Were the Nazca Lines a plea for divine assistance?

An article in the Daily Mail postulates that by cutting down native vegetation to make room for agriculture, the Nazca culture eventually destroyed itself by making its environment untenable.

... the Nazca cleared areas of forest to make way for their own agriculture over the course of many generations.

In doing so, the huarango tree, which once covered what is now a desert area, was gradually replaced by crops such as cotton and maize. They examined plant remains found in the Ica Valley to understand what happened.

But the tree was crucial to the desert's fragile ecosystem as it enhanced soil fertility and moisture and helped to hold the Nazca's narrow, vulnerable irrigation channels in place, the researchers said. Its deep roots held the soil together and protected against erosion.

The Nazca eventually cut down so many trees that they reached a tipping point at which the arid ecosystem was irreversibly damaged with the removal of this natural defence system.

An El Nino-style flood then occurred, but its impact would have been far less devastating had the forests which protected the delicate desert ecology still been there, they said.




Dr David Beresford-Jones, of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research at Cambridge University, said: 'These were very particular forests. The huarango is a remarkable nitrogen-fixing tree and it was an important source of food, forage, timber and fuel for the local people.

'It is the ecological 'keystone' species in this desert zone, enhancing soil fertility and moisture, ameliorating desert extremes in the microclimate beneath its canopy and underpinning the floodplain with one of the deepest root systems of any tree known.

'In time, gradual woodland clearance crossed an ecological threshold - sharply defined in such desert environments - exposing the landscape to the region's extraordinary desert winds and the effects of El Nino floods.'

Without huarango cover, Nasca irrigation systems were obliterated by flooding rivers when El Nino struck, meaning the area became unworkable for agriculture.

Evidence shows in the generations that followed infant mortality rose, average adult life expectancy fell, crops failed and drought hit the region.

There's more at the link.

The whole story makes one wonder about the Nazca Lines, which have long fascinated scientists and archaeologists. Who or what were the Nazca addressing with these weird drawings? Were they, perhaps, a plea for help to whatever deity or deities the Nazca worshiped, asking for the return of abundant water and food?

Peter