Geheimnis der Wüste / Mystery on the Desert / Secreto de la Pampa

Description

Among the most fascinating testimonies of the principal and highly developed civilizations of ancient America are the famous ceramics and textiles of the South-Peruvian Nazca-culture. It is very little, however, which we know about manifestations in other fields of this culture. Maria Reiche, a German mathematician and geographer,has for over two decades, investigated one of the secrets of this early culture, having dedicated all her time and efforts to the mysterious ground-drawings of Nazca and Palpa. She considers these rightly as documentations of an ancient calendar-science of the classical period of the Nazca-culture, which belongs to the first millennium of our era. These drawings, which are imprinted on the stone-covered surface of a desert, have to be preserved for the survey, which is to be carried out and completed, since it will throw light on some aspects of this culture, which, because of the complete lack of written records, can only be investigated through careful and laborious field-work. In the following, the author touches the question, if directions and lengths could have been employed for time reckoning purposes. Looking for the extent of knowledge these ancient people possessed, the question arises, of how could the old masters have transferred geometric forms and representative figures from one scale to another, producing sometimes giant shapes. The problem is discussed whether it might be possible to coordinate the shapes of these drawings to certain styles and epochs, i. e. to synchronize their figures with consecutive types of ceramics. It is in this context that the author touches the subject of historical sequences of the Peruvian cultures.