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Nazca Lines

c. 500 BCE–500 CE · 6th century BCE

The Nazca Lines are huge geoglyphs scraped into the desert surface between the Nazca and Palpa valleys of southern Peru, made mostly between about 500 BCE and 500 CE by the Paracas and Nazca cultures. They include hundreds of straight lines and geometric shapes and some 70 figures of animals and plants, such as a monkey, a hummingbird and a spider. Their purpose is debated, with links to water and ritual often suggested.

Nazca Lines
Image: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Nazca

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Nazca Lines. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nazca-lines
MLA
“Nazca Lines.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nazca-lines. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Nazca Lines.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nazca-lines.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Nazca Lines’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/nazca-lines (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻