The Nazca Lines

Culture & Religion

By: iMinds

Narrated by: Luca James Lee

Length: 7 mins

Publisher's Summary

Learn about the Nazca Lines with iMinds insightful audio knowledge series. The Nazca Lines have been called the eighth wonder of the world. They are a series of large drawings on the ground - called geoglyphs - located in the Nazca desert in Peru. The Nazca desert is a high plateau situated between the towns of Palpa and Nazca, which is 400 kilometres south of the Peruvian capital of Lima. The drawings are large outlines of creatures and plants, created by removing the red pebbles of the landscape to reveal the white earth underneath. What is left behind are striking white outlines of immense figures, best viewed from the air.

The number of geoglyphs is in the hundreds. The drawings include depictions of many animals, including hummingbirds, fish, monkeys, llamas and spiders. In addition to animals, there are also a number of plant forms and various shapes. There are spirals, zigzags and other geometric forms - all of seismic proportions. But the most striking of them all would have to be a 30-meter high geoglyph of a man with owl-like eyes. When viewed from the air he appears to be beckoning us towards him by raising his massive arms. Looking at the so-called “owl-man” is a haunting experience. And as a whole, the Nazca Lines are fascinating to the aerial observer. The sheer scale and number of them are breathtaking.

Perfect to listen to while commuting, exercising, shopping or cleaning the house.. iMinds brings knowledge to your MP3 with 8 minute information segments to whet your mental appetite and broaden your mind.

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©2009 iMinds Pty Ltd (P)2009 iMinds Pty Ltd

Critic Reviews

"I'm learning all sorts of stuff about stuff I didn't even know I didn't know. And it sticks. In a nutshell: wonderful." (Jonathon Margolis, Financial Times)

Tale of Giant Drawings in Peruvian Desert

This is a fascinating tale of giant drawings of animals and plants, best seen from the air, in southern Peru. Believed to have been done between 500 BC and 500 AD, these drawings are believed by some to have been created to be seen by deities in the sky. Pedro Cieza de León mentioned the Nazca Lines in his book of 1553, and he described them as trail markers. This is a fun listen about an aspect of the culture of Peru that I had not known about.

Wonderful!

My only complaint is that it’s too short. This is fascinating and very well done.

Quick sound bite

This was very interesting, but far too brief. It provided an interesting introduction to the subject, but failed to develop that. Don’t download this for a long journey unless you’ve downloaded something substantial with it.