Using a
taxonomic approach, scientists have re-identified the huge birds drawn on the
desert plains of Peru as hermits or pelicans
Date: June 19, 2019
Source: Hokkaido University
A
scientific approach has been used to re-identify huge birds etched into the
desert plains of southern Peru around 2,000 years ago. The birds appear to be
exotic to the region and further studies could help explain their significance.
The study is published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.
The lines
and geoglyphs of Nasca and Palpa are located some 400 kilometers south of Lima,
Peru and form a World Heritage Site covering an area of about 450 square
kilometers. They were carved into the ground between 400 B.C.E and 1000 C.E. by
pre-Inca people, and include lines, geometric designs, and animal and plant
drawings. Most of these etchings are so large that they are best seen in aerial
photographs. Identifying what they represent is an essential first step towards
unraveling the mystery of why they were drawn in the first place.
Masaki
Eda of The Hokkaido University Museum, Takeshi Yamasaki of Yamashina Institute
for Ornithology, and Masato Sakai of Yamagata University in Japan applied an
ornithological approach to identify the 16 bird geoglyphs among more than 2,000
drawings present in the area. "Until now, the birds in these drawings have
been identified based on general impressions or a few morphological traits
present in each figure. We closely noted the shapes and relative sizes of the
birds' beaks, heads, necks, bodies, wings, tails and feet and compared them
with those of modern birds in Peru,"says Eda.
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