Perhaps the most well known and frequently visited geoglyphs in existence are the Nazca Lines in Peru, the origins and usage of which have puzzled archaeologists since their discovery in the s. While these particular earthworks tend to garner most of the attention, there are a number of other equally mysterious motifs located around the world.
Here are five aerial-view anomalies worth a look. The positive geoglyphs meaning that their creators used earthen materials, such as dirt, rocks or lumber, to build them up out of the ground range in size from feet to more than 1, feet in length. Dmitriy Dey, a Kazakh economist, made the discovery in while browsing Google Earth.
The largest of the carvings stretches feet in length while the shortest is 95 feet. In fact, a helicopter pilot named George Palmer is credited with discovering them during a flight in However, an equally impressive earthwork sits miles to the northwest and is known as the Paracas Candelabra.
Carbon dating of pottery discovered at the site dates the pieces to approximately BC , yet archaeologists have yet to conclude whether that time frame also applies to the candelabra, which can be seen from both the sky and by boat. Located on a lush hill in Uffington, a parish in Oxfordshire, England, White Horse Hill dates back to a time between the Bronze and Iron Ages, roughly and BC, making it the oldest chalk-cut hill figure in Britain.
As with other geoglyphs found around the world, archaeologists can only guess as to its original use, which some believe to have been a fertility symbol or perhaps a territory marker. According to aerial imagery, the symbol has evolved over time due to movement of the topsoil, and time has revealed a larger horse-like shape lying beneath what we see most clearly now.
