Peru’s famous Nazca Lines may include drawings of exotic birds
The pre-Inca people who crafted the enormous landscape art depicted winged fliers from far away
By Bruce Bower
Massive drawings of birds etched by pre-Inca people on southern Peru’s Nazca desert plateau include several exotic surprises, Japanese researchers say.
Three avian images depict species that live far outside the region where the famous drawings were created, zooarchaeologist Masaki Eda of Hokkaido University Museum and his colleagues conclude. A drawing previously classified as a hummingbird actually represents a related species known as a long-tailed hermit, Eda’s group reports online June 20 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports.