Desert labyrinth: lines, landscape and

meaning at Nazca, Peru

Clive Ruggles & Nicholas J. Saunders
The shapes drawn out by the famous Nazca
lines in the Peruvian desert are at their most
evident from the airgiving rise to some
famously fantastic theories about their origin.
The new understanding offered here is the
result of a piece of straightforward brilliance
on the part ofi our authors: get down on the
ground, where the original users were, and see
where your feet lead you. Using stratigraphie
and taphonomic reasoning to decide which
lines were contemporary, they discover an
itinerary so complex they can justify calling
it a labyrinth, and see it as serving ceremonial
progressions.
Keywords: Peru, Nasca, Nazca, first millennium AD, geoglyphs, landscape

Introduction
Landscapes are concepts as well as physical places. As we move through them we engage
our social and cultural precepts, inventing and elaborating, emphasising or disregarding
natural features, and bestowing ever-changing meanings on the arbitrary configurations
of significance that we perceive. Topography becomes toponymy, reflected in, and
acknowledged by, a layering of material traces. Few places epitomise these processes in
a more palpableor a more contentiousway than the desert of coastal southetn Peru.
The Nazca pampa, 220km^ in extent, is one of many arid desert plateaux that sepatate
the habitable river valleys of the region. The part known as the Pampa de San Jos is famous
for its palimpsest of pre-Columbian geoglyphs (lines, geometric designs, and zoomorphic
figures). In fact, geoglyphs extend over the entire Nazca pampa, making it a unique example
of the social construction of landscape, and of landscape as ongoing social process. Yet
its status as an icon of international cultural heritage (Diaz Arrila 2000) is matched by
its nature as one of the world's most fragile archaeological landscapes, and exacerbated
by endless speculation on the origins and purpose of its enigmatic desert markings. Tensions
between investigation, preservation, development and tourism, existing since the 1970s,
'
^

School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester LFl 7RH, UK
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, 43 Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 lUU, UK

Antiquity Publications Ltd.

ANTIQUITY 86 (2012): 1126-1140

http://antiquity.ac.uk/ant/086/ant0861126.htm

1126

Glive Ruggles dr Nicholas J. Saunders

resulted in access to the pampa being restricted, and also help to explain an almost 20-year
absence of z situ investigations after the mid-1980s.
The geoglyphs are primarily associated with the Nasca culture (c. 100 BC-c. AD 700) and
were produced, broadly speaking, by picking up or sweeping aside the oxide-darkened desert
pavement of small stones to reveal lighter, sandy soil beneath (Silverman & Proulx 2002:
172). The theories that have attempted to explain these designs on the desert are a roll call of
shifting twentieth-century obsessions, von Dniken's (1969) supposed ahen landing strips
being by far the most notorious example, albeit globally influential in heightening pubhc
awareness. Reiche's (1968) astronomical-calendrical interpretation remains a dominant
public narrative at local and national levels within Peru. More reasoned interpretations,
grounded in Andean material culture and world-view, postulate connections to water and
irrigation, walking, ceremonial activity, ritual clearing, kinship, and concepts of radiality, as
well as astronomy in limited measure (Reinhard 1987; Aveni 1990, 2000; Rodriguez 1999;
Johnson et al. 2002).
Clusters of hill-top geoglyphs in the nearby Palpa valley area, north of the Nazca desert,
have recently been mapped from the air (Sauerbier 2009; see also Arnold 2009) and,
significantly, investigated on the ground using a range of archaeological techniques (Lambers
2006; Reindel et al. 2006). This important advance has tied Palpa's geoglyphs to material
culture (Reindel & Wagner 2009), and revealed both to be rypically Nasca, and thus coeval
with the almost identical, though larger-scale and more densely-packed, desert designs of
the Nazca pampa.
Our investigations seek to explain this scale and density. While we acknowledge in general
terms that the Nazca geoglyphs were in some way a vivification of indigenous concepts of
obligation to create and maintain ritual and social space (Silverman 1990a: 45152; Urton
1990), we have not followed exclusively any prior theory. Instead, we adopted two distinct
yet complementary approachesone sensorial, the other technological.
Reconnaissance began in 2004, and established an 80km^ study area towards the south
and west of the Nazca pampa bordering the valley of the Nazca River, where the ceremonial
site of Cahuachi is located (Silverman 1993; Orefici 2009a). Over a period of five years from
2007 we conducted an intensive and systematic investigation of the geoglyphs in this area,
south of the most sensitive parts of the Pampa de San Jos but still a fragile landscape with
restricted access.
As Nazca's desert drawings were created and used by people who walked on and had
an intimate relationship with the pampa, we attempted to develop our own equally haptic
(tactile) familiarity with the landscape in order to appreciate the physical and perceptual
relationships that may have influenced geoglyph production, use, and abandonment. The
authors have spent more than 150 days in the study area walking over 1500lan in the
process. To make scientific sense of our subjective experiences, we gathered and analysed
data on the physical structure of the geoglyphs and their cultural and environmental context,
following well-established practice pioneered by investigators such as Clarkson (1990). In
short, we combined an experiential mode of inquiry with satellite digital mapping and a
detailed scientific examination of the material evidence.
During the first fieldwork season we relocated a remarkable and previously unreported
desert drawing, initially encountered by CR in 1984 and still undocumented. This provided
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1127

JH
^
a
p

-- -

Desert labyrinth

83

83

Figure L The labyrinth in context: features in the wider landscape and covering a broader chronology. All mappedgeoglyph
features are shown, but footpaths are omittedfor clarity. Dots mark rows of small stone piles. Lighter lines indicate the sides
of washes. Drawing: Deborah Miles-Williams.

some unique insights into the placement of geoglyphs in the landscape, and their design
and intended use. In this paper, we focus upon this design and its broader implications for
understanding the human use of the Nazca pampa and the cultural significance of its desert
markings.

Experiencing the unexpected: a labyrinth recognised

Line Centre 51 (LC51 ; Figure 1 ) is one of a cluster of nine 'line centres'prominent points
in the landscape from which many linear geoglyphs radiatenoted by Aveni (1990: 48,
68-69). It is situated at 486736 8366376 and elevation 416m, about 4km north of the
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1128

Clive Ruggles & Nicholas J. Saunders

Eigure 2. Plan oftthe 'LC51 labyrinth' showing washes. Drawing: Deborah Miles-Williams.

Nazca River valley and almost ditectly across the valley from Cahuachi. However, LC51 is
anomalous. It has only one narrow radiating line, to the south, plus a triple lineone wide
line flanked by two narrower onesextending to the NW.
On 5 June 1984, while investigating LC51 as part of a statistical investigation of radial
line azimuths (Ruggles 1990), CR began walking the central line of the triplet to the N W
out from the centre, and in doing so began what might be described as a personal rite of
passage. This central line {A in Figure 2), narrowing steadily from some 5.5m wide at the
start (O), reaches a point 230m to the N W beyond which a 40m-long section has been
completely washed away. Howevet, the vety end of the linenow only 1.1m wide^just
survives beyond the fat side of the wash {B). Here it tutns two right-angled corners to the
left and then returns as the parallel line on the SW side ( Q . Following this line revealed that
it does in fact turn left again at its SE end, passing ditectly in front of the start of the wide
line (see Figure 3) and then turning again to form the other parallel line on the NE side {E).
Continuing to follow the line, a succession of sharp corners was encountered, each of
which suddenly revealed a further straight segment heading off in a new and unexpected
direction. Ever-longer segments led progressively further away from the central focal point
and then back again tantalisingly close. After 15 such corners came a unique feature: a tight
curve {16). Beyond this wete three long straight segments which, breaking the 'out and
Antiquity Ptiblications Ltd.

1129

Desert labyrintb

Eigure 3. The view northwardsfromthe central mimnn O. U'/rti- inie \ can be seen stretching ojj tu the Icjt, with a narrow
segment (D) passing directly in front. Photograph: Clive Ruggles.

back' thythm, swept out beyond and atound the remainder of the figute before tevealing
the final unanticipated element. After suddenly narrowing down to a mere 0.5m in
width, the path transfotms into a tight spital (JO, winding into the centte and out again and
leaving the walket, after ttaversing a little over 4.4km, just 60m from the original starting
point (see also Figute 4). The plans in Figutes 1 and 2 ate based upon survey data collected
in 2007. Tables la and lb list the basic data on length and orientations.

Discussion
The tetm 'labytinth'in the sense of a single path leading to and from a centre, constantly
disotientating the walker along the way, as opposed to a btanching maze with choices of
path and ditection (Ketn 1982: 13; Aveni 2000: 220)seems wholly apptoptiate here. The
labyrinth was clearly designed as an integral whole. It was evidently built with great care
and consistency, every part consttucted with a level sutface of small stones and a tegular
bank of larger stones on each side. The width temains a constant 1.1m thtoughout, apatt
from where it widens out on approach to the centtal focal point (O) at one end and narrows
through the spital {X} at the othet. All the segments ate straight apart ftom VW, which has
a slight kink, suggesting pethaps that the final cotnet {18) and spiral {X) were built before
being joined togethet. The whole figute is situated on relatively fiat gtound between 414 and
418m in elevation, the only significant undulations being two low mounds, one that forms
the focal point (O) and the other at the tutning points ofthe inner paths to the north-west
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1130

Clive Ruggles & Nicholas J. Saunders

Figure 4. Aerial view of the central and SW part of the labyrinth, showing the central mound O and paths A, G and E
extending to the WNW; the spiraly..; segments G, H and] passing 'behind' (to the south of) the central mound; and access
path e extending away to the south. Photograph; Clive Rubles.

[B, 5, 6). As a result, the labyrinth as an entity is invisible, and therefore 'hidden', in the
landscape.
Yet its overall design is asymmetric and, as viewed 'externally', is completely unaesthetic
at least to Western sensibilities. It is certainly not representational in any obvious sense, and
does not correspond to any motif known from Nasca iconography (Proulx 2006). A 'bird's
eye' view, such as Figure 2, is therefore useless for understanding the meaning of the design;
a sense of participating in a meaningful activity only emerges by walking. The design itself
directs the walking experience, while the structure (i.e. the width of the path and the nature
of the surface) shapes that experience for the mind and body (e.g. Ingold 2004: 321).
Was the labyrinth unique? Probably not. Nevertheless, it is clearly unusual: within the
immediate surrounding area of several square kilometres, where narrow lines and paths
are typically between 0.4 and 0.7m in width, wider lines and trapezoids are several metres
wide at least, and we have found no other curves or spirals. Fragments of comparable line
segments are, however, found in an area some 700m to the south (around x in Figure 1),
which indicates the likely existence of a similar construction or constructions, now almost
unrecognisable. This emphasises how fortunate it is that the integrity of the LC51 labyrinth
has not been compromised. All but one of the corners survive, including the unique curved
corner 16, despite the fact that over 10 per cent of the figure has been washed away. The
original position of corner 18 can easily be deduced from the two straight path segments
leading up to it.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1131

Desert labyrinth
Table la. 'LC51 labyrinrh' basic data: corners.
Location
Point
Central terminal
Corner 1
Corner 2
Corner 3
Corner 4
Corner 5
Corner 6
Corner 7
Corner 8
Corner 9
Corner 10
Corner 11
Corner 12
Corner 13
Corner 14
Corner 15
Start of curved segment
End of curved segment
Corner 17
Corner 18
Slight kink
Start of spiral
Last surviving part

486732
486563
486558
486724
486742
486563
486540
486717
486787
486626
486636
486789
486802
486647
486661
486811
487086
487088
486666
486439
486516
486679
486684

8366385
8366595
8366588
8366376
8366392
8366607
8366586
8366329
8366361
8366678
8366688
8366414
8366422
8366795
8366802
8366427
8366559
8366567
8366821
8366598
8366491
8366326
8366341

Elevation
(tn asl)

417
419
419
418
418
419
418
416
417
420
420
417

417
420
420
417
419

419
421

415
412
412

413

The labyrinth in context

The LC51 labyrinth does not exist in isolation. The wider area (see Figure 1) is strewn with
geoglyphs, pathways and other features such as rows of small, regularly spaced stone piles or
cairns (as distinct from clearance piles), marked by dots in the figure. Several straight lines
cross the path of the labyrinth and a number of crossing points exist where the horizontal
stratigraphy is sufficiently well preserved to indicate the relative chronology: for example,
where one line cuts across another at a crossing point, with its side banks unbroken, it clearly
post-dates the other. There are three main points of interest:
The line marked a in Figure 1 is a segment of a long narrow line running directly
across the pampa to the Mirador, a substantial hill and major line centre some 8km
away to the NNE. The horizontal stratigraphy at the three crossing points shows
that the labyrinth post-dates this. It is possible, therefore, that the labyrinth also
post-dates many, and perhaps all, of the long lines joining line centres on opposite
sides of the pampa.
Six faint lines, bunched in pairs, radiate out westwards from a line centre (LC48) some
200m to the east. Four of these cross the labyrinth several times while the remaining pair run up towards its northernmost corner {17). It is evident from the
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
1132

Clive Ruggles & Nicholas f. Saunders

Table lb. 'LC51 labyrinth' basic data: segments. Ail angles are in degrees and lengths are in metres.

Segment
A
B
C
D

E
F
G
H

J
K
L
M
N
P
Q

R
S
T
U
V
W
X

End point
(inner)
Central
terminal
Corner 1
Corner 2
Corner 3
Corner 4
Corner 5
Corner 6
Corner 7
Corner 8
Corner 9
Corner 10
Corner 11
Corner 12
Corner 13
Corner 14
Corner 15
Start of curved
segment
End of curved
segment
Corner 17
Corner 18
Slight kink
Start of spiral
Total length

End point
(outer)

Orientation (True azimuth)

Length

Width

Outward

Inward

Corner 1

269

5.5-> 1.1

321

141

Corner 2
Corner 3
Corner 4
Corner 5
Corner 6
Corner 7
Corner 8
Corner 9
Corner 10
Cornet 11
Corner 12
Corner 13
Corner 14
Corner 15
Start of curved
segment
End of curved
segment
Corner 17

8
270
24
280
31
312
76
356
14
314
15
404
16
404
304

1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1
1.1

221
142

11

1.1

Curved segment

492

1.1

301

121

Corner 18
Slight kink
Start of spiral
Last surviving
part

319
132
232
122

1.1
1.1
1.1
0.5

226
144
135
Curved segment

46
324
315

49
320
227
145

66
333
46
151
59
337

65

41
322
229
140

47
325
246
153
226
331

239
157

245

158

338

64

244

4405

horizontal stratigraphy at the crossing points that four of these radial lines, and by
implication all six of them, also predate the labyrinth.
A 900m-long line c joins the labyrinth centre to a large line centre (LC53) to the
south. It runs straight except for a small but significant (c. 7) change in direction
on the intervening ridge (point d)the only place from which both ends are
simultaneously visible. It is tempting to see this path as a 'means of access' to the centre
of the labyrinth.
Line c appears to connect the labyrinth to a broader contemporary network of geoglyphs
and thereby back to the Nazca Valley and in particular to Cahuachi, some 4km to the south.
The various lines at multiple line centres such as LC53 were clearly added and elaborated
in stages, and the horizontal stratigraphy indicates that line c was a relatively late addition.
The broader chronological evidence in the area suggests a sequence of construction in which
successive geoglyphs were built extending out from existing ones, but connected back to the
existing line centres.
Antiquity Publications Ltd.
1133

Desert labyrinth

The eastwest ridge containing points a, c, d and x represents the notthern extent
of the Cahuachi viewshedpoints in the landscape intervisible with Cahuachi's tallest
pyramids. The LC51 labyrinth represents an incursion onto the wide flat pampa out of
sight of Cahuachi that stretched northwards and eastwards towards the Andean foothills,
the direction of the main source of flash-flood water flow down onto the pampa.
Very little diagnostic pottery, or indeed pottery of any kind, was found either on or
close to the various segments of the labyrinth. This stands in stark contrast to the relative
frequency of sherds on some of the longer lines, pathways and line centres in the surrounding
area. Indications from the ceramic analysis within our study areafor example, the fact that
some of the earliest Nasca sherds have only been found at line centresseem to confirm the
chronological sequence suggested by the horizontal stratigraphy and we tentatively conclude
that the labyrinth should be assigned a date during or shortly before the Middle Nasca petiod
{c. AD 450-550).

Walking and viewing

If the labyrinth was built to be walked, who walked it? The lack of surface ceramics might
be taken to imply that very few actually did. However, this absence may indicate that the
labyrinth was scrupulously cleaned, in contrast to those geoglyphs that were abandoned in
the process of consttuction ot elaborationwhere utilitarian ceramics are commonplace
and mollusc-shell food waste is presentot latet used as pathways.
The labryrinth's width presumably constrained walkers to single file, and the lack of
damage to the sides of the path (and especially to the narrower spiral) demonstrates that it
was walked with extreme care. This argues against any form of'mass walking'. The physical
integrity of the labyrinth is better explained by occasional walking, by an initiate, pilgrim,
shaman or victim. It is also plausible to suggest, though impossible to prove, that the
labyrinth's significance lay in metaphysical correlates associated with spiritual beliefs, rather
than repeated use by humans. A final possibility is that its cognitive integrity was compromised at an early stage, and that it was abandoned ot forgotten soon after construction.
A conceptual understanding of labyrinth walking is certainly worth attempting (cf Aveni
2000: 21222). For instance, in the case of the LC51 figure, it is remarkable that, despite the
lack of symmetry, there is a complete avoidance of the cardinal directions (to within about
23), and furthermore that in the case of the EW axis the zone of avoidance coincides
with the arcs of sunrise and sunset. This implies that it was important to avoid walking
directly north or south, or towards sunrise or sunset, perhaps for ideological reasons relating
to cosmological principles. If this testable pattern is repeated elsewhere, then it argues in
support of purposeful sky-oriented cultural activity (c Zilkowski 2009).
A more fundamental question is: 'which way should the labyrinth be walked?' Walking
the figure today provides no clear answer, since an equally impressive, if different, sequence
of unexpected experiences results ftom walking the whole figure in the opposite direction
to that described above. For those progressing 'inward' (i.e. from J to O in Figure 2), the
spiral could have provided a rite of passage into the 'world' of the labyrinth (cf Ingold
2007: 56), while the widening central line provided the climax as the central mound was
finally approached. The widening is evident only when the line is walked, since it counters
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1134

clive Ruggles & Nicbolas f. Saunders

Eigure 5. The view SSE-wards along Une A towards the central mound O. Photograph: Clive Ruggles.

the apparent nattowing due to perspective and creates an optical illusion of parallelism (see
Figure 5). Whatever the intended ditection and both could have been equally important
the low central mound was clearly the focus of the construction. Anyone standing on it
would have had a clear view of people moving round the whole labyrinth and, conversely,
the eminence itself can be seen ftom any position on the labytinth.
The tetminus ofthe labyrinth is physically a 'dead end', cut off from the focal point on
the hill by segment D (not labelled in Figute 2), which passes immediately in front. Perhaps
this setved to emphasise the petceived sepatation between someone standing on the central
mound and someone walking the labyrinth. This would imply that the only 'open access'
to the focal point was by the direct path ftom the south {c in Figute 1), a route that, of
necessity, crosses the labyrinth (at point ), at what appeats to have been an open ctossing.
Like the labyrinth, the central mound is devoid of pottery. In this, it contrasts sttongly
with other small mounds in the landscape and in particulat with line centre LC48, a mere
200m to the east, which contains numerous smashed pots. It is also unusual in not having
a hard 'crust' ('desett pavement') of small ot moderate-sized stones, something that typifies
numerous small natutal mounds. This raises the possibility that it is an attificial structute,
something that invites investigation by excavation.

Chronology, taphonomy and use

It is not straightforward to make a cleat distinction between lines and paths. Many 'lines' on
the Nazca pampa are in fact well-wotn paths, trodden down to a compacted sandy surface
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1135

Desert labyrintb

without well-defined edges; they are 'basically' rather than 'purely' sttaight (Lambers 2006:
71), sometimes with sinuous meanderings. In many cases, only their 'basic straightness' gives
any reason to suppose that they were pre-constructed as opposed to simply being created by
walking. Within our study area we have identified several instances where well-worn paths
deviate around topographic undulations, while the direct route preserves traces of a perfectly
straight 'pristine' lineavoided, presumably, because it was difficult or impossible to walk.
This suggests that some lines latet became exclusively used as footpaths while others, once
constructed, were left relatively untouched.
It is teasonable to assume that footpaths crossed the Nazca pampa befte the appearance
of Nasca culture: indeed, there is mounting evidence (e.g. Lambers 2006: fig. 32) that
some straight-line geoglyphs may have been constructed as early as the Late Paracas period
{c. 400100 BC), characterised more typically by various distinctive biomorphic figures
found in the PalpaNazca region (e.g. Orefici 2009b: 96-99). Thus it was onto an existing
netwotk of functional trails that Nasca people laid out a framework of 'straight lines' and
geometric designs which, while undergoing constant elaboration, appear not to have been
initially designed or used for everyday cross-pampa traffic. While it is likely that some
pre-Nasca footpaths were integtated into this framework, given the need for traversing
the pampa, the evidence suggests that pristine straight lines were conceived and laid out
so as to form what might be tetmed an 'ideological grid'in many cases connecting
radial line centres located at conspicuous points around the pampa but in themselves
purposeiUy ignoring the topography. Furthermore, their cultural value may have resided
as much in the process of construction, maintenance and elaboration as in their role as
loci for 'ritual' activity. If so, then the 'linear perfection' of such ideological lines was
part of the grid's conceptual coherence, and demanded a pristine preservation that all but
strictly controlled 'use' would have compromised. (Furthetmore, their state of preservation
suggests that even the use of contemporary footpaths was carefully controlled, as we argue
below.)
It cannot even be assumed that similar ideas and associations motivated the production
of geoglyphs during the 800-year Nasca periodin this sense, it is clearly unproductive
to regard them as a coherent entity (Silverman & Browne 1991: 209). Ideological
considerations would have continued to dictate how every new geoglyph creation or
elaboration should relate to what went before, but it is reasonable to assume that as time
progressed elaborations and superimpositions started to compromise rather than reinforce
its integrity.
By late Nasca times, howevet, it is likely that segments of the pristine lines had started
to be integrated on an ad hoc basis into the network of footpaths. The Nasca geoglyphs
can certainly be assumed to have lost their culturally specific ideological dimensions by AD
700, a point reinforced by the fact that after Wari influence (c. AD 700-900) declined, the
people of the Nazca region nowhere returned to Nasca symbols and styles (Silverman &
Proulx 2002: 280). It can also be assumed that throughout the period of local polities and
the lea culture (AD 900-1438), the area's still (mainly) ethnic Nasca population re-used
certain Nasca-period 'straight lines' as footpaths across the pampa, as well as continuing to
use age-old routeways, while perhaps forging new ones across larger geoglyph designs (see
also Urton 1990: 179).
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1136

Glive Ruggles & Nicholas J. Saunders

The Wari and Inka (AD 14381532) were Andean mountain cultures, whose intrusive
presence into Nazca's coastal region was marked, at least for the latter, by the imposition of
the Inka road system, whose geo-political imperial nature had little in common with local
Nasca trans-pampa footpaths. The co-existence of such footpaths and the Inka road would
have been unremarkable inasmuch as the latter would likely have been available only for
those engaged on official Inka business (Hyslop 1984: 2, 248).
Spanish conquest and colonisation from 1532 onwards imposed a non-indigenous
political economy and transportation technology on the Nazca region, which gradually
reconfigured and re-valued at least some of the functional aspects of trans-pampa traffic.
From colonial times to the present, transportation moved away from that based solely on
walking, to one focused on horses and wheeled transport.
During the twentieth century, the discovery of the geoglyphs focused attention on the
zoomorphic figures and lines of 'obvious' astronomical significance in the Pampa de San
Jos area. The cleaning, tidying, and emphasising of these markings added another layer to
be interpreted, and their international fame attracted uncontrolled tourism which left its
own 'line system' in the innumerable tyre tracks cutting into the pre-Columbian geoglyphs.
Ironically, these and other disturbances were then fossilised into the landscape by laws
restricting access, and have now become part of the archaeological record.
Working within this broad interpretative framework, our project has generated a detailed
narrative in the southern portion of the Nazca pampa based upon a large matrix of
chronological relationships at crossing points informed by the analysis of ceramic and
other surface artefacts. This adds time depth as well as a considerably improved level of
detail to existing plans such as Aveni's (compare Figure 1 and Aveni 1990: 48). (At the time
of writing, many wider geoglyph features can be identified on GoogleEarth, but narrow
lines and paths remain for the most part invisible.) In the immediate vicinity of the LC51
labyrinth we can identify several distinct episodes of geoglyph construction, starting with
the long-distance narrow 'pristine' lines passing right across the area; followed by line centre
LC48, built on an existing long-distance line, and the construction and elaboration of LC53
within clear sight of Cahuachi to the south; and finally the construction of the labyrinth
itself with a single 'ideological line' connecting it back to LC53.
A key issue that, surprisingly, has received little or no attention in the literature is that
many of the Nazca pampa's lines and footpaths appear to be so little damaged. If we set
aside damage related to the passage of motor vehicles in recent decades, and also damage
by flash floods caused by successive El Nio episodes, it is notable that many centuries
of movement across the pampa have failed to destroy the physical integrity of numerous
narrow linear features. During Nasca times, in particular, when thousands of people may
repeatedly have crossed the pampa en route to the Nasca pilgrimage centre of Cahuachi
over decades or centuries (Silverman 1990b, 1993: 311-17), this would have represented
a significant challenge to the integrity of both hnes and footpaths. This implies that a
considerable degree of control was somehow exercised over the 'styles' of movement of social
groups that presumably included children, the elderly, dogs, and llamas. Even comparatively
slight damage to a pristine straight line (such as a segment of the LC51 labyrinth) in
prehistoric times would have lefi: traces plainly visible today. Such a tightly controlled
landscape, with a clear differentiation between meandering footpaths and an ideological
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1137

j ^
H
^
pti

Desert labyrinth

grid of pristine straight lines and geometrical figures, itself suggests social differentiation in
terms of knowledge of and access to certain areas of the pampa. The LC51 labyrinth itself
is an epitome of controlled walking, and as such it clearly reinforces this general argument.

Conclusions
Deserts, like all landscapes, have their own languages that archaeologists must master if
they are to provide plausible accounts of the interactions between culture and nature. The
Nazca pampa is geologically distinctive, its own fragility having preserved substantive and
delicate surface traces of past cultural activity for at least 2000 years. For Nasca society, the
desert markings of those who had gone beforethe ancestors remained plain to see for
each successive generation or social group. The intensive superimposition of the pampa's
geoglyphs suggests that for the Nasca, in a unique way, landscapes were woven into life, and
lives were woven into the desert (Tilley 1994: 2930).
The practice of creating new geoglyphs ovet earlier ones was an ongoing process
which stopped, possibly suddenly, and for unknown reasons, leaving a variety of them
in different stages of completion. In attempting to discern the temporal sequence of
their construction, we suggest that an 'ideological grid' of pristine straight lines and
geometrical designs was superimposed upon pre-existing footpaths, and elaborated over
time. However, it also began to deteriorate, its integrity comptomised by natural events
and also, increasingly, by processes of abandonment, superimposition, and partial re-use as
footpaths.
The LC51 labyrinth serves, we suggest, as an analogue for the wider Nazca pampa, where
many straight lines and geometrical features that are not visibly associated from one location
are nonetheless ultimately recognised as being connected as one moves along or around
them. The form of the LC51 labyrinth was not apparent, and its design and size were in
no way obvious because it was, and remains, 'hidden' within the local landscape. Apart
from being told of its existence, the only way of knowing and appreciating the location and
extent of the labyrinth was, and still is, to walk its entire 4.4km length: in other words, to
sublimate vision to embodied movement across the pampa, in a confusing and disorienting
sequence of direction changes, until one arrives virtually back at the beginning. The LC51
labyrinth may be a microcosm of a larger organising principle similarly 'hidden' on the wider
pampa, and whose conceptual significance emerges only from a combination of prior ritual
knowledge, styles of movement and glimpses of intervisibility.
It is clear that understanding the Nazca pampa's confusing palimpsest of desert markings
cannot be achieved by importing Western notions and 'big scientific ideas' that purport
to unlock an enigmatic mystery. More useful, perhaps, is what Ingold has called "a more
grounded approach to human movement, sensitive to embodied skills of footwork, [which]
opens up new terrain in the study of environmental perception .. . and landscape formation"
(2004: 315). Vision is the dominant western sense of knowing the world, but for the LC51
labyrinth, and presumably other geoglyphs as well, it was partly elided in favour of physically
sensing the pampa by moving in single file along a continuous narrow line or pathway. Only
through in situ study of geoglyph taphonomy, and a constant adjustment of our theoretical
engagement with it, can a more nuanced appreciation be gained of an aspect of Nasca culture
Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1138

clive Ruggles & Nicholas J. Saunders

that has hitherto been unrecognised. Negotiating the space between sensoriality, technology,
and the 'archaeology of the surface', begins this long-overdue process.
Acknowledgements
We are indebted for financial and logistical support to the Asociacin Cultural Peruano Britnica, Lima, and
particularly to the Cultural Director Maria Elena Herrera. Hearty thanks are due to our field collaborators Ivan
Ghezzi, Marilyn Herrera, Jos Antonio Hudtwalcker, Johny Isla, vUberto Urbano and Gerald Zubiaga, as well as
to Alejandro Bocanegra and Rubn Garca for their invaluable local assistance. CR also thanks Anthony Aveni
for introducing him to the pampa and, unwittingly, to the LC51 figute, back in 1984. We are most grateful for
the helpful comments of the referees.
Note: we follow authors such as Silverman and Proulx (2002) in using the term 'Nazca' for the modern place but
'Nasca' for the ancient culture. Locations were determined with Trimble Pro-XRS equipment using real-time
differential correction from OmniStar. Horizontal positions are quoted in UTM co-ordinates (zone 18S) on the
WGS84 datum, while all elevations are above Mean Sea Level (defined Geoid EGM96 [Global]). Where a point
is archaeologically well defined, both the horizontal co-otdinates and the elevation are considered acctirate to
within lm (68 per cent precisions as determined by the GPS being typically 0.3m in the horizontal and 0.5m
in the vertical).

LAMBERS, K. 2006. The geoglyphs oft Palpa, Peru:

documentation, analysis, and interpretation.
Aichwald: Linden Sofi:.
OREFICI, G . (ed.) 2009a. Nasca: el desierto de los dioses de
Cahuachi. Lima: Graph Ediciones.
- 2009b. Los geoglifos: espacios abiertos y ceremonias
colectivas, in G. Orefici (ed.) Nasca: el desierto de los
dioses de Cahuachi: 92111. Lima: Graph Ediciones.

References
ARNOLD, V. 2009. Interactive map over Nazca
geoglyphs (Peru, 200 BC-AD 600). Available at:
http://www.museum-albersdorf.de/
nazca/enazcakarte.htm (accessed 21 March 2012).
AVENI, A.F. 1990. Order in the Nazca lines, in A.F.
Aveni (ed.) The lines oftNazca: 43113.
Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
2000. Between the lines: the mystery oft the giant ground
drawings oftancient Nasca, Peru. Austin: University
of Texas Press.
CLARKSON, P.B. 1990. The archaeology of the Nazca
pampa: environmental and cultural parameters, in
A.F. Aveni (ed.) The lines oftNazca: 117-72.
Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society.
DAZ ARRILA, L. 2000. Plan de manejo de las lineas de
Nasca. Lima: UNESCO/INC.
HYSLOP, J. 1984. The Inka road system. London:
Academic Press.
INGOLD, T 2004. Culture on the ground: the world
perceived through the feet. Journal oftMaterial
Culture 9{3): 315^0.
2007. Lines: a briefthistory. London o New York:
Routledge.
JOHNSON, D.W., D.A. PROULX & S.B. MABEE. 2002.

The correlation between geoglyphs and

subterranean water resources in the Rio Grande de
Nazca drainage, in H. Silverman & W.H. Isbell
(ed.) Andean archaeology II: art, landscape, and
society: 30732. New York: Kluwer Academic.

PROULX, D.A. 2006. A sourcebook oft Nasca ceramic

iconography. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
REICHE, M. 1968. Mystery on the desert. Stuttgart:
Offizindruck AG.
REINDEL, M . & G.A. WAGNER (ed.). 2009. New

technologiesftorarchaeology: multidisciplinary
investigations in Palpa and Nasca, Peru. Berlin:
Springer.
REINDEL, M . , J. ISLA & K. LAMBERS. 2006. Altares en el

desierto: las estructuras de piedra sobre los geoglifos

Nasca en Palpa. Arqueologia y Sociedad 17:

179-222.
REINHARD, J. 1987. The Nazca Unes: a new perspective
on their origin and meaning. Lima: Los Pinos.
RODRIGUEZ R.A. 1999. Los campos de geogliftos en la
costa central del Per (Guadernos de Investigacin
2/1997). Lima: Pontificia Universidad Catlica del
Per, Instituto Riva Agero.
RUGGLES, C . 1990. A statistical examination of the
radial line azimuths at Nazca, in A.F Aveni (ed.)
The lines oftNazca: 245-69. Philadelphia: Ametican
Philosophical Society.

KERN, H . 1982. Labyrinthe. Mnchen: Prestel.

Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1139

Desert labyrinth
SAUERBIER, M. 2009. GIS-based management and
analysis ofithe geoglyphs in the Palpa region (IGP
Mitteilungen 104). Zutich: Eidgenssische
Technische Hochschule Ztich, Institut ft
Geodsie und Photogrammetrie.

SILVERMAN, H . & D.M.

BROWNE. 1991. New evidence

for the data ofthe Nazca lines. Antiquity 65:

208-20.
SILVERMAN, H . & D.A. PROULX. 2002. The Nasca.

SILVERMAN, H . 1990a. Beyond the pampa: the

geoglyphs in the valleys of Nazca. National
Geographic Research GiA): 435-56.
- 1990b. The early Nazca pilgrimage center of
Cahuachi and the Nazca lines: anthropological and
archaeological perspectives, in A.F. Aveni (ed.) The
lines ofiNazca: 207AA. Philadelphia: American
Philosophical Society.
1993. Cahuachi in the ancient Nasca world. Iowa City:
University of Iowa Press.

Maiden (MA) & Oxford: Blackwell.

TILLEY, C . 1994. A phenomenology ofi landscape: places,
paths and monuments. Oxford: Berg.
URTON, G . 1990. Andean social organization and the
maintenance ofthe Nazca lines, in A.F. Aveni (ed.)
The lines ofiNazca: 173-206. Philadelphia:
American Philosophical Society.
VON DNIKEN, E. 1969. Chariots ofithe gods? honAon:
Souvenir Press.
ZlLKOWSKI, M. 2009. En busca de la astronoma de los
Nascas, in G. Orefici (ed.) Nasca: el desierto de los
dioses de Cahuachi: 232-49. Lima: Graph Ediciones.

Received: 29 October 2009; Revised: 26January 2012; Accepted: 19 March 2012

) Antiquity Publications Ltd.

1140

Copyright of Antiquity is the property of Antiquity and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple
sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print,
download, or email articles for individual use.