Water in the Nazca 2,000 years ago, the Nazca civilization developed an expansive system of undergro

Water in the Nazca2,000 years ago, the Nazca civilization developed an expansive system of underground aqueducts to help irrigate the arid lands of Peru. Their wide distribution and positions near settlements suggest they were part of a sophisticated hydraulic system for retrieving water from aquifers found deep underground. In spite of the harsh desert, there still exists over 30 underground channels in the Nazca region which are used by local farmers. Rosa Lasaponara and a team of researchers from the Institute of Methodologies for Environmental Analysis in Italy used satellite imagery to map out the spread of these spiral-shaped holes, referred to as puquios, including some previously unknown. It is believed each corkscrew-like hole pulls air downward into channels moving the water through the network. This would have made agriculture better and domestic life easier for the Nazca people.“What is clearly evident today is that the puquio system must have been much more developed than it appears today,” Lasaponara stated. “Exploiting an inexhaustible water supply throughout the year the puquio system contributed to an intensive agriculture of the valleys in one of the most arid places in the world.”The origin of these puquios has confused archaeologists and remained a mystery for so long because the Nazca did not leave any clues and they had no writing system for explaining their culture. Traditional carbon dating techniques were also not possible for these unique structures.“The construction of the puquios involved the use of particularly specialized technology,” says Lasaponara. These people must have had a good understanding of annual variations in water availability as maintaining the canals would have been a technical challenge since they spread across tectonic faults. Constructing such a complex system of underground tunnels connecting to so many aqueducts had to have been quite the socially organized process with specific knowledge of the geology of the area. So it is not surprising that this civilization also designed the mysterious Nazca lines. Geoglyphs etched into the desert sands, these figures feature animals, plants and humans as well as many geometric lines. So many lines that scientists are still finding new ones.Whatever may be the real significance of these structures, the Nazca builders knew what they were doing. Understanding the functions of the puquios might get scientists closer to understanding other Nazca mysteries.–MiImage Credit: http://bit.ly/1Xp6oiGSources: http://bit.ly/1s6dso0 http://bbc.in/1SDNUV5 -- source link
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