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# 168 New Geoglyphs Discovered in Peru
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/168-new-geoglyphs-discovered-in-peru-nazca-lines/
- Published: 2022-12-26T21:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:21:00.000Z
- Description: The newly discovered Nazca lines depict humans, cats, killer whales, birds, and snakes and date between 100 BCE and 300 CE.
- Author: Elaine Velie
- Tags: News, Nazca lines, Peru, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:22 (2021, 2022, part 2)

Archaeologists discovered 168 geoglyphs near the arid Nazca plain in Southern Peru. The new findings, which encompass images of humans, birds, snakes, cats, and killer whales, date between 100 BCE and 300 CE, when the pre-Incan Nazca civilization lived in the region. The discovery adds to [nearly 1,000](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/nasca-lines?ref=hyperallergic.com#:~:text=The%20lines%20are%20found%20in,plant%20designs%2C%20also%20called%20biomorphs.) straight lines and hundreds of figurative drawings that have so far been identified as part of the vast [Nazca lines](https://hyperallergic.com/tag/nazca-lines/).

The Nazca people created the works by [removing](https://hyperallergic.com/143197/walking-the-mysterious-and-monumental-nazca-lines/) the earth's top layer of black stone to reveal the white sand below, and although the exact function of the lines is unknown, they are [thought to have](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/700?ref=hyperallergic.com) served a ritualistic purpose in relation to astrology.

Professor Masato Sakai of Yamagata Unviversity in Japan and Peruvian archaeologist Jorge Olano led the recent [survey](https://www.yamagata-u.ac.jp/en/files/4116/7056/6138/New%5FNasca%5FgeoglyphsPRESS%5FRELEASE%5F08%5FDec%5F2022%5FEnglish.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com). The team used aerial photographs, some captured by drones, to decipher the figures. Most of the newly discovered figures are relatively small — less than 32 feet wide — and many were drawn on hillsides.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/12/es-017b-photographic-processing1-1.jpg)

Many of the recently discovered geoglyphs were drawn into hillsides.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/12/1403b-photographic-processing-1.jpg)

The figures include human and animal subjects.

Yamagata University began surveying the Nazca lines in 2004\. The university last [announced new findings](https://hyperallergic.com/529693/ai-technology-helped-researchers-discover-143-ancient-geoglyphs/) in 2019, and so far, Yamagata University has identified a total of 358 previously unknown geoglyphs.

The 290-square-mile [protected](https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/700?ref=hyperallergic.com) region that contains most of the Nazca lines is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most of the works remain in good condition, although the 1937 construction of the Pan-American highway [cut through](https://www.esa.int/ESA%5FMultimedia/Images/2004/02/The%5FPan-American%5FHighway%5Fruns%5Fthrough%5Fthe%5FNasca%5FLines?ref=hyperallergic.com) some, and the ancient lines have sustained isolated damage in the past decade. In 2014, Greenpeace activists staged a protest that damaged the geoglyphs, and in 2018, a [truck driver](https://hyperallergic.com/424851/truck-driver-plows-through-and-damages-perus-nazca-lines/) drove through the area and cut through three of the drawings. Sakai [warned](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/researchers-discover-over-100-new-ancient-designs-perus-nazca-lines-2022-12-19/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that mining initiatives could threaten the Nazca lines, and the university [stated](https://www.yamagata-u.ac.jp/en/files/4116/7056/6138/New%5FNasca%5FgeoglyphsPRESS%5FRELEASE%5F08%5FDec%5F2022%5FEnglish.pdf?ref=hyperallergic.com) that it plans to use artificial intelligence to establish the lines' distribution patterns, which will be used to further conservation efforts.