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- Author, Guillermo D. Olmo
- Rolle, BBC News Mundo Peru correspondent
March 2, 2023
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The technology of the water eyes is considered to be extraordinarily advanced at the time of its creation.
The Nazca Lines in southern Peru are a historical mystery that has captured the imagination and curiosity of travelers, historians and archaeologists for decades.
It is now known that the giant lines and geoglyphs were the work of the Nazca culture, who inhabited the region of the city of Ica in the Coastal Desert of southcentral Peru between the 1st and 7th centuries.
But there are still many unknowns that have given rise to the most varied of interpretations. Some attribute the formation of the lines to alien action.
It is also known that neither the Nazca culture nor the Fabulous Lines would have been possible without the extraordinary Nazca system of wells and underground canals.
These aqueducts made it possible to irrigate the Nazca fields and produce the food needed for a thriving culture in one of the driest and most inhospitable areas of the Americas.
They were christened “water eyes” because of the water collection points of the aqueducts and the spiral openings at a depth of about seven meters that allow access to the water at some points of the network.
Ana María Cogorno, President of the María Reiche association, says: “Without water there is no life, so this unique culture would not have been possible without the aqueducts”.
Cogorno is part of a project to preserve the aqueducts in collaboration with the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Peruvian multinational soft drinks company AJE Group. Many are still used today to supply water to the residents of the region.
The Nazca Aqueducts
The Nazca Aqueducts are a surprisingly advanced water system for their time.
According to the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, most were built between the years 300 and 500, between the periods known as Early Nazca and Middle Nazca.
It is estimated that they date from a time close to the construction of the lines and geoglyphs.
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Aqueducts allowed water to emerge from the water table
It is a system of filter passages with wells, reservoirs and canals (some underground and some outside) excavated by the Nazca.
In this way it was possible to take water from the water table under the desert areas.
The system captures water through filtration and channels it through underground and uncovered sections until it is stored in a reservoir, from where it is later distributed to plants.
The canals are more than 9.5 km long and can irrigate more than 3,000 hectares of land (equivalent to about 4,200 football pitches).
Alberto Martorell, Head of the Decentralized Directorate of Culture in Ica, points out that they “were made with leachate and snow from the Andes that flowed underground and from there were captured by the aqueducts of an area where there is no water on the surface during most of the year.
Those who study the Nazca culture also admire them for their knowledge of astronomy and mathematics. The canals are another example of the wisdom of this ancient and mysterious world.
Credit, MARTIN BERNETTI
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The Nazca Lines and geoglyphs are the work of a culture admired for its mathematical and astronomical knowledge
However, Martorell points out that although the network was primarily intended for irrigation, “the proximity of some springs to others suggests that they also had a ceremonial use”.
Why are they important?
The Nazca culture is one of the richest preHispanic civilizations whose heritage makes many Peruvians proud.
Historians agree that its development played a key role in human evolution on the territory of Peru.
Most experts consider the Nazca Aqueducts to be one of the most original creations of this culture and one of the most crucial for its development.
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In the desert where the Nazca culture was located, there is no surface water for most of the year
Archaeologist Abdul Yalli points out that “it is a unique hydraulic system in the Andean world”.
Because of this, it has been protected by the Peruvian state as the nation’s cultural heritage since 2006, and UNESCO is collaborating with conservation efforts.
The continuity of its use, in addition to its historical and cultural value, has made it a vital issue for the inhabitants of the area.
The best preserved aqueducts are still in use, others have not been preserved in the same way.
Yalli explains that “some aqueducts have been abandoned and some even disappeared due to the urban expansion of Ica”.
Yalli was one of those responsible for the project to rehabilitate the Ocongalla and Cantalloc aqueducts. In Ocongalla, 500 meters of undergrowth were removed and 120 meters of walls were built.
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Work to restore the Ocongalla Aqueduct began
The aim is to continue the work with other aqueducts in the medium term and to create an archaeological interpretation center in Ocongalla, which will help to deepen the learning of the rational use of water.
For Cogorno, who is dedicated to recovering the heritage of the Nazca culture, “the lines and aqueducts form a spectacular work and therefore it is a sacred place where you can feel the value of millenary history and worth preserving “.