Contents

Preface............................................................................................................................................................ 7

Welcome Addresses:
 

      Cultural Attache of the Embassy of Peru ................................................................................................ 9
      Patricia Raez
 

      Managing Director of the ZiF................................................................................................................ 11
      Ipke Wachsmuth

Destructions and restoration on the Nasca lines ......................................................................................... 13
Ana Maria Cogorno

El Nasca Volador - Flying Nasca................................................................................................................. 27
Alex Cerveny
 

Maria Reiche and Nasca in the virtual reality............................................................................................. 31
Joachim Born
 

The water system of the Nasca culture........................................................................................................ 43
Katharina Schreiher, Josue Lancho Rojas
 

The geoglyphs of Palpa - anarchaeological approach................................................................................ 55
Markus Reindel
 

Magnetometry on the Geoglyphs of Palpa and Nasca (Peru)...................................................................... 71
Jorg W.E. Fassbinder, Tomasz Gorka
 

Music in the Nasca Zone: History and Actuality......................................................................................... 77
Virginia Yep
 

Astronomical investigations of the Nasca lines ........................................................................................... 87
Bernd Teichert
 

The Documentation of Petroglyphs in Nazca/Peru Region by Photogrammetry..................................... 103
Karel Pavelka
 

NascaGIS - An application for cultural heritage conservation................................................................. 115
Christiane Richter
 

Potters Wheel in Nasca.............................................................................................................................. 127
Michael Tellenbach
 

Artistic Conventions in Nasca Iconography............................................................................................... 141
Christiane Clados

Preface

In the south of Peru near the little town Nasca, between the Pacific Ocean and the imposing Andes extends a desert plateau called the "Pampa of Nasca", scene of a peculiar art gallery. An area of several hundred square kilometers is covered with thousand of lines, large biomorphic figures and various geometric shapes drawn in the rock strewn desert. There are drawings of ani­mals like birds, fishes, a monkey and a spider but also plants and human figures.
The beauty and magnitude of the giant figures can be recognized only from the air. That seems to be the reason why the Nasca lines were discovered first at the beginning of the 20th century. Today the Nasca Lines and Geoglyphs are one of the best known archaeological sites in South America, indeed the world. They are enduring monuments to the ingenuity of the ancient Peru­vians. Basing on a study of pottery found at the Pampa and results of the C-14-method, scientists attribute most of the lines and figures to the Indian "Nasca" culture (200 BC- 600 AD).
The drawings represent an artistry of a special kind, neither carved nor painted. They were caused by removing the darker (oxidized) gravel of the desert's surface to expose the lighter (unoxidized) sub-oil below.
It is remarkable how these mysterious tracings have remained intact for so many centuries. This is due to a special geographic and climatic situation, which is unique to the Peruvian coast. Because of the dry and stable climate, the light- colored traces have remained nearly unchanged till today. Only for the last 50 years this archaeological site had been heavily damaged by human beings. The on-going destruction will hopefully stop now because UNESCO added this area to the World Heritage List in February 1995.
The unanswered question that has historically aroused the most attention is: "Why were these drawings created?" What was the reason to create a monument that could only be appreciated from the air in an era when there were no airplanes? The mysteries surrounding the Nasca lines are almost as fascinating as the spectacular drawings themselves.
Were the images part of religious rituals aimed at asking the gods for help with the fertility of crops? Were they used for running races? Are the lines indicators for underground water, or was it an irrigation system? About 40 theories are current amongst scientists and pseudo-scientists but even today, nobody is able to provide a comprehensive and scientifically provable answer to these questions.
The intention of this symposium was to give an overview on the state and the art and recent developments and research results in the different disciplines. 22 experts from five countries and disciplines like Archaeology, Arts, Astronomy, Ceramics, Ethnography, Geodesy, Irrigation, Lin­guistics and Iconography met at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZiF) to discuss about the Nasca culture. Parallel to the symposium, two exhibitions were installed, one showing gra­phics and pictures of the artists A. Cerveny from Brazil and Ch. Rust from Germany, the other showing the scientific work of the Association "Dr. Maria Reiche" and the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden.
 

In the final discussion as well as in the proceeding discussions of special research aspects it became obvious that there is no singular answer to the myth of Nasca. For example, the partici­pants in the symposium did not agree to the following:

1. Did the Nasca's use a Potter's wheel or not?

2. Is the water theory still relevant?

3. Is the astronomical theory still relevant?

4. etc.

We want to thank warmly the lecturers for their efforts and we also would especially like to thank the members of the local organizing committee at the ZiF for the excellent support and organization; without their great engagement, this symposium would not have been possible.
Finely we have to thank the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden, Faculty of Geodesy and Cartography, especially to Prof. Dr. G. Reppchen, who made it possible to finance the publication of this book in the special edition of the "Dresdner Kartographische Schriften".
The editor's indebtedness is also extended to Prof. U. Jaschke and Miss K. Zimmermann for their painstaking preparation of the typescript of the book.
A reduced size reproduction of one of the new paintings of Christoph Rust "Enigmatische Begegnung" is included.

Dresden and Bielefeld, June, 2007

Bernd Teichert and Christoph Rust