The Miami Herald
September 25, 1999
 
 
Ruins in Peru linked to famed Nazca Lines

 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