Anthony F. Aveni. 2000. Between the Lines: The Mystery of the Giant Ground Drawings of Ancient Nasca, Peru. University of Texas Press, Austin. 234 pages, plus 12 pages of notes, and an index.
In Between the Lines, Anthony F. Aveni provides a personal and somewhat eccentric account of how he and his fellow researchers have come to believe what they do about the Nasca lines. These geometric shapes and animal effigy drawings have long been a source of great fascination to people throughout the world, since they were first recognized in the late 1920s by pioneer aviators flying over the pampas of Peru.
The discovery of the lines in this manner has had several interesting impacts on the way people view them. By some accounts, one would believe the lines can only be appreciated form the sky and hence must have been created for people who fly over them. This circular reasoning--or perhaps constricted viewpoint would be more accurate--must be a recurring nuisance both to those descendents of the builders of the lines and to the archaeologists and astronomers who try to understand the possible meanings the lines may have held in the past.
The discovery of the lines in this manner has had several interesting impacts on the way people view them. By some accounts, one would believe the lines can only be appreciated form the sky and hence must have been created for people who fly over them. This circular reasoning--or perhaps constricted viewpoint would be more accurate--must be a recurring nuisance both to those descendents of the builders of the lines and to the archaeologists and astronomers who try to understand the possible meanings the lines may have held in the past.
Nuisance or not, the fact that the lines were not "discovered" until the late 1920ss assuredly saved them from being destroyed by the Spanish invaders of the 16th century, who ruthlessly and methodically eradicated the monuments, the mummies, the texts, and as much of the religious and social structure of the native inhabitants of South America as they could.
According to Aveni and his colleagues, the prehistoric uses of the Nasca lines were varied. They date, based on (the rather controversial) cation ratio dating methodology and on ceramics found on the lines themselves to somewhere between 200-1000 AD, and different figures were almost certainly built at different times and for different purposes. Are the lines associated with keeping track of solar or lunar calendars? With art? With religion? With access to water? With roadways? With social structures such as the ceque system? The answer to all of these is probably: Yes, at different times, at different places, for different people.
According to Aveni and his colleagues, the prehistoric uses of the Nasca lines were varied. They date, based on (the rather controversial) cation ratio dating methodology and on ceramics found on the lines themselves to somewhere between 200-1000 AD, and different figures were almost certainly built at different times and for different purposes. Are the lines associated with keeping track of solar or lunar calendars? With art? With religion? With access to water? With roadways? With social structures such as the ceque system? The answer to all of these is probably: Yes, at different times, at different places, for different people.
This is a complex book about an amazingly complex subject, too often simplified as "runways for aliens;" yet it is written for a general public audience and most enjoyable. I found there were not enough pictures, although I'm not sure there could be enough photographs and drawings of the lines to suit me.
