No really serious attention has been paid by scientists to resolve the mystery of nearly 7000 'pits' that snake their way for almost one mile across the rugged Cajamarquilla Plain bordering the Pisco Valley of Peru, South America.
Just as with their near neighbour the infamous Nasca Lines this curiously patterned stream of cavities (pits) now attracts a plethora of theories concerning its original purpose: silos for grain storage, for water, local tribal defences, vertical tombs in a mass graveyard - or even a coded message to the Sky Gods! To the best of my knowledge to date the site has revealed no real artifactual evidence whatsoever - just a path of empty holes excavated into a limestone escarpment for no apparent rhyme or reason. No tools, no skeletons or bones, no potsherds or textiles - nothing.
The pits' are extremely interesting. Around 7000 had been excavated into a band some 20 metres wide (65 feet), each hole averaging half a metre in diameter (20 ins). Some pits are set in near perfect straight lines, some in curved rows. Each row averages between 9 and 12 cavities. Again, as with the Nasca Lines, only from aerial photographs can you truly observe the unique and deliberately precise nature of the elaboration.
There are very distinct types of indent. The larger have a deliberate ' brick-like' construction some 2-3 metres (6-7 feet) depth, Others are quite shallow 'scoops', wide rimmed generally not more than a foot deep. Where the band terminates at its southern end there are two 24 metre diameter (70 feet) pits - now filled with debris. I am given to understand there are at least another half a dozen of similar size close by.
I first became aware of the "Peruvian Holes" shortly after I had discovered the Temple of the Sacred Lamb in the High Andes Mountains and believing that whoever constructed the huge Temple complex might have chosen the Pisco River Valley as a natural route to the mountainous retreat - from the Pacific Ocean? My curiosity had also been aroused by a local report that a huge Bull's head effigy, which according to local legend, "had been there forever," was to be found high up on a cliffside, just 20 kms east of Pisco town.
However, using Google Earth I was still unable to locate the rock carving allegedly on the Lomas Cabeza de la Toro. If absolutely genuine and seemingly of great age, I had hoped to reconstruct a chronological time frame based upon the Bull effigy, the Temple of the Sacred Lamb ' and the huge, 3rd to 4th century B.C. Phoenician Inscription I had uncovered within the Nasca Lines, The mysterious 'band of holes" are on the exact Pisco Valley route to the interior. Was there any connection?
Why the importance of the Bull? Well, the maritime nation of Minoans worshipped the Bull. Likewise, the Phoenicians worshipped the Goddess, Astarte, who was often symbolised in the form of a Bull. The Phoenician God, El Baal, was also depicted by the image of a Bull. Later, Bull worship was continued on by the Greeks. Bull worship was in fact traditional among many ancient civilisations.
My immediate thoughts compared the "Holes" scenario with the desertification that had confronted the Nasca Region from about the third millenium B.C. The local Chinca region, actually part of the Atacama desert, must have suffered the same hardships as the Nasca due to lack of a regular water supply. Even occasional heavy high altitude storms interspersed with low altitude mists and light rains would have provided only a short term solution.
A Water Collection, Filtration, Storage and Supply System providing large quantities of fresh clean water which can be stored over the long term for domestic and agricultural purposes was essential. One may never know the original carrying capacity of this mile long reservoir, or the rate of seepage. As a guesstimate, if a cell held a minimum average of 5 litres of water; 7000 cells would furnish around 35,000 litres ( 7700 gallons) of water per filling. Also, until a hydrological survey is carried out, we do not know if the 24 metre diameter pit at the southern end of the chain was intended as a 'spring driven reservoir' or if it operated as a normal ‘puquio’, typical of those widespread across the nearby Rio Grande de Nasca Basin.
Pre-Columbian Water Collection, Filtration, Storage and Supply System. The Author's hypothetical solution for the chain of ' Mysterious Holes' located near Pisco, Peru, South America. (Copyrighted William James Veall. October 2010).
There are a number of important issues associated with the water supply facility. To operate as an efficient water collection/filtration device, cavities must have been cleansed of superficial debris on a regular basis, hence the reason scientists have never found any artifactual evidence. By the same token, a local labour force must have been recruited and supervised for construction and cleansing duties. In short, my humble opinion is that 'Humay' became a "Pit Stop" whereby inbound traffic, e.g.trans-oceanic seafarers, and outward bound traffic could replenish their stocks of water as well as catering for local domestic and agricultural demand. With an enclave of numerous ruined buildings a little east of the 'holes' I suspect that Humay was a thriving 'port of call' in those ancient times.
So, here we have what I believe was a major consideration in constructing the massive Water Collection and Filtration System just inland of the Pacific Coast. I believe the Pisco Valley was one of the major transit routes into and out of mainland Peru from the Pacific Ocean. Assuming it existed, the Bull effigy (El Baal ? ) high up at the Valley entrance would not only welcome Godspeed to the Oceanic Traders to and from their Mediterranean homeland, but was equally a typical Phoenician 'New Kingdom' frontier marker - viz at Tel Dan and the Bethel Kingdom of Israel.
Further, at what point in time did all hydraulic activity cease, and why? What an interesting future project for students of ancient hydrology and geomatics. Although a Water Filtration, Storage and Supply System is my claim for the primary purpose of the 'Band of Holes'; this still does not answer the question; why the elegant elaboration? To perform the function intended, holes could be in any chosen order, neat parallel rows or simply randomly disposed. With a chain of material stretching over a mile long to study, I believe I have uncovered a very logical reason for the 'embellishment'.
In Part 2, with the aid of aerial pictures and explanatory diagrams I will demonstrate the reason behind the seemingly random disposition of the holes. I will also expose the ancients incredible knowledge and expertise to manipulate the effects of light and shadow on ground based petroglyphs; thus permitting imagery and inscriptions to be clearly visible at a low angular viewing distance under favourable solar and lunar light conditions. There must have been a very powerful motive to go to such lengths of artistic elegance.
PART 2
Firstly, let me take you back to a comment I placed on the Viewzone web-site "The Mysterious Holes of Peru", www.viewzone.com/lima22.html a few years ago, and I quote:
"These long lengths of "holes" are the product of a 'Linear Inscriptive Art Form' whereby characters are formed by a series of linked holes 'pecked' into the surface of natural rock (subtractive) or by the converse- additive- whereby small rocks / stones are piled into small heaps on a level surface,of course, to create and represent characters or pictorials.
(Veall 2002. Nasca Lines)
In my opinion and from research I carried out in 2004 on an aerial photograph of another Peruvian site; these very lengthy pictorial inscriptions may document historical facts; dates, voyages, conquests, dedications, provenance etc. Anticipate a date circa 800 - 600B.C. We must await the hand of the Epigrapher." End of quote.
But, it was whilst surfing the "Band of Holes" using the G.E. remote satellite that I made a completely 'mind blowing' discovery. Along one particular section of the honeycomb of cells (Stage 1 photo) I noticed quite distinctly that the very obvious geometric pattern of the holes had somehow diffused to form what could be hieroglyphs interspersed with some inscriptive characters; this, to say the least, was a massive surprise and totally unexpected.
The three stages that led to revealing the secret of the "Mysterious Holes of Peru"
Stage 1 The original remote satellite photograph captured by Google Earth, 8/10/2006 at an Eye Altitude of 266metres (800 feet). Latitude 13o 42’ 23.18”S Longitude 75o 52’ 28.44”W.
Stage 2 Patiently overprinting the satellite photograph, archaeologist, William J. Veall was able to make the historic breakthrough which he claims helped to solve the mystery of Peru's infamous "Band of Holes'". Copyright William J Veall 7/2010
Stage 3 An artistic impression of Stage 2 clearly defining the 11 pictographs and 22 characters composing just a 200 metres length of the "Band of Holes'. Copyright William J. Veall. 7/2010
Taking the Stage 3 illustrations and beginning from the right; there is a very obvious 'flower' form followed by a gap of, as yet, unidentified imagery; this is followed by another almost identical 'flower' bordering the head of an feline, perhaps a lioness - similar to the 'Greek' image I discovered within the Nasca Lines. The last image is an arch-like construction?Immediately below this section is a feline image ( wild-cat ?) next to another 'flower'. Ancient characters also appear at intervals along this section.
The left section, right hand side, commences with a rather indistinct human head marked with an 'A' character. Separated by a row of three 'holes' is an absolutely incredible image. The semi- profile of, what I interpret to be, the head of a black African with his feathered tribal insignia. Next, set within a cartouche of 15 'holes' is the head of a creature (deer / eagle) set upon a row of three 'holes'; this so reminds me of an Aztec date sign? Finally, separated by a row of four 'holes', is a human head enscribed on the neck with a character 'A'. Immediately below, that is, not on the band of Holes itself, are two faint impressions, a Gorgon and a bird-like image much like a Harpy Eagle? Ancient script characters also appear along this section.
It appears that the Sculptors had actually used a subtle technique of light and shadow to convert a petroglyphic image into a pictograph when observed at the correct angle and orientation. Although I was able to achieve a somewhat similar effect by manipulating the Google Earth navigation tool, it will be necessary to carry out a quite complex series of observations to determine if the ancient artisans utilised solar or lunar shadow casting, or both. And, was the time of year and the corresponding shadow movement along the chain, important?
Right at the start we have a very slim clue. Quite by chance, I had recorded the actual satellite pictures transmitted during October 2006. As far as I can tell from cycling the G.E. Historical cursor, no other time phase repeats absolutely identical photographs. Hypothetically, therefore, October 2006 was one perfect moment when the embellishment became visible - providing one was observing from an altitude of some 266 metres, about 800 feet above ground level (G.E.Eye altitude figures). It may be pure coincidence or deliberate intention but the end of October/ first week of November turns out to be the locally anticipated start of the rainy season (after Aveni) when the catchment 'holes' will once again be filled with fresh, clean rainwater to feed the subterranean aquifers and ‘puquios’. This happens about mid - point between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere.
I am at a loss to understand how the ancient Sculptors could pre-determine and create the 'pixelation' effect of the water cells from ground level when the resulting imagery only becomes properly visible at a thousand feet above ground level. Here, it is important to mention that the Google Earth layers have considerably changed since 2006 so readers might have difficulty obtaining my original pictures - in fact at the time - I recorded very few myself because the 'holes' did not figure in my current research. Only much later did I recognise the import of this capture because back in the late 90''s, I had discovered a trapezoid on the nearby Socos Pampa which had a very similar combination of hieroglyphs and inscriptions. Same people, I wonder? (The Socos Pampa Mosaic. Nasca's own Rosetta Stone. Awaiting publication).
Figure 1 An original G.E. satellite photograph taken over the southern extremity of Peru's "Band of Holes". Flare caused by the fortunate over-exposure by the satellite cameras clearly indicate 'holes' convey information in a digitised format. (Figures 2 and 4) Latitude 13o 43’ 01”S Longitude 75o 52’ 31”W.
Figure 2 The original Fig 1 photograph identifying and proving the presence of inscriptive material. Copyright William J Veall 7/2010.
Figure 3. The original G.E. satellite photograph taken over a section of the "Band of Holes" at Latitude 13o 42 ’55"S Longitude 75o 52’ 27”W
Figure 4 Identical to Fig 3, but showing the disposition of inscriptive material. Copyright William J Veall. 7/2010
Many of the characters I have randomly exposed along the chain appear to be Phoenician. If true, the feature may not be earlier than the 12th Century B.C. i.e. the historically accepted date the Phoenician alphabet was invented and subsequently went on to become the international Mercantile Trading script. That said, I cannot make a carte blanche case because some symbols appear to be Hieroglyphic; this would point to a date closer to 2500 - 2000 B.C. A small number of characters embedded within the regalia are from the 1850 B.C. proto-Sinaitic stage of 'writing' which actually replaced the rather cumbersome and inconvenient hieroglyphics as a communication language.
I am afraid I do not have a practical answer to this strange conjoint mix of hieroglyphs and characters except that the presence of proto-Siniatic interspersed with hieroglyphics suggests the emigre's had not reached the stage of communicating via the later 'international ' Phoenician alphabet, therefore, the very earliest mean average date of construction might lie somewhere between 2000 B.C. and 1850 B.C.?This is a very difficult question to answer because we do not know the non- communicative time lapse between leaving the African Continent and the Voyagers actual arrival date into the Pisco Valley. But, note how closely my hypothesised construction date, based upon the inscriptive material enscribed within the Band of Holes, ( 2500 - 2000 B.C.) aligns with the re- commencement of desertification in the third millenium B.C.
CONCLUSION
The "Mysterious Holes of Peru" are undoubtedly destined to become a prime example of an ancient Peoples technical and artistic expertise imported into South America from the Mediterranean Region. On the one hand, some time after arrival the emigre's had, perhaps of necessity, created a simplistic, economical, non-labour intensive, water collection and filtration system. Had desertification already begun across the Plains of Nasca before the emigre's arrived?
On the other hand, the conquerors could not resist ring-fencing their newly discovered 'kingdom', so left a secretive artistic record of their visitation by embellishing the whole chain with elaborate imagery and inscriptions which, quite frankly, I am still finding difficult to comprehend technically. How incredibly exciting if a large tranche of funding could be put in place to attempt a transliteration of the whole Band of Holes!
Whilst it needs the hand of the expert Epigrapher to translate their meaning, many of the characters along the strip point strongly to a Phoenician presence and we also know the Phoenicians left their trademark a short distance away within the Nasca Lines, by way of the huge 3rd - 4th century B.C. inscription I uncovered, and was translated, in 2002.
Unlike other rather nebulous theories imaginatively invented to explain the purpose of the "Mysterious Holes of Peru"; my hypothesis can be fully tested scientifically and epigraphically, and in my humble opinion, I have no doubt that the outcome will add considerably to the prehistory of Peru itself and in turn strengthen the case for Diffusion between the two great Continents of Africa and pre-Columbian South America.
Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission from William James Veall.