LIMA, Peru -- (EFE) -- Archaeologists have found ruins belonging
to the Nazca
civilization, to which the authors of the famous Nazca Lines
presumably
belonged, Lima's El Comercio daily reports.
The team responsible for the discovery, headed by Peruvian archaeologist
Jhonny
Islas and German archaeologist Markus Reidel, started excavation
of the site in
1996 under the sponsorship of the Swiss-Lichtenstein Foundation
for
Archaeological Research.
The site, located 12 miles from Palpa, in a desert area 248 miles
south of Lima,
contains two architectonic complexes, identified as La Muña
and Los Molinos, in
which ``numerous lines closely linked to those in the Nazca plains''
were found.
Study of the ruins ``allowed for the identification of the area
where the authors of
the Nazca Lines lived, and will permit future determination of
the origin and
development of these geoglyphs and the reasons why they were
drawn,'' Islas
said.
At Molinos, physical evidence of great halls, palaces, residences
and adobe
buildings were found, whereas La Muña contained tombs
of both common and
high-ranking Nazca residents.
The enigmatic origin of the Nazca Lines has given rise to abundant
theories,
including one which attributes them to extraterrestrials.
The lines, discovered by Peruvian archaeologist Mejia Xespe in
1927, spread over
217 square miles and depict more than 70 representations of animals,
human
beings and geometric figures, as well as 40 small triangular
plazas.
According to researcher Maria Reiche, an expert on the Nazca Lines,
the figures
represent an astronomical calendar and the first awakening of
humanity to exact
sciences.
Copyright 1999 Miami Herald