The Search Engine Google is showing this animated
Doodle in few Countries for Maria Reiche’s
115th Birthday.
Maria Reiche was a German mathematician, archaeologist, and technical translator who carried out research
into the Nazca Lines in Peru, beginning in
1940, and had success in gaining recognition
and preservation of the property.
She helped educate people about this resource
and gain government recognition and preservation,
gaining her the title "Lady of the Lines".
In 1995 the Nazca Lines were declared a UNESCO
World Heritage Site.
The Nazca Lines are a series of large ancient
geoglyphs in the Nazca Desert, in southern
Peru.
The largest figures are up to 370 m long.
The scholars believe the Nazca Lines were
created by the Nazca culture between 500 BC
and 500 AD
The figures vary in complexity.
Hundreds are simple lines and geometric shapes;
more than 70 are zoomorphic designs of animals,
such as birds, fish, llamas, jaguars, and
monkeys, or human figures.
Other designs include phytomorphic shapes,
such as trees and flowers.
The designs are shallow lines made in the
ground by removing naturally occurring reddish
pebbles and uncovering the whitish/grayish
ground beneath.
Scholars differ in interpreting the purpose
of the designs but, in general, they ascribe
religious significance to them.
Because of its isolation and the dry, windless,
stable climate of the plateau, the lines have
mostly been preserved naturally.
Extremely rare changes in weather may temporarily
alter the general designs.
