The Zig-Zag Geoglyphs of Nasca : Were they designed to serve as Pre Columbian Water Clock?

INTRODUCTION

The never ending stream of theories to explain away the existence of that enigmatic archaeological monument, forever famously called the Nasca Lines, has yet another contender. Huge triangular and trapezoidal shaped geoglyphs are said to be “pointed” not only towards the sources of mountain streams but have been strategically placed immediately over sub-terranean water channels. Further, if a geoglyph is marked with a zig-zag motif this; it is hypothesised, indicates there is “no water below”. In fact the Nasca Display is a gigantic map of the Nasca Drainage system!

Undeniably, one of the most important survival factors for desert inhabitants is the constant necessity to maintain year round, plentiful supply of healthy, clean water .The indigenous population of Precolumbian Peru were no exception to this rule living as they did on the harsh, barren, inhospitable terrain between the Andes and coastal Peru. However, on the basis that there might be a relationship between the iconography of the desert and water , the author conducted simple tests based upon the premise a) the inhabitants were well aware that water discharged into the rivers and underground passages at a certain, definite time annually, b) the inhabitants would need a form of predictive device to know when this took place - just as they did to predict ritual and ceremonial activities, c) at least 40 wells (puquios) are evident in various locations across the Rio de Nasca Drainage., and d) at the same time, test if zig-zags were randomly scrawled features or had some other meaning.

TESTING THE HYPOTHESIS

Four geoglyphs each featuring a zig-zag motif were chosen: one each from the Pampa de St. Ignacio, Cantalloc and Cahuachi, and a biomorphic form geoglyph from the Pampa de San Jose’. Historical scaled plans of each geoglyph were considered within acceptable limits for the measured angles to be accurate representations of their azimuthal alignment equivalents; these were integrated into respective cluster diagrams. Only Cahuachi and St. Ignacio are included in this News Release.

Without exception, alignments extrapolated from each zig - zag mirror almost precisely historically recorded azimuthal equivalents for the latitude of Nasca. Each zig-zag design is formed from differing sets of azimuthal parameters.

The Cahuachi cluster is disposed about the Equinoctial Colure and exhibits alignments for the moon, the sun, including the zenith / anti-zenith and the Pleiades. Cantalloc included sun, moon and zenith/anti-zenith information but the clusters fell into NE & SW quadrants whilst the St Ignacio geoglyph had clustering concentrated in the SE & NW quadrants where sun, moon ,zenith/anti-zenith are clearly evident. The biomorph on Pampa de San Jose’ delineates clearly the solsticial sun and zenith/anti-zenith alignments but clustering begins from the maximum most northerly moonset - maximum most southerly moonrise azimuth and proceeds to include certain, as yet, unidentified planetary phenomena towards the North/South meridian. In no case did zig-zag features exhibit randomly scattered lines which one would have expected if the zig-zag was simply a feature scrawled along a geoglyph to indicate “no water below”, or any other reason for that matter.

CONCLUSION:

There is no evidence, as yet, that location or orientation of a geoglyph communicates information about water sources. What is very obvious, however, zig-zag features are designed and constructed from astronomical phenomena based upon the annual solsticial swing of the sun ,and the moon at the extremes of its 18.6 year cycle. It is evident that the points of zenith and anti-zenith were a priority. The coincidence of the zenith/anti-zenith azimuth acting as a time marker heralding arrival of the rainy season -around the first week in November at the latitude of the Nasca Region (after Aveni) and thus start of vital mountain water discharge into the Nasca Drainage was extremely important to the indigenous population as part of their eternal preoccupation and quest for precious, life sustaining water. There is no doubt that a Zig - zag design integrated within certain geoglyph combinations could well have been for the express purpose of water prediction - this would be particularly relevant at the vast Cahuachi Ceremonial Centre. The author, therefore, suggests that a zig-zag motif did not indicate “no water below”.

UP-DATE: In the excellent new book “The Nasca” (Silverman/Proulx, Published by Blackwell, 2002, page 223) Professor Donald Proulx, Department of Anthropology at Amherst, believes and we quote...” a simpler calendar could have functioned based on the annual start of water coursing down the rivers”; this is elementary but true, except such a time marker is only of value once water flow commences- only till then could the agricultural calendar begin. But, local communities really need to track the approach of the rainy season in advance to ensure that land or terracing intended for sowing and planting is prepared well beforehand. A more sophisticated and accurate system of prediction is therefore desirable.

Zig-Zag "Water Clocks" now redifined by the author as Linear Observatories - are just such devices.
By brilliantly combining major solsticial, equinoctial and zenith/anti-zenith azimuths into a zig-zag shape time frame an observer could predict more closely the arrival of spring rains simply because since time immemorial, at the latitude of Nasca, the rains coincided with the sun at zenith, i.e when the noon day sun is immediately overhead at a particular latitude. At Nasca this happens around November 2nd (Aveni p.153).

The intricate integration of azimuthal alignments into a linear geometric figure, the Zig-Zag, illustrates celestial knowledge, ingenuity and technical sophistication amongst (taught to ) the indigenous population.



The zig-zag geoglyph at Cauachi Ceremonial Centre. (adapted from the original by kind permission of Helaine Silverman, Uni. of Illinois at Urbana - Champaing)

Cauachi cluster diagram below showing azimuths clustering the equinoctial colure. The Zenitz/Anti Zenith time marker heralds arrival of spring rains and start of mountain water discharge into the Nasca drainage system around the 2nd of November. (after Aveni)





PAMPA DE ST.IGANCIO GEOGLYPH
Photogrammetic diagram of the trapezoid with zig-zag motif constructed on Pampa de St.Ignacio, just South of Palpa, Peru.
The extemely accurate site plan generated by GIS with Skyline Tera Explorer and Erdas IMAGINE Virtual Software by the Institute of Geodesy & Photogrammetry, ETH, Honggeberg, CH-8093, Zurich.
Authors diagram adapted from Fig.2 “Visualisation & GIS based analysis of Nasca Geoglyphs” (Grun-Sauerbier-Lambers)







Pampa de St.Ignacio cluster diagram. Note especially the Zenith/Anti-zenith “water clock”.





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