Locat­ed in the arid Peru­vian coastal plain, some 400 km south of Lima, the geo­glyphs of Nasca and the pam­pas of Jumana cov­er about 450 km² . These lines, which were scratched on the sur­face of the ground between 500 B.C. and A.D. 500, are among archaeology‘s great­est enig­mas because of their quan­ti­ty, nature, size and con­ti­nu­ity. The geo­glyphs depict liv­ing crea­tures, styl­ized plants and imag­i­nary beings, as well as geo­met­ric fig­ures sev­er­al kilo­me­tres long. They are believed to have had rit­u­al astro­nom­i­cal func­tions.