand-held sensors.

"We found other lines, in the interior of the trapezoid structures, which were not visible from the air," said Gorka.

"The geoglyphs visible today are the most recent stage of a prolonged construction process during which the whole complex of drawings was constantly added to, remodelled, obliterated or changed by use," he added.

Some of the lines produced stronger magnetic anomalies than others, prompting Gorka and Karsten Lambers of the University of Konstanz in Germany to suggest that the soil beneath was compacted by people walking back and forth during prayer rituals.

"This activity was closely connected to the placing of ceramic vessels along the lines," perhaps as offerings, said Lambers. (ANI)