| Transcript |
| 0:01 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Huge drawings etched into the Peruvian desert plains. |
| 0:10 | Birds. A monkey. And lines that stretch for miles. |
| 0:17 | ♪ ♪ (Johny Isla speaking Spanish) (translated): They're one of the masterpieces |
| 0:23 | of Andean society here in Peru. NARRATOR: They are the Nazca Lines, remnants of a long-gone civilization |
| 0:33 | that left its mark, quite literally, on the landscape. |
| 0:38 | (translated): Most of us in Peru descend from these populations. NARRATOR: But the Nazca people are a mystery. |
| 0:44 | They had no written language, and the desert drawings they left behind |
| 0:50 | had been baffling archaeologists for almost a century. |
| 0:56 | (Isla speaking Spanish) ISLA (translated): What function did they have? It's a question we're still asking ourselves. |
| 1:03 | NARRATOR: Now researchers are using 21st-century technology to closely study the landscape. |
| 1:09 | ♪ ♪ And they're discovering figures made before the Nazca were known to have existed. |
| 1:22 | Who lived here before the Nazca? (translated): It's a mythological being-- look here. |
| 1:27 | Wow. NARRATOR: Archaeologists are trying to piece together more than 1,000 years of history |
| 1:33 | and have found evidence of thriving civilizations in Peru's southern desert. |
| 1:39 | (Giuseppe Orefici speaking Spanish) (translated): It is the largest adobe ceremonial center in the whole world. |
| 1:48 | NARRATOR: How did the Nazca Lines start? What did they mean? |
| 1:54 | And why did they end? ♪ ♪ |
| 2:00 | "Nazca Desert Mystery," right now, on "NOVA." |
| 2:09 | ♪ ♪ |
| 2:23 | (wind blowing) ♪ ♪ |
| 2:31 | NARRATOR: It is one of the most arid deserts in the world, averaging less than an inch of rainfall a year. |
| 2:40 | And running along Peru's southern coast... |
| 2:49 | ...more than 1,500 years ago, the people here created remarkable earthworks |
| 2:55 | across an area spanning about 200 square miles. |
| 3:00 | Giant figures: a hummingbird. A spider. |
| 3:05 | A monkey. And thousands of lines, |
| 3:11 | some more than five miles long, etched in the ground. |
| 3:18 | They are known as the Nazca Lines. ISLA (translated): Technically, they are called geoglyphs, |
| 3:24 | drawings on the earth. (speaking Spanish) (translated): The Nazca geoglyphs can be seen |
| 3:31 | in all their splendor from the air. NARRATOR: Erosion and the remoteness of many of the lines |
| 3:39 | meant that these vast designs were all but forgotten for more than a millennium. ♪ ♪ |
| 3:46 | They were rediscovered in the 1920s, but it was not until airplanes started flying across the region |
| 3:53 | that their true scale was revealed. (Isla speaking Spanish) ISLA (translated): There are estimates about how many geoglyphs there are, |
| 4:00 | around 6,000 or 7,000 geoglyphs. Most, almost 90%, were geometric motifs-- lines, trapezoids-- |
| 4:09 | and around ten percent figures. NARRATOR: But what were they for? |
| 4:19 | And who created them? |
| 4:26 | Peruvian archaeologist Johny Isla has been studying the Nazca geoglyphs for more than 30 years. |
| 4:36 | ISLA (translated): The Nazca were a social group that developed along the southern coast. |
| 4:43 | This territory is pretty arid because there's no water for most of the year. |
| 4:49 | Their dwellings were along valleys, which are really small oases in the middle of the desert. |
| 4:56 | NARRATOR: Archaeologists named the ancient group of farmers and fishermen who once lived here the Nazca, |
| 5:03 | after the local river valley. ♪ ♪ |
| 5:09 | They used the surrounding desert plateaus as a canvas for drawing giant geoglyphs. |
| 5:15 | (Isla speaking Spanish) (translated): The Nazca covered these plains with geoglyphs |
| 5:21 | and turned this desert into a space which was inhabited, dynamic, social, and vibrant through time. |
| 5:29 | (fire crackling) NARRATOR: Over the years, there have been many theories about these geoglyphs. |
| 5:37 | That they were astronomical calendars. Signs left by aliens. |
| 5:45 | Or appeals to gods looking down from above. |
| 5:52 | But whatever the reason, the ancient people who lived in this area left a lasting mark in the desert. |
| 6:00 | ♪ ♪ Today, urban expansion means |
| 6:07 | some geoglyphs are on the outskirts of town. |
| 6:12 | MAN (translated): I live 500 meters from the geoglyphs. |
| 6:18 | Here in Nazca, we are proud of what the ancestors left us. |
| 6:25 | (woman speaking Spanish) (translated): Who knows what the ancestors were thinking when they did this? But it's very beautiful. |
| 6:39 | NARRATOR: Nazca civilization disappeared more than a millennium ago. But a growing interest in the past |
| 6:46 | has spurred a revival of ancient Indigenous traditions, like the Yaku Raimi, |
| 6:52 | a celebration of water. CANDY HURTADO: The matter of indigeneity is very complex here in Peru. |
| 6:58 | People will not often identify as Indigenous. It is still something that is associated |
| 7:05 | with underdevelopment or a lack of progress. But they will identify themselves |
| 7:11 | through dances-- they will say, "I dance that, so I am that." Um, "I sing that, so I am that." |
| 7:18 | (flutes and drums playing) NARRATOR: Candy Hurtado is an ethnomusicologist from Jauja |
| 7:23 | in the highlands east of Lima. She's studying rituals, and has come to Nazca to record the water festival. |
| 7:33 | HURTADO: In the Andean worldview, we understand that time is not linear, |
| 7:38 | but that it is cyclical. So that we are always, through ritual, connecting with the past, the present, and the future. |
| 7:47 | We're connected to our ancestors, we are connected to the people that come after us |
| 7:52 | in a very real way, as well as to the environment. The environment is also considered our ancestors. |
| 7:58 | ♪ ♪ |
| 8:09 | NARRATOR: Peruvian archaeologists studying the environment to piece together the Nazca story |
| 8:15 | have made surprising discoveries. Using drone images, |
| 8:21 | they've identified a different type of geoglyph. Not on the flat desert plateaus, |
| 8:28 | but on the hillsides. |
| 8:33 | ISLA (speaking Spanish): |
| 8:41 | NARRATOR: Johny Isla and his team are restoring his latest discovery, |
| 8:46 | a very faded geoglyph. ISLA (speaking Spanish): |
| 9:02 | NARRATOR: Years of erosion have damaged the geoglyph. Johny's team moves stone after stone |
| 9:08 | by hand to re-expose the lighter layer below. It's a painstaking process. |
| 9:16 | (speaking Spanish) (translated): When we realized that on the hillside there were other figures, |
| 9:22 | other geoglyphs, we realized we have to change the way we thought and look to the hillsides, where we didn't think |
| 9:31 | there were any drawings. |
| 9:38 | NARRATOR: The team has revealed the outline of a group of people walking, |
| 9:44 | but it needs more work. ISLA (speaking Spanish): |
| 9:54 | NARRATOR: The desert hillsides have long been overlooked. But now there is newfound interest in them. |
| 10:08 | ISLA (translated): It's really one of the most striking finds of recent times. |
| 10:13 | It's a mountain cat, the Pampas cat, an animal in danger of extinction. |
| 10:24 | NARRATOR: Almost 10,000 miles away, in Yamagata, Japan, archaeologist Masato Sakai |
| 10:32 | studies drone footage from the Nazca desert. He's turned to a high-tech method |
| 10:38 | of searching for geoglyphs. Artificial intelligence. |
| 10:44 | (speaking Japanese) SAKAI (translated): At the beginning, we were looking at the northern Nazca plains, where hummingbirds, |
| 10:49 | monkeys, and other famous geoglyphs are concentrated. (speaking Japanese) |
| 10:56 | (translated): We let A.I. learn from these famous geoglyphs and other data from this area. NARRATOR: By analyzing aerial images, |
| 11:03 | computer algorithms can spot the cleared surfaces that form the figures. |
| 11:11 | Once the A.I. knows what to look for, it begins scanning the desert for patterns that appear human-made. |
| 11:21 | The software homes in on a very faint shape. ♪ ♪ |
| 11:31 | (Sakai speaking Japanese) SAKAI (translated): We discovered it is a geoglyph of a person |
| 11:36 | holding a club in their right hand. |
| 11:42 | NARRATOR: The person with the club, the people walking, and the Pampas cat were all found on the sides of hills. |
| 11:50 | And Johny thinks this unexpected positioning is the clue to their purpose. |
| 11:57 | (speaking Spanish) ISLA (translated): These geoglyphs were made by people for people. |
| 12:02 | As they're drawn on sides of hills, people could see them as they crossed the desert or the valleys. |
| 12:10 | (speaking Spanish) They seem to be markers of territory or routes through the desert. |
| 12:19 | NARRATOR: But it isn't only their position that is unusual. |
| 12:25 | They're in a different style from the classic Nazca images like the monkey and the hummingbird. |
| 12:32 | So were these giant geoglyphs made by the same people? |
| 12:37 | Or someone else? To find out, researchers turn to other sources |
| 12:43 | for designs and imagery that might match the figures on the hillsides. |
| 12:50 | (Isla speaking Spanish) ISLA (translated): To identify and categorize these geoglyphs, we take a stylistic approach. |
| 12:58 | We compare them with ceramics and textiles. ♪ ♪ |
| 13:03 | NARRATOR: They find similar motifs, but not from the Nazca period. |
| 13:10 | ISLA (translated): These geoglyphs date to the year 200 or 300 BCE, which means that they were made |
| 13:16 | before the famous Nazca geoglyphs. NARRATOR: The hillside geoglyphs were created earlier than the Nazca |
| 13:24 | are thought to have existed. So who was making geoglyphs before the Nazca-- |
| 13:31 | and why? ♪ ♪ |
| 13:39 | In the 1920s, Julio César Tello, the first Peruvian archaeologist, |
| 13:45 | found 429 mummies wrapped in extraordinary textiles in an ancient burial ground |
| 13:54 | in the Paracas Peninsula. So archaeologists called the ancient people the Paracas. |
| 14:03 | The funerary bundles are stored in Lima, in the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology, |
| 14:08 | and History of Peru. ♪ ♪ |
| 14:17 | The fabrics the mummies were wrapped in reveal the extraordinary skill and artistry of the Paracas. |
| 14:27 | And the images and symbols provide insight into their worldview. |
| 14:33 | There are shamans in trances. Deities. |
| 14:42 | And severed heads. |
| 14:49 | One of the most iconic Paracas textiles has only recently arrived at the museum. |
| 14:55 | DELIA APONTE (speaking Spanish): |
| 15:03 | APONTE (translated): In the 1930s, after Julio Tello's excavations in the Paracas Peninsula, |
| 15:09 | there was a lot of looting, and some pieces, this one among them, |
| 15:14 | were taken out of the country. It ended up in Sweden. |
| 15:20 | NARRATOR: This is the first time archaeologist Delia Aponte has been able to examine the 2,000-year-old mantle. |
| 15:28 | (speaking Spanish) (translated): I'm happy. I've always wanted to see this piece. |
| 15:36 | I'm surprised by the use of color. |
| 15:41 | For the Paracas, colors have meaning, and the way they organize them is important. |
| 15:48 | It's part of their identity. There is a symbolism we haven't deciphered yet, |
| 15:54 | but which is definitely there. NARRATOR: The Paracas imbued their funerary textiles with meaning, |
| 16:02 | and Delia is particularly interested in their symbolism. (Aponte speaking Spanish) |
| 16:08 | APONTE (translated): Here we have a toad, associated with humidity and agriculture. |
| 16:14 | A few plants are sprouting from its back. (speaking Spanish) |
| 16:21 | (translated): Here there is a condor. Hummingbirds drinking from a flower. |
| 16:30 | A bean in the form of a human. NARRATOR: The imagery related to animals and edible plants |
| 16:37 | throughout the seasons suggests that the Paracas textile is a symbolic representation |
| 16:42 | of the agricultural cycle. (translated): I think this is a masterpiece, |
| 16:49 | the pinnacle of 900 years of this society's development. |
| 16:57 | NARRATOR: Many of the Paracas images strong resemble the newly identified hillside geoglyphs found in the Nazca region. |
| 17:07 | It suggests the desert figures were created by the Paracas. |
| 17:16 | ♪ ♪ |
| 17:22 | The Paracas were ancient Peru's most accomplished weavers. |
| 17:30 | Today, communities in the highlands of Cusco keep some of their ancient traditions alive. |
| 17:35 | (Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez speaking Spanish) (women talking softly) |
| 17:41 | ALVAREZ: Over here, they are warping, which is also traditional |
| 17:48 | technique from the Paracas culture. |
| 17:53 | NARRATOR: Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez is a weaver and expert in textiles from Chinchero |
| 17:59 | in the Cusco region, 350 miles from Lima. She has made it her mission |
| 18:05 | to preserve and promote pre-Hispanic weaving methods. |
| 18:11 | And here, in Pitumarca, she works with weavers who practice Paracas weaving techniques. (all talking softly) |
| 18:18 | Paracas have managed many techniques which they adorned the huge mantles for afterlife. |
| 18:27 | Textile tradition, practiced today, part of the traditional clothing and part of our identity. |
| 18:35 | So different regions will have different types of textile. |
| 18:41 | We are very lucky to have ancestors, civilizations, cultures like Paracas who left to us |
| 18:48 | such rich textile tradition. We, as weavers today, we like to learn |
| 18:56 | those techniques, and we like to reintroduce, pass to the younger generation |
| 19:01 | for the future. |
| 19:10 | NARRATOR: Paracas finds were not limited to the peninsula. |
| 19:17 | Archaeological discoveries reveal the civilization stretched across a swath of land |
| 19:22 | almost 250 miles north to south. |
| 19:28 | And there is evidence of a settlement at a site called Animas Altas, Animas Bajas. |
| 19:39 | (Aïcha Bachir Bacha speaking French) (translated): I can see that this figure was cut at the neck. |
| 19:45 | It could be the sacrifice of a figure which could actually represent a human sacrifice. |
| 19:56 | NARRATOR: Archaeologist Aïcha Bachir Bacha has been piecing together the history |
| 20:02 | of this 250-acre site. (Bacha speaking French) (translated): Since 2009, we've discovered the façades of pyramids |
| 20:10 | and also tombs of members of the elite. (speaking French) |
| 20:15 | (translated): And we also discovered low platforms which were workshops and residential sites. |
| 20:24 | NARRATOR: At the end of the dig season, the excavated areas get filled in to protect them, but Aïcha can use |
| 20:30 | the data the team collected to reconstruct the ancient Paracas site. |
| 20:36 | (Bacha speaking French) BACHA (translated): The 3-D reconstructions of the buildings at Animas Altas, Animas Bajas |
| 20:43 | help us to show that under all that sand, we really have an Andean town which developed |
| 20:51 | 2,500 years ago. NARRATOR: This settlement appears to have been abandoned |
| 20:57 | around the year 100, when the site was covered in earth and buried by the Paracas, creating earthen mounds known by the Quechua name of huaca: |
| 21:06 | something sacred and revered. |
| 21:15 | ♪ ♪ The finds at Aïcha's site reveal objects and practices |
| 21:22 | similar to other Paracas locations. |
| 21:28 | Some 75 miles to the north, in the Chincha Valley, lie more Paracas sites: 20 massive huacas overlooking today's farmland. |
| 21:40 | HENRY TANTALEÁN: Wow. (Charles Stanish speaking Spanish) TANTALEÁN: Wow. NARRATOR: Archaeologists Charles Stanish and Henry Tantaleán |
| 21:48 | have worked here for more than a decade. TANTALEÁN: Classical Paracas. |
| 21:55 | NARRATOR: Some of the huacas now have buildings or entire villages built on top of them. |
| 22:02 | But Charles and Henry's team have been excavating some of the mounds, such as this one, called Huaca Soto. |
| 22:15 | STANISH: You can see a giant sunken court here, so we assume that this would have been painted |
| 22:21 | in beautiful colors, at least white and red, probably yellow. We found stairs on either side of these courts. |
| 22:28 | We discovered a spondylus shell and various other evidence of feasting. |
| 22:34 | NARRATOR: Spondylus shells, the remains of shellfish brought from as far away as Ecuador, |
| 22:40 | were considered prestige offerings associated with water and fertility. |
| 22:46 | Charles and Henry believe that it means this, Huaca Soto, |
| 22:52 | was a Paracas ceremonial site. ♪ ♪ |
| 23:03 | Adobe walls erode over time, so it's difficult to be sure exactly what Huaca Soto looked like, |
| 23:09 | but it was clearly a monumental structure. |
| 23:16 | STANISH: For many years, we thought that these were only ritual centers, but now we realize, after our excavations down below, |
| 23:24 | that there's at least a square kilometer of village adjacent to the pyramids. |
| 23:30 | We had a huge population living down there. NARRATOR: Charles and Henry realized that the huacas were right |
| 23:37 | in the middle of a densely populated landscape. STANISH: We have buried villages, |
| 23:43 | there's a massive settlement system, a number of political centers, a ritual center, |
| 23:49 | and this was the demographic, political, and cultural capital of Paracas. |
| 24:01 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Several miles away in the desert, |
| 24:07 | Charles and Henry found a network of five more huacas. |
| 24:13 | Archaeological finds suggest these remote platform mounds were also religious centers. |
| 24:24 | TANTALEÁN (translated): People used to get together here to do celebrations. Over here, we found a group of six mummies |
| 24:33 | from the Paracas era-- they were women. We also found the remains relating to elites, |
| 24:40 | who were possibly directing the worship that took place in this pyramid. |
| 24:49 | NARRATOR: As well as looking at the huacas, the archaeologists studied the surrounding desert. |
| 24:55 | And made a startling discovery. STANISH: As you can see behind, there's a long line, a couple kilometers long, |
| 25:03 | that goes all the way to right in the middle of the Paracas site. |
| 25:10 | NARRATOR: It's one of several lines that lead straight to the desert mounds. But that's not all. |
| 25:16 | So we can see up ahead a large pile of rocks. It's an intentional mound that is integrated |
| 25:24 | into all of the lines, and this was one of the many many places, about 200, |
| 25:31 | that we found throughout the entire geoglyph area. |
| 25:37 | NARRATOR: Charles believes these were altars where Paracas pilgrims might have left offerings. |
| 25:44 | STANISH: If you use the analogy of pilgrimages from around the world, from almost all cultures-- Hindu, Christianity, Muslim-- |
| 25:51 | they all have these kinds of pilgrimages where people stop, and they know exactly what's to be done |
| 25:57 | and when it's to be done, and this is exactly what we see throughout all of these lines. |
| 26:04 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Charles and Henry think that these altars were ritual stops |
| 26:11 | on the lines which led people to their ultimate destination: the desert ceremonial centers. |
| 26:19 | But what motivated people to go on this journey? |
| 26:25 | (translated): In the Andes, a classic way of joining spaces together and of survival is by exchanging goods from different ecological zones. |
| 26:34 | So people from the coast gave fish, and those from the mountains crops, for example. |
| 26:44 | NARRATOR: But the finds at the desert huacas raise a question: with the Paracas capital in the lush green valley |
| 26:53 | just a few miles away, why would the Paracas choose to meet and trade in the desert? |
| 26:59 | The archaeologists have a theory. STANISH: The reason they chose this landscape is because |
| 27:05 | it was barren, it wasn't owned by anybody, and it was neutral. Paracas had a lot of intra-ethnic fighting going on: |
| 27:13 | trophy head-taking and all this and that. And so we know from history and ethnography |
| 27:18 | that people will set up these neutral spaces, in-between zones, where both, all parties feel comfortable. |
| 27:25 | And here you can feel quite comfortable. NARRATOR: Charles and Henry believe that the desert was the setting |
| 27:31 | for periodic markets where goods were exchanged. ♪ ♪ |
| 27:38 | And the orientation of the lines and mountains suggest the Paracas markets may have been held during the Winter Solstice, |
| 27:46 | which in Peru takes place in June. STANISH: One of the great theories as to why civilization developed |
| 27:53 | is that people in pre-capitalist times developed these elaborate marketplaces, fairs, pilgrimage areas, |
| 28:02 | where the people came together and they exchanged products, and marriage partners, and gossip, |
| 28:08 | and have a good time, and this is how civilization really gets a kickstart. ♪ ♪ |
| 28:15 | NARRATOR: The last Paracas offerings and sacrifices at this site were made around 250 BCE, before the ceremonial center |
| 28:23 | was covered with earth and abandoned. |
| 28:32 | ♪ ♪ So what happened to the Paracas? |
| 28:38 | Bioarchaeologist and forensic anthropologist Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao |
| 28:43 | looked to DNA for an answer and got a surprise. TOMASTO-CAGIGAO (translated): There is a DNA type |
| 28:51 | which is specifically inherited from the mother and is very easy to classify. |
| 28:57 | In Native American populations, there are only four lineages-- A, B, C, D. |
| 29:02 | And when I did a test for research purposes, it turned out I matched the D lineage most common |
| 29:08 | among the Paracas. NARRATOR: DNA analysis of human remains dating from 800 BCE to the year 800 |
| 29:17 | helps explain what became of the Paracas. (translated): In the Palpa and Nazca area, it's very difficult |
| 29:25 | to differentiate biologically between the Paracas and the Nazca; they are genetically very similar. |
| 29:32 | Yes, we find cultural differences, which makes sense. As the centuries go by, people change in the way they behave. |
| 29:40 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: The research suggests that sometime before the year 100, |
| 29:46 | the culture of the people living in the region shifted and the Paracas became the Nazca. |
| 29:55 | And while the styles changed, the Nazca continued the Paracas line-making traditions. |
| 30:06 | ♪ ♪ But there were other similarities, too. |
| 30:13 | As archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici found when he arrived in this area 40 years ago. |
| 30:21 | (Orefici speaking Spanish) (translated): When we got here, we found a hill which had the remains |
| 30:26 | of walls and a surface. (speaking Spanish) |
| 30:31 | It was a clue that there was something there, not just a natural hill. |
| 30:37 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: The site, called Cahuachi, turned out to be a huge Nazca complex. |
| 30:45 | (Orefici speaking Spanish) OREFICI (translated): It is the largest adobe ceremonial center |
| 30:50 | in the whole world, 24 square kilometers of great pyramids, large ceremonial enclosures. |
| 30:57 | There was a lot going on with pilgrims arriving |
| 31:02 | from almost 1,000 kilometers away. Cahuachi was the center, |
| 31:09 | the beating heart of Nazca civilization. |
| 31:16 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: But there were no signs of permanent settlements. |
| 31:23 | So although similar to the older Paracas sites of Chincha, Cahuachi was a different type of ceremonial center. |
| 31:32 | OREFICI (translated): It was a pilgrimage site where people cannot access all areas. They have places they are allowed in, |
| 31:41 | and where they can perform their rituals. |
| 31:47 | NARRATOR: Giuseppe believes that priests performed their own rituals inside the pyramids, while the pilgrims remained camped outside. |
| 31:57 | OREFICI (translated): We excavated a few temporary campsites people went to. |
| 32:03 | They ate the food they had brought, and they could see from a distance what was happening inside Cahuachi. |
| 32:10 | ♪ ♪ |
| 32:21 | NARRATOR: Just outside Cahuachi, a team of researchers has made a discovery. |
| 32:27 | NICOLA MASINI (speaking Italian): ROSA LASAPONARA (in Italian): ♪ ♪ |
| 32:34 | (shutter clicks) LASAPONARA: MASINI: |
| 32:42 | LASAPONARA: ♪ ♪ |
| 32:50 | (translated): We do archaeology without digging. A non-invasive archaeology. |
| 32:56 | We do this with satellite remote sensing, remote-sensing planes, drones, |
| 33:02 | and also with geophysical exploration techniques. |
| 33:08 | NARRATOR: Nicola Masini and his team have found lines leading to the Nazca ceremonial site. |
| 33:14 | (Masini speaking Italian) MASINI (translated): We can see a clear spatial |
| 33:19 | and functional relationship between the geoglyphs and the pyramids. |
| 33:26 | (drone whirring in distance) ♪ ♪ |
| 33:31 | NARRATOR: They found evidence that the pilgrims outside the Nazca ceremonial center were more than just spectators in the events. |
| 33:40 | (translated): In this area, the entire setting of the geoglyphs is mainly made up of meandering elements, which clearly evokes |
| 33:50 | the ritual activity of the processions. Imagine the Nazca praying, singing. |
| 33:56 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: So Nicola believes that while the Nazca religious elite could perform in the pyramids, |
| 34:04 | the pilgrims carried out their own ceremonies along or within the lines in the desert. ♪ ♪ |
| 34:13 | MASINI (translated): The geoglyphs and the pyramids can be seen as two faces of the same coin, of ceremonial activity which took place inside |
| 34:21 | those structures, in the rooms and corridors of the pyramids. But ceremonial activity also took place |
| 34:29 | along these geometric shapes. ♪ ♪ |
| 34:38 | NARRATOR: At the height of the Nazca civilization, sometime before the year 400, the evidence suggests |
| 34:44 | different lines were created for different purposes. |
| 34:50 | Straight lines led to ceremonial centers. Meandering ones were a stage for ritual. |
| 34:59 | And the famous images were also used for rituals, and perhaps to appeal to the gods. |
| 35:08 | But barely 300 years later, Nazca line-making fades away to nothing-- why? |
| 35:17 | (translated): Some figurative motifs drawn in the pampa were erased or deliberately covered up |
| 35:23 | by the Nazca themselves. NARRATOR: Before line-making dies out, the Nazca draw new shapes |
| 35:29 | over some of their earlier figurative geoglyphs, |
| 35:34 | and large geometrical shapes such as trapezoids become more common. |
| 35:40 | ♪ ♪ Finds within these new geoglyphs hint at them |
| 35:46 | no longer being simply pathways for processions. The Nazca were using them differently. |
| 35:54 | (translated): We're at the base of a trapezoid made of stones, and the borders are well laid out. |
| 36:03 | They finish at a more narrow point where there are two small platforms, where we think rituals took place. |
| 36:10 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Johny believes that the shift in design means there was a widespread change in the Nazca rituals. |
| 36:18 | And there was a new element to the geoglyphs. (Isla speaking Spanish) |
| 36:27 | ISLA (translated): We identified small mounds or altars in the desert, altars with a series of things |
| 36:32 | the ancient people left offerings. Like things they grew in the valleys, |
| 36:38 | seashells from the ocean, objects made of copper or semiprecious stones, and spondylus shells. |
| 36:45 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: These altars were no longer ritual stops along the way, |
| 36:52 | as they had been in Paracas times. For the Nazca, they were a focal point of worship |
| 36:59 | on the trapezoids, playing a much more central role. ♪ ♪ |
| 37:06 | What happened to cause such a change from the Nazca's previous geoglyph-making tradition? |
| 37:14 | ♪ ♪ In Cahuachi, Giuseppe found some clues. |
| 37:24 | (translated): This is a big ceremonial precinct, one of the places where ceremonies were held. |
| 37:34 | When we excavated it, it was completely covered by a layer of alluvial soils. |
| 37:41 | NARRATOR: Alluvial soils are deposited by surface water. |
| 37:47 | They're evidence of flooding. OREFICI (translated): We found a boy in it who had been carried here by the water |
| 37:55 | who had drowned. NARRATOR: There is evidence that the area had been hit by a major flood, |
| 38:02 | and the layers of sediment here reveal this flooding wasn't an isolated incident. |
| 38:08 | It was a recurring event. OREFICI (translated): There are frequent floods, |
| 38:14 | one after the other, as well as a terrible earthquake, which destroys a large part of Cahuachi. |
| 38:21 | NARRATOR: Today, the region experiences flooding at two- to seven-year intervals, |
| 38:28 | caused by the weather phenomenon known as El Niño. A warming of Pacific seawater |
| 38:34 | leads to low air pressure, increased rainfall, and flash flooding. |
| 38:39 | It was a mega El Niño event followed by an earthquake which destroyed large parts |
| 38:46 | of the ceremonial center of Cahuachi sometime around the year 400. |
| 38:51 | Giuseppe found thousands of shards at Cahuachi, remains of valuable pottery, |
| 38:57 | which was smashed at the pyramids, most likely as a sacrifice as the Nazca appealed to the gods. |
| 39:07 | ♪ ♪ (translated): There was a big change in Nazca society |
| 39:14 | and its relationship with the deities. It seemed the gods had abandoned them. |
| 39:21 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: And Giuseppe believes that, in response, |
| 39:29 | the Nazca abandoned Cahuachi. |
| 39:34 | ♪ ♪ The floods were followed by periods of prolonged drought. |
| 39:44 | And the layout of big trapezoids hints at the Nazca's main concern. |
| 39:50 | ISLA (translated): Many point towards the most important mountains in the region, which is where the water comes from in the summer months. |
| 40:03 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: In Las Trancas, one of the region's valleys, |
| 40:08 | Nicola Masini and his team think they may have found an answer to how the Nazca |
| 40:13 | dealt with their increasingly serious water problem. |
| 40:19 | MASINI (translated): From satellite images, we discovered these peculiar round shapes. ♪ ♪ |
| 40:30 | NARRATOR: Near the round mounds, they come across something else. LASAPONARA (speaking Italian): |
| 40:36 | MASINI: LASAPONARA: |
| 40:41 | MASINI: LASAPONARA: |
| 40:50 | ♪ ♪ |
| 40:57 | NARRATOR: They find a trapezoid geoglyph close to these mounds. It points to Cerro Marcha, the mountain that provides |
| 41:05 | the region with water in the summer months. It suggests the mounds are significant for something. |
| 41:11 | (translated): Today we will do a 3-D study with the drone. |
| 41:17 | And then we'll go over with georadar, a geophysics research tool. |
| 41:25 | NARRATOR: The drone and ground-penetrating radar find evidence of an underground tunnel, |
| 41:30 | the remains of an ancient aqueduct called a puquio. |
| 41:37 | ♪ ♪ The Nazca engineered an extensive network of aqueducts, |
| 41:44 | which tapped into subterranean water coming from the mountains, allowing them to bring it to the surface |
| 41:51 | to store and distribute. ♪ ♪ |
| 41:59 | (translated): So we have four elements of the landscape: the sacred mountain; the geoglyph, where the ceremonial and ritual activity |
| 42:07 | takes place; the puquio, seen for its ability to produce water |
| 42:13 | almost as some sort of miracle, which is why they thanked the deity. |
| 42:19 | And the result of all of this is the valley, an oasis where they farmed. |
| 42:28 | NARRATOR: There may have been as many as 50 aqueducts in Nazca times. 36 are still in use today. |
| 42:38 | ♪ ♪ The rise of the trapezoid geoglyphs |
| 42:44 | coincides with an increase in dramatic and violent images on Nazca pottery around the year 500, |
| 42:52 | including trophy heads in greater numbers than before. ♪ ♪ |
| 42:57 | Are things getting desperate for the Nazca? (Tomasto-Cagigao speaking Spanish) |
| 43:03 | (translated): Trophy head iconography is very common among the Nazca, and real trophy heads have been found. |
| 43:10 | It could have been confrontations between different communities, between enemies. |
| 43:17 | But another theory is that it could be a ritual. (crowd shouting) |
| 43:26 | NARRATOR: Elsa believes the Nazca may have appealed to their deities in a way similar to an ancient and violent ritual |
| 43:31 | still practiced today. (crowd shouting) |
| 43:37 | TOMASTO-CAGIGAO (translated): Today, in the Cusco region, in Canas, a ritual war is waged among communities |
| 43:42 | that are not enemies, and who, on a given date, in a given space, come together in confrontation. |
| 43:50 | It's a real confrontation. People die and are injured, and the blood that is spilled from these clashes |
| 43:58 | is seen as an offering to the Mother Earth relating to fertility. |
| 44:04 | (crowd shouting) NARRATOR: Could the Nazca have practiced bloody rituals as a response to a lack of rainfall? |
| 44:12 | ♪ ♪ |
| 44:22 | What was causing the droughts? Were they just part of natural climate cycles, |
| 44:29 | or was something else going on? ♪ ♪ |
| 44:36 | More than 6,000 miles away, at Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew... |
| 44:43 | ...conservation botanist Oliver Whaley and archaeobotanist David Beresford-Jones |
| 44:49 | have been trying to understand the environmental and ecological pressures the Nazca were facing. |
| 44:56 | About 20 years ago, they were studying changes in the ecosystem. |
| 45:02 | Traveling off-road through the desert, they found one environment they didn't expect. |
| 45:10 | We came across a dune, and we found a twittering, uh, warm and green, verdant forest, |
| 45:18 | almost sunken into the desert. ♪ ♪ |
| 45:25 | NARRATOR: The Usaca forest is six miles long and only a few miles from the Nazca ceremonial center at Cahuachi. |
| 45:35 | It was full of absolutely enormous trees, a very cool, shady, beautiful forested environment. |
| 45:41 | And it suddenly made me think that perhaps the environments of the past were rather different |
| 45:47 | to the sorts of environments one sees today. |
| 45:54 | NARRATOR: In order to test his hypothesis, David and his team analyzed soil from different areas in the Nazca desert. |
| 46:04 | BERESFORD-JONES: We took samples from the floor of the Usaca woodland, and then we compared those to soil samples from |
| 46:10 | parts of the south coast which are today desertified. And we found that the pollen samples were |
| 46:16 | directly equivalent. In other words, these now desert landscapes had once been forested. |
| 46:22 | (insects chittering, birds twittering) NARRATOR: What happened to the forests? |
| 46:27 | The soil samples show trees in the earlier layers were later replaced by agricultural crops. |
| 46:36 | The forests had been cut down by the Nazca. But why? |
| 46:45 | After the year 500, a rising empire from the Andean highlands, |
| 46:51 | the Wari, was spreading out across Peru. |
| 46:57 | Distinctive Wari finds show they reached the Nazca region. BERESFORD-JONES: One of the reasons Wari were on the south coast was because |
| 47:05 | they wanted to extract cotton, which they couldn't grow in the highlands. NARRATOR: The Nazca valleys, |
| 47:11 | kept fertile by the aqueducts, were perfectly places to grow cotton and other crops. Coming under the influence of a more powerful civilization, |
| 47:21 | the Nazca cut down their forest to make space for agriculture. WHALEY: The Nazca were pushed |
| 47:27 | by the Wari to overextend their agriculture, eating into the last relics of, of forest. |
| 47:37 | NARRATOR: David and Oliver tried to gauge just how much of the Nazca's forests still exist. |
| 47:44 | We estimate that from the original early Nazca forest extent, we've probably got less than five percent. |
| 47:52 | It's probably two or three percent of the original forest cover. |
| 47:58 | ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: For centuries, the trees had maintained an ecological balance. |
| 48:04 | And large-scale deforestation led to a tipping point, causing irreversible damage to the ecosystem. |
| 48:12 | The ground became vulnerable to erosion, and the lack of trees sped up desertification. |
| 48:20 | For the Nazca, it marked the beginning of the end. WHALEY: So this is what the forest |
| 48:27 | was like in 2001. NARRATOR: Today, what little remains of the ancient Nazca woodland |
| 48:34 | is under threat once again. It is being cut down and burnt to be sold as charcoal. |
| 48:42 | Tragic. Yeah. ♪ ♪ |
| 48:49 | NARRATOR: To try and stop the illegal deforestation, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew |
| 48:55 | supports scientists and conservationists who monitor the remaining Usaca forest. |
| 49:02 | Alfonso Orellana Garcia is local to the area. ♪ ♪ |
| 49:10 | GARCIA (translated): This is a huarango tree forest. The mother tree, the tree of life, |
| 49:16 | that's what we call the huarango. By burning, felling our trees and making forests disappear, |
| 49:23 | we are repeating past mistakes. ♪ ♪ NARRATOR: Today, Usaca is a dwindling haven |
| 49:29 | for wildlife familiar to the Nazca, like hummingbirds. ♪ ♪ |
| 49:36 | And the Pampas cat, etched into the hillside. |
| 49:42 | ♪ ♪ |
| 49:50 | Geoglyph-making, which began with the Paracas but reached its peak in Nazca times, |
| 49:57 | starts declining as Nazca society falls apart. ♪ ♪ |
| 50:05 | ISLA (translated): This tradition of making geoglyphs ended around the year 650, 700, |
| 50:11 | when Nazca society in this region also came to an end. NARRATOR: The evidence suggests |
| 50:18 | that as they faced ecological collapse, many Nazca abandoned this landscape and scattered, |
| 50:25 | assimilating into the Wari. TOMASTO-CAGIGAO (translated): They had to emigrate. |
| 50:31 | Some went eastwards, up the mountains, where the rains were more frequent. |
| 50:39 | Others went south. ♪ ♪ |
| 50:45 | NARRATOR: The remnants of the great civilizations of the Paracas and the Nazca remained etched into the landscape, |
| 50:53 | virtually forgotten for hundreds of years. Today, archaeologists believe |
| 50:59 | that the geoglyphs were multifunctional. They were ritual pathways, territorial markers, |
| 51:07 | the stage for ceremonies. ♪ ♪ Their design and use changing over a millennium. |
| 51:14 | ♪ ♪ |
| 51:21 | And the legacy of the sophisticated societies that created the lines lives on. |
| 51:26 | ♪ ♪ (translated): The descendants of the Paracas, of the Nazca, of the Incas, |
| 51:34 | we are alive, we are here. Most of us in Peru descend from these ancient populations. |
| 51:40 | And we are very proud of our Indigenous past, and interested in learning about it, and we cherish it. |
| 51:50 | ♪ ♪ |
| 52:12 | ♪ ♪ |
| 52:27 | ANNOUNCER: To order this program on DVD, visit ShopPBS. Or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS. |
| 52:34 | Episodes of "NOVA" are available with Passport. "NOVA" is also available on Amazon Prime Video. |
| 52:41 | ♪ ♪ |
| 52:55 | ♪ ♪ |
