In the desert of southern Peru, the Nazca signs have long baffled archaeologists. These massive, ancient symbols, etched into the ground hundreds of years ago, are only fully visible from the air.
Since their discovery in the 1940s, approximately 430 signs have been identified in the vast Nazca Pampa.
Recently, a team led by Masato Sakai of Yamagata University in Japan used drones and AI to discover 303 new glyphs in just six months, nearly doubling the known number.
“The reason why the purpose of the geoglyphs’ creation remained unknown for so long is that previous researchers lacked basic information about the distribution and types of geoglyphs,” Sakai says. explained.
Clarifying their distribution with advanced technology, they now believe that these symbols served a sacred purpose tied to pilgrimages to Cahuachi, a ceremonial center of Nazca culture.
Discovering these symbols was a challenge because they were created between 500 B.C. and 500 AD. are made and weathered by time. The immense size of the Nazca Pampa – 400 square kilometers – has also hampered traditional field work. Since 2004, Sakai has relied on remote sensing, discovering 318 glyphs before the latest findings.
Working with the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, the team developed an AI algorithm to detect weak characters from drone images. Of the 303 new discoveries, 178 were identified by AI, demonstrating its potential to aid archaeological research.
These newly found hieroglyphs are of the relief type, smaller and more difficult to recognize than the linear hieroglyphs. Relief-like symbols often depict people and animals, while the larger linear symbols depict wild creatures.
The team believes that the placement and size of the hieroglyphs provide clues to their use, especially in relation to Cahuachi and other ceremonial centers.
Sakai’s next goal is to decipher the information encoded in these ancient symbols.
