Nearly Half of the Protected Land Around the Nazca Lines of Peru Is Now Open to Miners
Some environmentalists are concerned about mining operations drawing closer to the ancient landmarks
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Some 2,000 years ago, Peru’s ancient Nazca people created hundreds of monumental artworks in their desert territory near the Nazca River. Seen from above, these geoglyphs depict birds, llamas, killer whales armed with weapons, decapitated human heads and more. Known as the Nazca Lines, they were designated a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1994, and today they’re one of Peru’s most popular tourist attractions, along with Machu Picchu.
But now, the government of Peru has slashed the borders of the protected archaeological park that encompasses the Nazca Lines. Nearly half of the parkland will no longer be protected—an area about the size of 1,400 soccer fields, reports the Associated Press’ Steven Grattan. The reduction has sparked outrage: Critics say it endangers the environment around the Nazca Lines, as illegal mining operations draw closer to the monuments.
“The reduction not only removes protections—it does so precisely where extractive activity is expanding,” Mariano Castro, Peru’s former vice minister of the environment, tells the AP. Castro says the new lack of protection may come with “very serious risks and cumulative damage,” as the newly unprotected land hosts active or pending mining claims. And as the AP’s Grattan reported the next day, the Peruvian government is now accepting permit applications from these miners, meaning they’ll likely begin operating legally.
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The Nazca people lived between about 200 B.C.E. and 600 C.E., and though researchers have found smaller artifacts from the civilization, like textiles and painted pottery, the geoglyphs are by far the most enduring, spectacular remnants of the culture. Their subjects are mostly plants and animals—a hummingbird, an Andean condor, a spider—but geometric shapes and humanoid figures are also represented. Researchers have presented various theories about the lines’ purpose, but the dominant explanation is that the monuments are spiritual efforts, made to be enjoyed by cosmological powers.
Much of the anxiety surrounding the archaeological park’s reduction comes from the fact that researchers don’t yet know the true expanse and number of the Nazca Lines. Throughout the near-century after their discovery in 1927, about 430 geoglyphs were identified; but just last year, scientists using drones assisted by artificial intelligence found 303 more.
“They are trying to rub out history,” Ana María Cogorno Mendoza, president of the Maria Reiche International Association, a nonprofit devoted to protecting the Nazca Lines, tells the Guardian’s Dan Collyns. “The area that is being separated is exactly where some of the oldest rituals took place, according to our research.”
Peru’s Ministry of Culture announced on Friday that the park’s shrinkage is supported by 20 years of research, which has not been made public, that deems the newly-expelled land untouched by the Nazca Lines, per the Guardian. The decision comes during a boom in the precious metals industry, felt especially in Peru, which is rich in gold and minerals. Private enterprises, competition and criminal activity have made Peruvian mining a bloody business.
Peruvian environmental lawyer César Ipenza tells the AP that once miners enter the land now expelled from the Nazca park, they will make huge environmental impacts and assume no responsibility. “It’s incredible how the government is not even interested in the heritage of our ancestors that is unprotected, and will be destroyed without any control,” he says.
“This is a weakening of both environmental and cultural protections,” Ipenza tells the AP. “The state should be upholding its commitments under international agreements, not yielding to private interests.”
