Ancient rock lines discovered in Peru are centuries older than the Nazca lines.
A civilization called the Paracas likely created the lines. This culture peaked around B.C.E. 800.
The better-known Nazca culture did not flourish until seven centuries later. They are famous for depictions of birds and other animals, created through the arrangement of stones on the ground, called geoglyphs.
The newly-discovered artifacts of the Paracas culture were likely created 2,300 years ago. These lines were found in the Chinca Valley in Peru, roughly 125 miles south of Lima. This region has been inhabited by people for 2,800 years.
Charles Stanish, director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, first reported the discovery.
"They used the lines in a different way than the Nazca. They basically created these areas of highly ritualized processions and activities that were not settled permanently," Stanish told Live Science.
Mounds run throughout the valley, and on examination, they were revealed to be made up of 71 lines and 353 circles and rectangles, called cairns.
Some of these lines are arranged in accordance with celestial events, such as sunsets. Others surround pyramid-like structures. Several U-shaped formations are aligned with the sky on the day of the winter solstice.
"Likewise, these clusters contain a number of paired line segments... Excavations in three mounds confirm that they were built in Late Paracas times," researchers wrote in the article detailing their discovery.
Stanish believes these markings may have been used to attract tourists from surrounding areas to attend fairs.
"The lines are effectively a social technology. They're using it for certain purposes. Some people have said the lines point out sacred mountains. Sure, why not? The lines [might] point out sacred pyramids. Why not? The lines could [also] be used to point out processions," Stanish told reporters.
England is home to several similar structures. The Uffington White Horse was carved into a hillside, sometime around B.C.E. 1000, and can still be clearly seen today. Another geoglyph in England is the Cerne Abbas Giant, a figure of a club-wielding man and full-exposed penis. The Long Man of Wilmington appears to be holding golf flags in each hand.
The Sajama Lines in Bolivia are the largest geoglyphs in the world, covering an area of nearly 8,700 square miles. Other similar lines and figures have been discovered in California, Brazil, Chile and other areas.
Study of the newly-discovered ancient structures was announced in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
