I began my study of the Nazca Valley in 1996, by examining the ancient subterranean
aqueducts, known locally as puquios, where the ancient inhabitants dug down to the water
table and channeled the water into canals. Historically, the aqueducts have provided a
reliable source of water to the valleys, even in years when the rivers are dry and many
wells fail. Conventional wisdom held that the puquios were located adjacent to spurs
jutting from the foothills of the Andes, and that these, consisting of impermeable strata,
redirected meandering subterranean flows of water back into the valleys where the
aqueducts captured it.
My first discovery at Nazca was that this idea was essentially false. As I observed the
location of the aqueducts along the Nazca Valley I had to wonder why most of them
paralleled the river rather than crossing it. Considering the scarcity of water in this
region one might speculate that they were constructed to capture the highest rates of
flow. Thus the aqueducts should cross beneath the river not run parallel to it, as most of
them did. I began to wonder if this water came from an entirely different source.
The first aqueduct I examined was Achaco, and it turned out to be an ideal place to
begin. While dowsing for the aqueducts water source I realized Achaco received its water
from an underground channel which lead me northeast to Curve Aqueduct and then on to
Aja
Aqueduct, approximately four kilometers east of Achaco. I realized that these aqueducts
were linked together, part of a single water system. Soon I discovered other linked
aqueduct systems within the valley. Previous studies had characterized most of the
aqueducts as individual systems.
There were no wells between Aja Aqueduct and the river, and dowsing also confirmed that
no water flowed into the aqueduct from there. Where did it come from? There were several
wells between the aqueduct and a ridge to the north. Dowsing that area I traced a water
source which eventually disappeared beneath the ridge.
I obtained further proof of the existence of this source by checking the water level of
wells along the base of the ridge against the elevation of the river valley. It was twenty
meters higher; the water could not possibly come from the river.
This was interesting: an aquifer,- a subterranean river,- must flow into the Nazca
valley from the north. Water in the Nazca drainage was previously thought to flow
exclusively east-west, but my studies revealed that not only the Aja but also other
aqueduct systems were receiving water from north- or south-flowing aquifers.
To date I have identified nine aquifers in the Nazca, Aja and Tierras Blancas
valleys,
varying in width from 40 to 50 meters. All of them enter the river valleys at points where
there is a fault or some other change in the geological formation, and at each point there
stands an ancient aqueduct, constructed by a vanished culture which had learned how to
identify subterranean water sources and redirect some of their water to arid regions.
For several decades people have theorized that some of the Lines of Nazca are linked to
water resources, but they have been unable to prove it. I now saw why: they had related
the geoglyphs to surface drainages, and not to aquifers. During my investigation I began
to perceive a relationship between many of the Lines of Nazca and the aquifers.
Invariably, in those areas where aquifers Flowed and surface sails were not disturbed by
alluvial flooding, agriculture or construction, there were geoglyphs.
As I identified the aquifers I also realized that various geoglyph types correlated
consistently with my calculations. For example, a long triangle identified the source of
an aquifer. An isolated zig zag pattern indicated that no water lay below. If I was
correct, it meant that the ancients had identified and marked the surface where aquifers
emerged from the mountains and crossed the pampa.
I then thought: "I can read the geoglyphs, and they will lead me to the
aquifers." Reversing my research pattern, I followed the geoglyphs to the aquifers,
instead of following the aquifers to determine if they were identified by geoglyphs. Each
time geoglyphs clearly identified the aquifers in some cases, where one would least
expect to find them.
For example, the geoglyphs crossing the Pan American Highway near Pajonal,
just south
of Nazca traversed an utterly arid stretch of pampa. How could water exist there? Yet the
geoglyphs led to a fault and an intrusive dike at the end of a ridge, just west of a large
archeaological site in the Taruga valley. Closer observation indicated a major fault
crossing north-south between the Taruga and Nazca Valleys, and intersected by other faults
crossing east-west beneath Cerro Blanco. Where this fault enters the Taruga Valley, there
are the geoglyphs, three aqueducts and an abundant modern well. Where the fault enters the
Nazca Valley stands Cantalloc Aqueduct, numerous geoglyphs known as
El Telar, and two
abundant wells The El Telar geoglyphs also point directly to molar faults in the
mountains.
Studies of the four valleys within the Nazca drainage all led to the same conclusion:
the Lines of Nazca consistently chart the source and course of aquifers. They are a text
without pages imprinted into the landscape, providing the inhabitants of the
region, both past and present, with the solution to their water problems.
It is thus disturbing that unprotected lines are being destroyed every day by
agriculture and construction If this continues, one of the most important manuscripts of
the ancient world will be erased forever.
Having established the relationship between the faults, aquifers, aqueducts and
geoglyphs, I could explore other mysteries of the Nazca drainage. For example, frequently
abundant wells were located up valley of dry wells in the same drainage. This could be
explained by geological faults which crossed the river, channeling subterranean water
away, and these crossings were consistently marked by geoglyphs.