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Early South American Civilizations

Nazca (sometimes spelled Nasca) is the name of a system of valleys on the southern coast of Peru, and the name of the region's largest existing town. It is also the name applied to the Nazca culture that flourished in the area between 300 B.C. and A.D. 800 They were responsible for the famous Nazca lines and the ceremonial city of Cahuachi; they also constructed an impressive system of underground aqueducts that still function today.

Plaza de armas, town of Nazca

The town of Nazca has recently been dumping its trash on the pampa, destroying some of the Nazca lines in the process. This has caused some controversy; it is believed the mayor issued the order to protest a lack of aid to Nazca. Under President Alberto Ken'ya Fujimori's rule, Nazca received money to turn the irrigation canals into tourist attractions. Unfortunately, this consisted of tearing up some of the access points to the canals and replacing them with reconstructions of how they were believed to have looked. President Alejandro Toledo, whose partner is an anthropologist, stopped the aid.

Since 1997 Nazca is the location of a major Canadian gold mining operation. The people who were living on the land for the previous 2000 years did not have title to the land so they were displaced without legal problems. Since then there have been some attempts to legalize poor citizens' ownership of their land and their fixed property, in response to Hernando de Soto's research on the poor.

The Nazca lines are the most attractive feature in this culture. These large "geoglyphs", drawings on the earth's surface, make no sense on the ground. We can recognize the features only from the air. There are several kinds of figures, such as fish, birds, monkeys, a whale, spiders and plants. These lines are spread over the ground for more than 800 miles (1,300 km), some of these lines have an extent that is 12 miles (20 km) long. Because these lines are on a flat surface and the local climate is extremely dry, nearly all geoglyphs remain completely intact. These geoglyphs are featured not only in the Nazca, but also in other coastal areas (Zana, Santa, Sechin Valleys, Pampa Canto Grande, and Sihuas Valleys) and in northern Chile.

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Nazca

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Coordinates: 14°49′44″S, 74°56′37″W