The extensive geoglyphs in the Nazca valley of Peru, known as the Nazca lines were created by the removal of rocks covered with dark desert varnish leaving a lighter colored sandy soil beneath. The passing of millenia and natural erosion processes would tend to make these fade from view, especially if the image had been created on a hillside.
These famous Nazca lines are notoriously difficult to see. At ground level you can only see a small portion of whatever is around you, and you are not allowed to wander around freely among the images. In general the only satisfactory views are either from chartered airplane or from one of the viewing platforms providing a higher vantage point. One of these viewing platforms is on the small hill that sports the cat image. “Archaeologists came across the faded feline outline while conducting maintenance work at the UNESCO heritage site.” (May 2020) Proposed work to upgrade the path led to a closer look that identified the degraded geoglyph on the side of the hill. Upon a closer look workers identified the image of the cat, literally underfoot.
Relaxing cat, internet photo, public domain.
Newly discovered and restored Paracas cat geoglyph, Peru. Photo ancient-origins.net.
“The Nazca lines, a Unesco World Heritage site, is home to designs on the ground - known as geoglyphs - created some 2,000 years ago. Scientists believe the cat, as with other Nazca animal figures, was created by making depressions in the desert floor, leaving coloured earth exposed. The cat then went unnoticed until plans were recently drawn up for a new path leading to an observation platform. The platform would have provided a vantage point for visitors to see many of the other geoglyphs.” (BBC 2020)
These geoglyphs were made possible by the special nature of the surfaces of the desert ground on the Nazca plain. A light colored soil is pretty much covered with very dark rocks stained by desert varnish. To create an image all the people needed to do was move some of the rocks aside to expose the light soil. However, over the ±2,000 or so years since the cats creation the wind had removed some of the soil and wind and earthquakes may have moved some of the rocks back to obscure the lines. Luckily the restoration process is fairly simple for these images. Once again the dark rocks are moved to the side exposing the lighter colored substrate beneath the rocks.
Paracas woven textile cats. Internet photos, public domain.
“People created the giant cat figure between 2,500 and 1,800 years ago, according to the chief archaeologist for the Nazca Lines site, Johny Isla. He told Spanish news agency Efe that the cat looks very similar to cat motifs on textiles from the Paracas culture, which flourished in the area between 500 BCE and 200 CE - centuries before the Nazca culture, which usually gets the credit for most of the valley’s geoglyphs.” (Smith 2020)
Since the Precolumbian Americas had no domestdicated cats, this animal represented a natural wild cat species found in the area. "Wild pampas cats, slightly larger than modern house cats, prowled the fields of the Paracas, attacking rodents and insects feeding on a wide array of cultivated crops." (Spivak 2020) Paracas farmers undoubtedly recognized the favor that these felines were doing them in controlling rodent numbers. An agricultural people in such an extreme environment would have been extremely aware of the loss of food to rodents, and they must have felt that wild cats, if not gods themselves, were sent by the gods to help the people. The artist in charge was obviously very familiar with these cats, however, to catch the relaxed pose so convincingly. The longitudinal and crosswise markings on the tail of the geoglyph subtly indicate the natural markings of the pampas wild cat.
Cats were a familiar subject matter to the Paracas people with many examples found in their pottery and weaving, attesting to their importance in the culture.
This wonderful cat is now restored and should be good for another 2,000 years.
NOTE: Some images in this posting were retrieved from the internet with a search for public domain photographs. If any of these images are not intended to be public domain, I apologize, and will happily provide the picture credits if the owner will contact me with them. For further information on these reports you should read the original reports at the sites listed below.
REFERENCES:
May, Tiffany, October 19, 2020, 2,000-Year-Old Cat Etching Found at Nazca Lines Site in Peru, https://www.nytimes.com
Smith, Kiona N., October 19, 2020, A giant cat picture was just discovered among the Nazca Lines, https://arstechnica.com
Spivak, Deborah, July 8, 2020, A Paracas Textile Tribute to Cats, Cloth, and Death, Saint Louis Art Museum, https://www.slam.org
Staff writer, October 1-8, 2020, Large 2,000-year-old cat discovered in Peru’s Nazca lines, BBC News.
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