Scientists have utilized artificial intelligence to find three Nazca Line geoglyphs in Peru. These figures were etched on the arid desert surface roughly 2,400 years ago.
AI Spots Three Nazca Line Geoglyphs
According to Live Science, the biggest one is a pair of legs that span over 250 feet. The researchers also found a fish figure that measured 62 feet in length and a bird figure that was 56 feet wide.
Before this, the scientists also used the technique for identifying a humanoid figure, which measured roughly 6.5 feet in width and 13 feet in length. This earlier discovery was revealed in 2019, while the latest ones were detailed in the July edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
At present, there are over 350 rediscovered geoglyphs. Live Science notes that most of these figures can be found in the Nazca Desert. However, they can also be spotted in other areas across Peru. Archaeologists believe that these figures date from the period between 400 B.C. and A.D. 650.
Masato Sakai, the study's lead author and an archaeology and anthropology professor at Yamagata University, has been looking for such geoglyphs since 2004. Professor Sakai has been using various techniques, including drone photography, airborne scanning lidar, aerial photography, and satellite imagery.
They eventually turned to an AI method called "deep learning" to examine high-resolution shots taken in 2016. Such systems are inspired by how the human brain processes data. They are typically trained with millions or thousands of known objects. However, Sakai and his team trained this deep learning system using 21 Nazca geoglyphs.
The system was able to find geoglyph parts. Live Science notes that it was roughly 21 times faster compared to trained archaeologists. The researchers visited the sites of the likely candidates to verify their existence, which resulted in the four geoglyphs that were detailed in the study.
The researchers think that the deep learning system could come in handy in cases where geoglyphs could be overlooked in aerial shots.
What Are Nazca Lines?
According to ARTnews, Nazca Lines are geoglyphs that are protected by UNESCO and that date from between BCE 100 and 300 CE. These figures depict various illustrations, including snakes, orcas, birds, felines, camelids, and humans.
These geoglyphs are typically incised over the Nazca Desert. This is usually done by dragging black stones to reveal the white sand that lies beneath.
Such unique figures were first spotted by pilots over the Peruvian desert during the 1920s. Later research uncovered the diverse depictions of these geoglyphs.
Their exact function and purpose still remain a mystery. However, most archaeologists currently think that they could have been used for ceremonial practices.
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