All language subtitles for 2022.S49E16 PBS NOVA - Nazca Desert Mystery.[eng]

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Huge drawings etched
into the Peruvian desert plains.

Birds.

A monkey.

And lines that
stretch for miles.

♪ ♪

(Johny Isla speaking Spanish)

(translated):
They're one of the masterpieces

of Andean society here in Peru.

NARRATOR:
They are the Nazca Lines,

remnants of a long-gone
civilization

that left its mark, quite
literally,

on the landscape.

(translated):
Most of us in Peru
descend from these populations.

NARRATOR:
But the Nazca people are a
mystery.

They had no written language,

and the desert drawings
they left behind

had been baffling archaeologists
for almost a century.

(Isla speaking Spanish)

ISLA (translated):
What function did they have?

It's a question we're still
asking ourselves.

NARRATOR:
Now researchers are
using 21st-century technology

to closely study the landscape.

♪ ♪

And they're discovering figures

made before the Nazca were
known to have existed.

Who lived here before the Nazca?

(translated):
It's a mythological being--
look here.

Wow.

NARRATOR:
Archaeologists are
trying to piece together

more than 1,000 years of history

and have found evidence of
thriving civilizations

in Peru's southern desert.

(Giuseppe Orefici
speaking Spanish)

(translated):
It is the largest adobe

ceremonial center in the whole
world.

NARRATOR:
How did the Nazca Lines start?

What did they mean?

And why did they end?

♪ ♪

"Nazca Desert Mystery,"

right now, on "NOVA."

♪ ♪

(wind blowing)

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
It is one of the
most arid deserts in the world,

averaging less than an inch of
rainfall a year.

And running along Peru's
southern coast...

...more than 1,500 years ago,

the people here created
remarkable earthworks

across an area spanning about
200 square miles.

Giant figures:

a hummingbird.

A spider.

A monkey.

And thousands of lines,

some more than five miles long,

etched in the ground.

They are known
as the Nazca Lines.

ISLA (translated):
Technically, they are called
geoglyphs,

drawings on the earth.

(speaking Spanish)

(translated):
The Nazca geoglyphs can be seen

in all their splendor
from the air.

NARRATOR:
Erosion and the remoteness of
many of the lines

meant that these vast designs
were all but forgotten

for more than a millennium.

♪ ♪

They were rediscovered in the
1920s,

but it was not until airplanes
started flying across the region

that their true scale
was revealed.

(Isla speaking Spanish)

ISLA (translated):
There are estimates about
how many geoglyphs there are,

around 6,000 or 7,000 geoglyphs.

Most, almost 90%, were geometric
motifs-- lines, trapezoids--

and around ten percent figures.

NARRATOR:
But what were they for?

And who created them?

Peruvian archaeologist
Johny Isla

has been studying the Nazca
geoglyphs

for more than 30 years.

ISLA (translated):
The Nazca were a social group

that developed along the
southern coast.

This territory is pretty arid

because there's no water
for most of the year.

Their dwellings
were along valleys,

which are really small oases
in the middle of the desert.

NARRATOR:
Archaeologists named
the ancient group of farmers

and fishermen who once lived
here the Nazca,

after the local river valley.

♪ ♪

They used the surrounding desert
plateaus as a canvas

for drawing giant geoglyphs.

(Isla speaking Spanish)

(translated):
The Nazca covered
these plains with geoglyphs

and turned this desert into a
space

which was inhabited, dynamic,

social, and vibrant through
time.

(fire crackling)

NARRATOR:
Over the years, there have been
many theories

about these geoglyphs.

That they were astronomical
calendars.

Signs left by aliens.

Or appeals to gods looking down
from above.

But whatever the reason,

the ancient people who lived in
this area

left a lasting mark in the
desert.

♪ ♪

Today, urban expansion means

some geoglyphs are on the
outskirts of town.

MAN (translated):
I live 500 meters
from the geoglyphs.

Here in Nazca, we are proud of
what the ancestors left us.

(woman speaking Spanish)

(translated):
Who knows what the
ancestors were thinking

when they did this?

But it's very beautiful.

NARRATOR:
Nazca civilization disappeared
more than a millennium ago.

But a growing interest in the
past

has spurred a revival

of ancient Indigenous
traditions,

like the Yaku Raimi,

a celebration of water.

CANDY HURTADO:
The matter of indigeneity
is very complex here in Peru.

People will not often identify
as Indigenous.

It is still something that is
associated

with underdevelopment or a
lack of progress.

But they will identify
themselves

through dances--
they will say, "I dance that,

so I am that."

Um, "I sing that, so I am that."

(flutes and drums playing)

NARRATOR:
Candy Hurtado is
an ethnomusicologist from Jauja

in the highlands east of Lima.

She's studying rituals,

and has come to Nazca to record
the water festival.

HURTADO:
In the Andean worldview,

we understand that time is not
linear,

but that it is cyclical.

So that we are always,
through ritual,

connecting with the past,
the present, and the future.

We're connected to our
ancestors,

we are connected to the people
that come after us

in a very real way,
as well as to the environment.

The environment is also
considered our ancestors.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Peruvian archaeologists studying
the environment

to piece together
the Nazca story

have made surprising
discoveries.

Using drone images,

they've identified a different
type of geoglyph.

Not on the flat desert plateaus,

but on the hillsides.

ISLA (speaking Spanish):

NARRATOR:
Johny Isla and his team are
restoring his latest discovery,

a very faded geoglyph.

ISLA (speaking Spanish):

NARRATOR:
Years of erosion have damaged
the geoglyph.

Johny's team moves stone after
stone

by hand to re-expose
the lighter layer below.

It's a painstaking process.

(speaking Spanish)

(translated):
When we realized

that on the hillside there were
other figures,

other geoglyphs,

we realized we have to
change the way

we thought and look to the
hillsides, where we didn't think

there were any drawings.

NARRATOR:
The team has revealed the
outline

of a group of people walking,

but it needs more work.

ISLA (speaking Spanish):

NARRATOR:
The desert hillsides
have long been overlooked.

But now there is newfound
interest in them.

ISLA (translated):
It's really one of the most
striking finds of recent times.

It's a mountain cat,

the Pampas cat,

an animal in danger
of extinction.

NARRATOR:
Almost 10,000 miles away,
in Yamagata, Japan,

archaeologist Masato Sakai

studies drone footage from the
Nazca desert.

He's turned to a high-tech
method

of searching for geoglyphs.

Artificial intelligence.

(speaking Japanese)

SAKAI (translated):
At the beginning, we were
looking

at the northern Nazca
plains, where hummingbirds,

monkeys, and other famous
geoglyphs are concentrated.

(speaking Japanese)

(translated):
We let A.I. learn from these
famous geoglyphs

and other data from this area.

NARRATOR:
By analyzing aerial images,

computer algorithms can spot the
cleared surfaces

that form the figures.

Once the A.I. knows what to look
for,

it begins scanning the desert

for patterns that appear
human-made.

The software homes in on a
very faint shape.

♪ ♪

(Sakai speaking Japanese)

SAKAI (translated):
We discovered it is a geoglyph
of a person

holding a club in their right
hand.

NARRATOR:
The person with the club,

the people walking,

and the Pampas cat were all
found on the sides of hills.

And Johny thinks

this unexpected positioning is
the clue to their purpose.

(speaking Spanish)

ISLA (translated):
These geoglyphs were made by
people for people.

As they're drawn on sides of
hills, people could see them

as they crossed the desert or
the valleys.

(speaking Spanish)

They seem to be markers of
territory

or routes through the desert.

NARRATOR:
But it isn't only
their position that is unusual.

They're in a different style

from the classic Nazca images
like the monkey

and the hummingbird.

So were these giant geoglyphs
made by the same people?

Or someone else?

To find out, researchers turn
to other sources

for designs and imagery

that might match the
figures on the hillsides.

(Isla speaking Spanish)

ISLA (translated):
To identify and categorize
these geoglyphs,

we take a stylistic approach.

We compare them with ceramics
and textiles.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
They find similar motifs, but
not from the Nazca period.

ISLA (translated):
These geoglyphs date to the
year 200 or 300 BCE,

which means that they were made

before the famous Nazca
geoglyphs.

NARRATOR:
The hillside geoglyphs were
created earlier than the Nazca

are thought to have existed.

So who was making geoglyphs
before the Nazca--

and why?

♪ ♪

In the 1920s, Julio César Tello,

the first Peruvian
archaeologist,

found 429 mummies

wrapped in extraordinary
textiles

in an ancient burial ground

in the Paracas Peninsula.

So archaeologists called the
ancient people the Paracas.

The funerary
bundles are stored in Lima,

in the National Museum of
Archaeology, Anthropology,

and History of Peru.

♪ ♪

The fabrics the mummies
were wrapped in

reveal the extraordinary skill
and artistry of the Paracas.

And the images and symbols
provide insight

into their worldview.

There are shamans in trances.

Deities.

And severed heads.

One of the most iconic Paracas
textiles

has only recently arrived at the
museum.

DELIA APONTE
(speaking Spanish):

APONTE (translated):
In the 1930s,

after Julio Tello's excavations

in the Paracas Peninsula,

there was a lot of looting,

and some pieces,
this one among them,

were taken out of the country.

It ended up in Sweden.

NARRATOR:
This is the first time
archaeologist Delia Aponte

has been able to examine
the 2,000-year-old mantle.

(speaking Spanish)

(translated):
I'm happy.

I've always wanted to see this
piece.

I'm surprised by the use
of color.

For the Paracas,
colors have meaning,

and the way they organize them
is important.

It's part of their identity.

There is a symbolism we haven't
deciphered yet,

but which is definitely there.

NARRATOR:
The Paracas imbued their
funerary textiles with meaning,

and Delia is particularly
interested in their symbolism.

(Aponte speaking Spanish)

APONTE (translated):
Here we have a toad,

associated with humidity
and agriculture.

A few plants
are sprouting from its back.

(speaking Spanish)

(translated):
Here there is a condor.

Hummingbirds drinking from a
flower.

A bean in the form of a human.

NARRATOR:
The imagery related
to animals and edible plants

throughout the seasons

suggests that the Paracas
textile

is a symbolic representation

of the agricultural cycle.

(translated):
I think this is a masterpiece,

the pinnacle of 900 years

of this society's development.

NARRATOR:
Many of the Paracas images

strong resemble the
newly identified

hillside geoglyphs found in the
Nazca region.

It suggests the desert figures
were created by the Paracas.

♪ ♪

The Paracas were ancient Peru's
most accomplished weavers.

Today, communities in the
highlands of Cusco

keep some of
their ancient traditions alive.

(Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez
speaking Spanish)

(women talking softly)

ALVAREZ:
Over here,

they are warping,

which is also traditional

technique from the Paracas
culture.

NARRATOR:
Nilda Callañaupa Alvarez is a
weaver

and expert in textiles
from Chinchero

in the Cusco region, 350 miles
from Lima.

She has made it her
mission

to preserve and promote
pre-Hispanic weaving methods.

And here, in Pitumarca, she
works with weavers

who practice Paracas
weaving techniques.

(all talking softly)

Paracas have managed many
techniques

which they adorned
the huge mantles for afterlife.

Textile tradition,

practiced today, part of the
traditional

clothing and part of our
identity.

So different regions will have
different types of textile.

We are very lucky

to have ancestors,
civilizations,

cultures like Paracas who left
to us

such rich textile tradition.

We, as weavers today, we like
to learn

those techniques, and we
like

to reintroduce, pass to the
younger generation

for the future.

NARRATOR:
Paracas finds were
not limited to the peninsula.

Archaeological discoveries
reveal

the civilization stretched
across a swath of land

almost 250 miles north to south.

And there is evidence of a
settlement

at a site called
Animas Altas, Animas Bajas.

(Aïcha Bachir Bacha
speaking French)

(translated):
I can see that this figure was
cut at the neck.

It could be the sacrifice of a
figure

which could actually
represent a human sacrifice.

NARRATOR:
Archaeologist Aïcha Bachir Bacha

has been piecing together the
history

of this 250-acre site.

(Bacha speaking French)

(translated):
Since 2009, we've discovered
the façades of pyramids

and also
tombs of members of the elite.

(speaking French)

(translated):
And we also discovered

low platforms which were
workshops and residential sites.

NARRATOR:
At the end of the dig season,
the excavated areas

get filled in to protect them,
but Aïcha can use

the data the team collected

to reconstruct the ancient
Paracas site.

(Bacha speaking French)

BACHA (translated):
The 3-D reconstructions of the
buildings

at Animas Altas,
Animas Bajas

help us to show
that under all that sand,

we really have an Andean town
which developed

2,500 years ago.

NARRATOR:
This settlement appears to have
been abandoned

around the year 100,

when the site was covered in
earth and buried by the Paracas,

creating earthen mounds known
by the Quechua name of huaca:

something sacred and revered.

♪ ♪

The finds at Aïcha's site
reveal objects and practices

similar to other
Paracas locations.

Some 75 miles to the north,

in the Chincha Valley, lie more
Paracas sites:

20 massive huacas overlooking
today's farmland.

HENRY TANTALEÁN: Wow.

(Charles Stanish speaking
Spanish)
TANTALEÁN: Wow.

NARRATOR:
Archaeologists Charles Stanish
and Henry Tantaleán

have worked here for more than a
decade.

TANTALEÁN:
Classical Paracas.

NARRATOR:
Some of the huacas now have
buildings

or entire villages built on top
of them.

But Charles and Henry's team

have been excavating some of the
mounds,

such as this one, called
Huaca Soto.

STANISH:
You can see a giant sunken court
here,

so we assume that this would
have been painted

in beautiful colors, at least
white and red, probably yellow.

We found stairs on either side
of these courts.

We discovered a spondylus shell

and various other evidence of
feasting.

NARRATOR:
Spondylus shells,

the remains of shellfish brought
from as far away as Ecuador,

were considered prestige
offerings

associated with water
and fertility.

Charles and Henry believe that
it means this,

Huaca Soto,

was a Paracas ceremonial site.

♪ ♪

Adobe walls erode over time,
so it's difficult to be sure

exactly what Huaca Soto looked
like,

but it was clearly
a monumental structure.

STANISH:
For many years, we thought that

these were only ritual centers,
but now we realize,

after our excavations down
below,

that there's at least a square
kilometer of village

adjacent to the pyramids.

We had a huge
population living down there.

NARRATOR:
Charles and Henry realized that
the huacas were right

in the middle of a
densely populated landscape.

STANISH:
We have buried villages,

there's a massive settlement
system,

a number of political centers,

a ritual center,

and this was the demographic,

political, and cultural capital
of Paracas.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Several miles away
in the desert,

Charles and Henry found a
network of five more huacas.

Archaeological finds suggest
these remote platform mounds

were also religious centers.

TANTALEÁN (translated):
People used to get together
here to do celebrations.

Over here, we found a group of
six mummies

from the Paracas era--
they were women.

We also found the remains
relating to elites,

who were possibly directing the
worship

that took place in this pyramid.

NARRATOR:
As well as looking
at the huacas,

the archaeologists studied the
surrounding desert.

And made a startling discovery.

STANISH:
As you can see behind,

there's a long line,
a couple kilometers long,

that goes all the way
to right in the middle

of the Paracas site.

NARRATOR:
It's one of several lines

that lead straight to the desert
mounds.

But that's not all.

So we can see up ahead a large
pile of rocks.

It's an intentional mound that
is integrated

into all of the lines,

and this was one of the many
many places, about 200,

that we found throughout the
entire geoglyph area.

NARRATOR:
Charles believes these were
altars where Paracas pilgrims

might have left offerings.

STANISH:
If you use the analogy

of pilgrimages from around
the world,

from almost all cultures--
Hindu, Christianity, Muslim--

they all have these kinds of
pilgrimages where people stop,

and they know exactly what's to
be done

and when it's to be done,

and this is exactly what we see

throughout all of these lines.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Charles and Henry think that
these altars were ritual stops

on the lines which led people
to their ultimate destination:

the desert ceremonial centers.

But what motivated people
to go on this journey?

(translated):
In the Andes, a classic way

of joining spaces together
and of survival

is by exchanging goods
from different ecological zones.

So people from the coast
gave fish,

and those from the mountains
crops, for example.

NARRATOR:
But the finds at the desert
huacas raise a question:

with the Paracas capital
in the lush green valley

just a few miles away,

why would the Paracas
choose to meet

and trade in the desert?

The archaeologists have
a theory.

STANISH:
The reason they chose
this landscape is because

it was barren, it wasn't owned
by anybody, and it was neutral.

Paracas had a lot of
intra-ethnic fighting going on:

trophy head-taking
and all this and that.

And so we know from history
and ethnography

that people will set up
these neutral spaces,

in-between zones, where both,
all parties feel comfortable.

And here you can feel
quite comfortable.

NARRATOR:
Charles and Henry believe
that the desert was the setting

for periodic markets
where goods were exchanged.

♪ ♪

And the orientation
of the lines and mountains

suggest the Paracas markets
may have been held

during the Winter Solstice,

which in Peru takes place
in June.

STANISH:
One of the great theories as to
why civilization developed

is that people in pre-capitalist
times developed

these elaborate marketplaces,
fairs, pilgrimage areas,

where the people came together
and they exchanged products,

and marriage partners,
and gossip,

and have a good time,

and this is how civilization
really gets a kickstart.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
The last Paracas offerings
and sacrifices at this site

were made around 250 BCE,
before the ceremonial center

was covered with earth
and abandoned.

♪ ♪

So what happened to the Paracas?

Bioarchaeologist and forensic
anthropologist

Elsa Tomasto-Cagigao

looked to DNA for an answer
and got a surprise.

TOMASTO-CAGIGAO (translated):
There is a DNA type

which is specifically inherited
from the mother

and is very easy to classify.

In Native American populations,

there are only four lineages--
A, B, C, D.

And when I did a test for
research purposes,

it turned out I matched the
D lineage most common

among the Paracas.

NARRATOR:
DNA analysis of human remains

dating from 800 BCE
to the year 800

helps explain
what became of the Paracas.

(translated):
In the Palpa and Nazca area,
it's very difficult

to differentiate biologically

between the Paracas
and the Nazca;

they are genetically
very similar.

Yes, we find cultural
differences, which makes sense.

As the centuries go by,

people change in the way
they behave.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
The research suggests

that sometime before
the year 100,

the culture of the people
living in the region shifted

and the Paracas became
the Nazca.

And while the styles changed,

the Nazca continued the Paracas
line-making traditions.

♪ ♪

But there were other
similarities, too.

As archaeologist Giuseppe
Orefici found when he arrived

in this area 40 years ago.

(Orefici speaking Spanish)

(translated):
When we got here, we found
a hill which had the remains

of walls and a surface.

(speaking Spanish)

It was a clue that there was
something there,

not just a natural hill.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
The site, called Cahuachi,

turned out to be a huge
Nazca complex.

(Orefici speaking Spanish)

OREFICI (translated):
It is the largest adobe
ceremonial center

in the whole world, 24 square
kilometers of great pyramids,

large ceremonial enclosures.

There was a lot going on
with pilgrims arriving

from almost 1,000 kilometers
away.

Cahuachi was the center,

the beating heart
of Nazca civilization.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
But there were no signs of
permanent settlements.

So although similar to the
older Paracas sites of Chincha,

Cahuachi was a different type
of ceremonial center.

OREFICI (translated):
It was a pilgrimage site

where people cannot access
all areas.

They have places
they are allowed in,

and where they can perform
their rituals.

NARRATOR:
Giuseppe believes that priests
performed their own rituals

inside the pyramids,
while the pilgrims

remained camped outside.

OREFICI (translated):
We excavated a few temporary
campsites people went to.

They ate the food
they had brought,

and they could see
from a distance

what was happening
inside Cahuachi.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Just outside Cahuachi,

a team of researchers
has made a discovery.

NICOLA MASINI
(speaking Italian):

ROSA LASAPONARA
(in Italian):

♪ ♪

(shutter clicks)

LASAPONARA:

MASINI:

LASAPONARA:

♪ ♪

(translated):
We do archaeology without
digging.

A non-invasive archaeology.

We do this with satellite
remote sensing,

remote-sensing planes, drones,

and also with geophysical
exploration techniques.

NARRATOR:
Nicola Masini and his team

have found lines leading to the
Nazca ceremonial site.

(Masini speaking Italian)

MASINI (translated):
We can see a clear spatial

and functional relationship
between the geoglyphs

and the pyramids.

(drone whirring in distance)

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
They found evidence that
the pilgrims outside

the Nazca ceremonial center

were more than just spectators
in the events.

(translated):
In this area, the entire setting
of the geoglyphs

is mainly made up of meandering
elements, which clearly evokes

the ritual activity
of the processions.

Imagine the Nazca
praying, singing.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
So Nicola believes that while

the Nazca religious elite
could perform in the pyramids,

the pilgrims carried out
their own ceremonies

along or within the lines
in the desert.

♪ ♪

MASINI (translated):
The geoglyphs and the pyramids
can be seen as two faces

of the same coin,

of ceremonial activity
which took place inside

those structures, in the rooms
and corridors of the pyramids.

But ceremonial activity
also took place

along these geometric shapes.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
At the height of
the Nazca civilization,

sometime before the year 400,
the evidence suggests

different lines were created
for different purposes.

Straight lines led to
ceremonial centers.

Meandering ones were a stage
for ritual.

And the famous images
were also used for rituals,

and perhaps
to appeal to the gods.

But barely 300 years later,

Nazca line-making fades away
to nothing-- why?

(translated):
Some figurative motifs

drawn in the pampa were erased
or deliberately covered up

by the Nazca themselves.

NARRATOR:
Before line-making dies out,
the Nazca draw new shapes

over some of their earlier
figurative geoglyphs,

and large geometrical shapes

such as trapezoids become
more common.

♪ ♪

Finds within these
new geoglyphs hint at them

no longer being simply pathways
for processions.

The Nazca were using them
differently.

(translated):
We're at the base of a trapezoid

made of stones, and the borders
are well laid out.

They finish at a more
narrow point

where there are two
small platforms,

where we think
rituals took place.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Johny believes that the shift in
design means there was

a widespread change
in the Nazca rituals.

And there was a new element
to the geoglyphs.

(Isla speaking Spanish)

ISLA (translated):
We identified small mounds
or altars in the desert,

altars with a series of things

the ancient people left
offerings.

Like things they grew
in the valleys,

seashells from the ocean,
objects made of copper

or semiprecious stones,

and spondylus shells.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
These altars were no longer
ritual stops along the way,

as they had been
in Paracas times.

For the Nazca, they were
a focal point of worship

on the trapezoids, playing a
much more central role.

♪ ♪

What happened to cause
such a change

from the Nazca's previous
geoglyph-making tradition?

♪ ♪

In Cahuachi,
Giuseppe found some clues.

(translated):
This is a big ceremonial
precinct,

one of the places
where ceremonies were held.

When we excavated it,
it was completely covered

by a layer of alluvial soils.

NARRATOR:
Alluvial soils are deposited
by surface water.

They're evidence of flooding.

OREFICI (translated):
We found a boy in it who had
been carried here by the water

who had drowned.

NARRATOR:
There is evidence that the area
had been hit by a major flood,

and the layers of sediment here
reveal this flooding

wasn't an isolated incident.

It was a recurring event.

OREFICI (translated):
There are frequent floods,

one after the other,

as well as a terrible
earthquake,

which destroys a large part
of Cahuachi.

NARRATOR:
Today, the region experiences
flooding

at two- to seven-year intervals,

caused by the weather
phenomenon known as El Niño.

A warming of Pacific seawater

leads to low air pressure,
increased rainfall,

and flash flooding.

It was a mega El Niño event
followed by an earthquake

which destroyed large parts

of the ceremonial center of
Cahuachi

sometime around
the year 400.

Giuseppe found thousands
of shards at Cahuachi,

remains of valuable pottery,

which was smashed
at the pyramids,

most likely as a sacrifice as
the Nazca appealed to the gods.

♪ ♪

(translated):
There was a big change
in Nazca society

and its relationship
with the deities.

It seemed the gods had
abandoned them.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
And Giuseppe believes that,
in response,

the Nazca abandoned Cahuachi.

♪ ♪

The floods were followed by
periods of prolonged drought.

And the layout of big
trapezoids hints

at the Nazca's main concern.

ISLA (translated):
Many point towards

the most important mountains
in the region,

which is where the water
comes from in the summer months.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
In Las Trancas,
one of the region's valleys,

Nicola Masini and his team

think they may have found
an answer to how the Nazca

dealt with their increasingly
serious water problem.

MASINI (translated):
From satellite images,
we discovered

these peculiar round shapes.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Near the round mounds,
they come across something else.

LASAPONARA
(speaking Italian):

MASINI:

LASAPONARA:

MASINI:

LASAPONARA:

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
They find a trapezoid geoglyph
close to these mounds.

It points to Cerro Marcha,
the mountain that provides

the region with water
in the summer months.

It suggests the mounds
are significant for something.

(translated):
Today we will do a 3-D study
with the drone.

And then we'll go over
with georadar,

a geophysics research tool.

NARRATOR:
The drone and ground-penetrating
radar find evidence

of an underground tunnel,

the remains of an ancient
aqueduct called a puquio.

♪ ♪

The Nazca engineered an
extensive network of aqueducts,

which tapped into subterranean
water coming from the mountains,

allowing them to bring it
to the surface

to store and distribute.

♪ ♪

(translated):
So we have four elements of the
landscape: the sacred mountain;

the geoglyph, where the
ceremonial and ritual activity

takes place;

the puquio, seen for its ability
to produce water

almost as some sort of miracle,

which is why they thanked
the deity.

And the result of all of this
is the valley,

an oasis where they farmed.

NARRATOR:
There may have been as many as
50 aqueducts in Nazca times.

36 are still in use today.

♪ ♪

The rise of the
trapezoid geoglyphs

coincides with an increase
in dramatic and violent images

on Nazca pottery
around the year 500,

including trophy heads in
greater numbers than before.

♪ ♪

Are things getting desperate
for the Nazca?

(Tomasto-Cagigao speaking
Spanish)

(translated):
Trophy head iconography
is very common among the Nazca,

and real trophy heads
have been found.

It could have been
confrontations

between different communities,
between enemies.

But another theory is that
it could be a ritual.

(crowd shouting)

NARRATOR:
Elsa believes the Nazca may
have appealed to their deities

in a way similar to an ancient
and violent ritual

still practiced today.

(crowd shouting)

TOMASTO-CAGIGAO (translated):
Today, in the Cusco region,
in Canas,

a ritual war is waged
among communities

that are not enemies,
and who, on a given date,

in a given space,
come together in confrontation.

It's a real confrontation.

People die and are injured,

and the blood that is spilled
from these clashes

is seen as an offering
to the Mother Earth

relating to fertility.

(crowd shouting)

NARRATOR:
Could the Nazca have practiced
bloody rituals

as a response to a lack
of rainfall?

♪ ♪

What was causing the droughts?

Were they just part of
natural climate cycles,

or was something else going on?

♪ ♪

More than 6,000 miles away,

at Britain's Royal Botanic
Gardens, Kew...

...conservation botanist
Oliver Whaley

and archaeobotanist
David Beresford-Jones

have been trying to understand

the environmental and ecological
pressures the Nazca were facing.

About 20 years ago,
they were studying

changes in the ecosystem.

Traveling off-road
through the desert,

they found one environment
they didn't expect.

We came across a dune,
and we found a twittering, uh,

warm and green, verdant forest,

almost sunken into the desert.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
The Usaca forest is
six miles long

and only a few miles

from the Nazca ceremonial center
at Cahuachi.

It was full of absolutely
enormous trees,

a very cool, shady,

beautiful forested environment.

And it suddenly made me think
that perhaps

the environments of the past
were rather different

to the sorts of environments
one sees today.

NARRATOR:
In order to test his
hypothesis, David and his team

analyzed soil from different
areas in the Nazca desert.

BERESFORD-JONES:
We took samples from the floor
of the Usaca woodland,

and then we compared those
to soil samples from

parts of the south coast
which are today desertified.

And we found that
the pollen samples were

directly equivalent.

In other words,
these now desert landscapes

had once been forested.

(insects chittering,
birds twittering)

NARRATOR:
What happened to the forests?

The soil samples show trees
in the earlier layers

were later replaced
by agricultural crops.

The forests had been cut down
by the Nazca.

But why?

After the year 500,

a rising empire from the
Andean highlands,

the Wari, was spreading out
across Peru.

Distinctive Wari finds show
they reached the Nazca region.

BERESFORD-JONES:
One of the reasons Wari were
on the south coast was because

they wanted to extract cotton,

which they couldn't grow
in the highlands.

NARRATOR:
The Nazca valleys,

kept fertile by the aqueducts,

were perfectly places to grow
cotton and other crops.

Coming under the influence of
a more powerful civilization,

the Nazca cut down their forest
to make space for agriculture.

WHALEY:
The Nazca were pushed

by the Wari to overextend
their agriculture,

eating into the last relics
of, of forest.

NARRATOR:
David and Oliver tried to gauge
just how much

of the Nazca's forests
still exist.

We estimate that from the

original early
Nazca forest extent,

we've probably got less than
five percent.

It's probably two or three
percent

of the original forest
cover.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
For centuries, the trees
had maintained

an ecological balance.

And large-scale deforestation
led to a tipping point,

causing irreversible damage
to the ecosystem.

The ground became vulnerable
to erosion,

and the lack of trees sped up
desertification.

For the Nazca, it marked
the beginning of the end.

WHALEY:
So this is what the forest

was like in 2001.

NARRATOR:
Today, what little remains
of the ancient Nazca woodland

is under threat once again.

It is being cut down and burnt
to be sold as charcoal.

Tragic.
Yeah.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
To try and stop
the illegal deforestation,

Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

supports scientists
and conservationists

who monitor the remaining
Usaca forest.

Alfonso Orellana Garcia
is local to the area.

♪ ♪

GARCIA (translated):
This is a huarango tree forest.

The mother tree,
the tree of life,

that's what we call
the huarango.

By burning, felling our trees
and making forests disappear,

we are repeating past mistakes.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Today, Usaca is a dwindling
haven

for wildlife familiar
to the Nazca, like hummingbirds.

♪ ♪

And the Pampas cat,

etched into the hillside.

♪ ♪

Geoglyph-making,
which began with the Paracas

but reached its peak
in Nazca times,

starts declining
as Nazca society falls apart.

♪ ♪

ISLA (translated):
This tradition of making
geoglyphs

ended around the year 650, 700,

when Nazca society
in this region

also came to an end.

NARRATOR:
The evidence suggests

that as they faced
ecological collapse,

many Nazca abandoned
this landscape and scattered,

assimilating into the Wari.

TOMASTO-CAGIGAO (translated):
They had to emigrate.

Some went eastwards,
up the mountains,

where the rains were more
frequent.

Others went south.

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
The remnants of the great
civilizations of the Paracas

and the Nazca remained etched
into the landscape,

virtually forgotten
for hundreds of years.

Today, archaeologists believe

that the geoglyphs
were multifunctional.

They were ritual pathways,

territorial markers,

the stage for ceremonies.

♪ ♪

Their design and use
changing over a millennium.

♪ ♪

And the legacy of the
sophisticated societies

that created the lines
lives on.

♪ ♪

(translated):
The descendants of the Paracas,
of the Nazca, of the Incas,

we are alive, we are here.

Most of us in Peru descend from
these ancient populations.

And we are very proud
of our Indigenous past,

and interested in learning
about it, and we cherish it.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

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on Amazon Prime Video.

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