TOKYO -- Japanese researchers said on Thursday that they had found 100 more drawings on Peru's Nazca plateau, whose giant etchings dating up to 2,500 years ago are one of archaeology's greatest mysteries.

The new images on the World Heritage Site include both straight lines, as have been discovered for the past century, and abstract images that are difficult to make out.

"We confirmed them by analyzing satellite photos and actually visiting there in March," said Masato Sakai, assistant professor at Yamagata University in northern Japan.

The Nazca Lines, many of which can only be seen from the sky, were believed to have been etched on the ground between 500 BC and AD 500.

The reason why ancient people traced the lines remains one of archaeology's greatest mysteries. The most common theory is that the drawings were used for rituals, while believers in extraterrestrials have cited them as evidence of alien spacecraft landings.

Most of the newly-found designs were in the southern part of the Nazca plateau, which is away from the major tourist area to the north where hundreds of images have been discovered, Sakai said.

One of the satellite pictures showed a figure, 65 meters (215 feet) long, which looks like an animate being with two horns. The team believes that the image is related to good harvests.

The gigantic geoglyphs, some 400 kilometers south of Lima, include representations of animals, flowers and plants but are mostly abstract. The site was put on UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1994. The team plans to publish its findings in a science magazine in Peru.

Hmm...I didn't hear about that! Very interesting though. Those Nazca lines are really bizarre. I mean I guess ancient people had nothing better to do with their time than draw gigantic pictures on the ground but, it has to have a deeper meaning than that. And the thing with two horns well, I think everyone knows what that is....

It's a nuisance that they don't show up on GoogleEarth ....

Awww, common google! I'm using ask Jeeves from now on.

Anyway, I didnt hear about this. Cool however, I think that they were just ritual lines, but cool to see.

For the record, Ask Jeeves has a dubious reputation in the antispyware industry. It seems that some software they released - a toolbar I believe - was classified as spyware. They have since abandoned the practice but their general attitude towards privacy remains less than flawless.

I will endeavor to find the appropriate discussion thread on dsl reports and post a link.

-Pilgrim

And here we are. A direct quote from an article on dsl report's security forum:

"The popular search engines ask jeeves and Google also benefit from adware, says Internet researcher Benjamin Edelman.

He says an ask jeeves toolbar generates ads without users' full consent, while Google's search listings appear in queries made through a questionable third-party toolbar."

Emphasis mine. The full article can be found here:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,13739663

Here is a similar thread at Spyware Warrior:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewtopic.php?t=15032

-Pilgrim

correct me if I am wrong but didnt von daniken photograph those same markings for his first book "chariots of the gods?

I have my opinion about this. Perhaps world will lose these things (UNFORTUNATELY) because clima ischanging and in few decades we can expect raining days in this areas.

Do you agree?

The Nazca lines endured remarkably through a great many years. Maybe they will survive this too.

I trully hope so!

Von Daniken photographed some markings at Nazca for his book, but not these particular ones. I would add that his theories about Nazca's status as an alien landing site are seen as untenable by those who have studied the lines.

-Pilgrim

I think nazca lines are spiritual drawigns or some sort of ancient 'crop circels'.
I've seen dozens of this and they have diffrent shapes, drawings of birds, animals etc.

have we got any ariel photos yet,, anything we can see..

ariel? ----------->real?

pictures from the sky

Of course aerial photographs!
Well, I post them here if I find one.