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Dating the geometric Nasca lines in the Peruvian desert

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 March 2015

W.J. Rink  and
J. Bartoll
W.J. Rink
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Geology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. W., Hamilton, ON L8S 4K1, Canada (Email: [email protected])
J. Bartoll
Affiliation:
Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation, Berlin-Brandenburg, Department of Conservation, P.O. Box 601462, 14414 Potsdam, Germany
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Abstract

The Nasca lines are geoglyphs – arrays of stones forming geometric shapes constructed by ancient humans, the largest ones occupying areas of more than 1km2. The authors used optically stimulated luminescence dating of quartz buried when the stone lines were constructed to give new dates for contexts associated with geoglyphs on high mesetas near Palpa. They conclude that the stone lines at sites at San Ignacio and Sacramento were constructed between AD 400 and 650. This suggests that they were made in the later part of the Early Intermediate Period by people of the Nasca culture.

Keywords

Nascageoglyphoptically stimulated luminescencequartz
Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 304 , June 2005 , pp. 390 - 401
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2005

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