• Peru Discovered a new figure between the Nazca lines: a 37-meter cat

Japanese scientists discovered 168 new geoglyphs near the Nazca

lines on the southern coast of Peru , considered

Cultural Heritage of Humanity

by UNESCO since 1994

, as confirmed to EFE today by the University of Yamagata (western Japan).

This team of academics from

Yamagata University

, led by

Masato Sakai

, made the discovery with the help of local archaeologists, aerial images and drones, where they discovered 168 new geoglyphs or large figures drawn on slopes or hills.

"In total we have found 168 figures: about 50 human, as well as birds, felines, snakes and also many linear and trapezoid figures," Sakai told EFE, noting that ceramics had also been found.

Since the beginning of the research project in 2004 -and since 2010 on the ground-, Japanese scientists have already found

358 figures

(including those of the new discovery), with which they seek to protect these deposits, but also to understand the objective with which they were created.

"To protect the lines, we have to know their exact location so that they don't become homes or local people use the area for agriculture," says Sakai, who believes that they were used to mark trails and paths.

The researcher explains that they now also use

artificial intelligence

in order to find patterns and see what exactly was wanted to be communicated with these shapes, something that with traditional research methods would take a long time due to the extensive field to be investigated.

"We can find these shapes on roads and paths, so we want to understand the combinations to know what they wanted to express," says Sakai.

Traditionally it has been considered that the Nazca lines were a great

astronomical calendar

, other experts believe that they are religious figures and some ufologists maintain that they were landing strips for extraterrestrial spacecraft.

The most representative figures are known as the spider, the monkey and the hummingbird, as well as the condor, the pelican, the seagull, the snail, the whale, the snake and the llama, among others.

The Nazca Lines are a set of hundreds of geometric figures, animals or plants located in an immense desert in the

Ica

region , south of

Lima

, made by the Nazca culture (1st-7th century) and whose function and meaning do not They are not clear, nor is the way in which they were made, since some exceed 100 meters and can only be seen from the air.

Despite their age, these famous and enigmatic figures were not discovered until the 1930s because the flatness of the desert surface only allowed the designs to be seen in their entirety from the air or from some surrounding hills.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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