A’killer whale with knife is the last thing you would expect in the Peruvian desert, yet for some unknown reason, the ancient Nazca who once inhabited the area decided to decorate the landscape with a huge geoglyph depicting an orca wielding a knife.
Armed killer whale spotted among 300 Nazca glyphs
Spotted via an artificial intelligence (AI) system, the armed marine mammal is one of 303 drawings recently identified in the Nazca Pampa, some of which depict decapitated heads and scenes of human sacrifice.
Since their discovery in the 1940s, the iconic Nazca Lines have become one of South America’s most iconic tourist attractions, also occupying the minds of countless archaeologists, historians and anthropologists, who have yet to reach a consensus on the function of these colossal works of ancient art. Prior to the current study, a total of 430 geoglyphs representing humans, animals and other forms had been identified in the Pampas.
Of these, 50 are classified as larger, “line-type” glyphs, created by removing rocks to reveal the lighter-colored earth beneath, while the remaining 380 fall into the category of smaller “relief-type” images, which were created by placing stones on the ground. The latter are generally more difficult to locate due to their smaller size and the fact that some stones have been lost or altered over the centuries.
The first glyphs are thought to have been created around 100 BC, and many are now considerably more obscured than they once were. The Nazca Pampa is also a huge region, so identifying all the glyphs using traditional archaeological surveys is proving to be a long and laborious process.
To speed things up, the authors of a new study have developed an artificial intelligence program that can identify faded geoglyphs hidden in aerial photographs of the Pampas. The algorithm was particularly adept at spotting faint traces of relief-type glyphs and allowed the researchers to nearly double the number of known drawings by identifying more than 300 previously unidentified works of art.
“The main motifs of the relief geoglyphs were humans, livestock, and human sacrifices, all depicting scenes with humans or things modified by humans,” the study authors write. Overall, 81.6 percent of these smaller glyphs depicted figures of this nature, with severed heads in the foreground and a menacing orca thrown in for good measure.
In contrast, 64 percent of the linear glyphs depicted wild animals. On average, these larger illustrations measured 90 meters (295 ft) in length, while the relief-type glyphs were 10 times shorter.
Trying to interpret these enormous ancient drawings, the study authors found that the linear-type motifs are found on average within 34 meters (112 feet) of a pilgrimage route leading to the pre-Hispanic temple of Cahuachi. They therefore suspect that these enormous figures were built and used by Nazca communities as ceremonial sites where rituals could be conducted along this sacred journey.
“Since the main motifs of linear-type geoglyphs are wild animals, it is likely that ceremonial activities related to these animals were carried out during pilgrimages,” the researchers write.
In contrast, relief-type glyphs are typically placed within viewing distance of informal paths that lead nowhere in particular and do not appear to be part of the municipal road network. The study authors therefore suggest that these smaller works of art were created with the intention of “sharing information about human activities with individuals or small groups.”
“Repeated observation of raised geoglyphs along the trails likely facilitated the sharing of information about human activities related to these scenes,” they write. However, the precise role of the orca and its dagger in all this remains a mystery.
The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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