Unprecedented Discovery of 303 New Nazca Lines in Peru Thanks to Artificial Intelligence. A group of Japanese researchers from Yamagata University in collaboration with IBM and the University Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne have published their findings in the journal of the American Academy of Sciences (Pnas).
First documented by Spanish explorers in the 16th century, the Nazca Lines are ancient geoglyphs, massive drawings etched into the ground of a desert plateau in southern Peru approximately 2,000 years ago. Visible only from above, they have become increasingly sought after and studied through aerial photos, drone footage, satellite images, and Lidar scans.
To make the most of these resources, the researchers developed a machine learning algorithm trained to recognize the geoglyphs and used it to analyze high-resolution images of the entire Nazca region. As a result, they were able to identify 303 new designs, adding to the 430 already known.
The AI also proved adept at identifying the raised geoglyphs, which are smaller and harder to spot compared to the larger linear geoglyphs. Among the raised geoglyphs, 81.6% depict domestic animals or decapitated human heads, while 64% of the linear geoglyphs depict wild animals. The raised geoglyphs were created at an average distance of 43 meters from pedestrian pathways, likely to convey cultural concepts (related to domestic animals and human sacrifices) to those walking along the paths. The positioning of the linear geoglyphs suggests they were part of community ritual activities.
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