According to an Italian scientist, a huge network of earthworks, or geoglyphs, is visible in satellite imagery of a large area, over 463 square miles, in the surroundings of the Titicaca Lake, Peru.
Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, professor at Italy’s Politecnico di Torino, claims the patterns she discovered while studying satellite pictures near the Titicaca Lake. She says the shapes are the result of an almost unimaginable agricultural effort of Andean communities centuries ago.
“People created a system of terraced hills and raised fields, which were large elevated planting platforms, with the corresponding drainage canals, to improve soil, temperature and moisture conditions for crops. These remains of the prehistoric agricultural system are providing evidence of the impressive engineering abilities of the peoples who lived there in pre-Columbian times,” she says in her Politecnico di Torino webpage.
“Among the geoglyphs there are structures which represent animals, where ponds are their eyes. Other geoglyphs are geometric drawings,” she adds.
Read the paper here: "Geoglyphs of Titicaca as an ancient example of graphic design."
Author: Mario Sandoval | Source: Living in Peru [October 13, 2010]