First saw geometric shapes on the famous Nazca plateau American archaeologist Paul Cosquer. Scientist with astonishment looked from the aircraft in the improbable kaleidoscope of trapezoids, triangles and spirals, littered the desert three hundred kilometers from the capital of Peru, Lima. Absolutely straight lines dissected plateau in all directions and ran away beyond the horizon, as though oblivious of hills and gorges. And between the towns of Nazca and Palpa spread unique "desert zoo" - a giant shape of birds, snakes, monkeys, cetaceans, and even insects. It turned out that the technique of drawing the giant figures was quite simple: should just move the stones, revealing the soft earth, and put them in a row. That took years, but the images could be saved in this arid area for thousands of years!

Paul Cosquer suggested that before him is a giant astronomical calendar. on June 21, 1939, the scientist saw the light of day, as the Sun was going down exactly at the intersection of one of the straight lines with the horizon. Later he found the line of the winter solstice and further established itself in the correctness of their guesses the meaning of the kaleidoscope in the Peruvian desert. But it was necessary to identify and other pieces plateau with astronomical objects. For this complex task took assistant Field Kosaka, German by nationality, Maria Reiche.

She left Russia from Germany, escaping from fascism, settled in the Peruvian city of Cuzco, where he worked as a teacher, then graduated from the mathematical faculty of the local University, spoke Spanish and English and has become a professional translator. As Maria Reiche and got acquainted with the Field Coscom.

Order to deal with the mystery of the Nazca desert Maria took it as a gift of fate. Now and for many decades she has connected the life with this remote mountain location...

Maria Reiche - researcher of the Nazca desert

With rare dedication and thoroughness took Mary to a new business for themselves. Seven years went on her drafting first approximate maps and topographical plans plateau area of five hundred square kilometres covered by the mysterious drawings. In 1947, the researcher was able to use a helicopter. The first time she flew arrow-shooting overboard on the ropes, and in this position photographed giant image. After all, they are only visible from height of the bird's flight! Then the familiar engineer designed a special hanger - has become relatively safer. Almost all the daytime Reich spent in the pampas - so called by the locals desert. Manual roulette she measured 788 figures! Worked alone, so it was slow. The first detailed diagram of the images she managed to complete only to 1956, the last - when Mary was already in his eighties.

"The first lady Nazca" died in 1998 at the age of 95. Her house in the town of ICA (not far from the famous plateau) turned into a Museum, one of the streets IKI now bears the name of the Reich. The town is a bust of the woman ascetic, and in Nazca in her honor named one of the schools.

In IR lives of continuing the work of Maria Reiche - Victoria Nikitsky, who settled here in the early 1990's from Austria. Over the last 10 years of life of Mary she was her closest friend and assistant.

"For the ancient peoples of the position of the Sun and moon were the calendar, " said Maria Reiche journalists. - It determined the arrival of spring and autumn, seasonal fluctuations of water regime, and consequently the timing of planting and harvesting. That is why there are so many lines is about 13 thousand!" However, the known astronomer and author of the book "In Stonehenge" J.. Hawkins, analyzed the outlines of figures on the Nazca plateau using the computer and he said after the work: "the Computer has smashed the theory of stellar-solar-lunar calendar!" Indeed, not all figures managed to be identified with astronomical objects.

According to the hypothesis of the Muscovite Alla Belokon, images in Nazca applied over the top of the flow of energy directed. Many paths outlined a complex movement "drawing rays" vibrational, rotational and translational. And this is typical maneuvers UFO! Apparently, the image was applied managed flow of energy with adjustable nozzle. If this hypothesis is correct, then the drawings are addressed not to us, but coming to our planet by aliens.

Young Maria Reiche very sceptical alien explanation of the mystery of the desert. But at the end of his days she began to tolerate alternative hypotheses. In an interview with "the UNESCO Courier" she once said: "the perfect proportions of these images, where sometimes the size of 200-300 m, suggesting that they may have been destined for heaven spectators... whatever it was, but these figures will forever remain among the greatest creations of human genius!"

International expedition headed by Italian archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici conducted excavations on the Nazca plateau and discovered here, in particular, funeral service, belonging to the III century BC and made of fabric with yarn more than two hundred colors! Service is well preserved, and they show the figures of gods and, oddly enough, performers of musical instruments. By the way, there was found a clay flutes, on which you can play today!

Struck archeologists excavated a kind wells with a spiral downhill to the center with a diameter at the top 18 m and a depth of 15 meters Spiral meetings led to underground water sources and guarded by the priests. Distant predecessors of Peruvians were excellent farmers. In the struggle for life-giving water they showed tremendous hard work and high engineering art, creating an extensive irrigation system from wells, reservoirs and underground waters. Their effectiveness is that it was considered expedient to start the restoration of the entire irrigation complex.

Sixty kilometers North of the present town of Nazca, archaeologists found more than a hundred ancient petroglyphs (pictures carved on the rocks). The main motive of the drawings - God cat, considered one of the main gods of ancient Peruvians. According to their beliefs, the human life force is concentrated in his head, so a human head was sacrificed to the gods. In place of the former location of the religious centre of Cahuachi archaeologists have discovered a few mummified heads. Basically they were the heads of enemies of local tribes, but also met the heads of fellow - men, women and even children. Obviously, they also became objects of sacrifice.

Peruvian pilot Eduardo Gomez de La Torre in 1986 photographed 87 previously unknown image in poorly explored Pampa San Jose close to Nazca and gave them to the Museum in Lima. Earlier, in 1980, such a kaleidoscope of shapes have been found in the Peruvian province of Arequipa in thousand kilometers Southeast of Lima. Surely these works exist in other areas of the globe. For example, in Effington (England) popular "White horse", was drawn on the ground, in Ohio (USA) - "Large snake". Giant figures, similar to the image in Nazca, are also in the Mojave desert in California.

In 1980, the helicopter pilots of the Karakalpak branch of Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan found on the Ustyurt plateau (Aral sea basin) mysterious arrow-shaped image. They looked like an oval shape with length of 800-900 m and a width of 400-600 m These ovals with drawn inside the mouth and the two arrows pointing North rock about a meter and have traces of fastening solution.

One of the hypotheses believes arrow-shaped pieces of Ustyurt shelters for migratory koulans and saiga. But then it is not clear why all the "fence" is oriented to the North and good stretch for hundreds of miles? Who and why accomplished this difficult work, admiring which could for many centuries only birds, is still unknown.