The Nazca Desert in southern Peru contains the Nazca Lines, ancient geoglyphs created by the Nazca culture.
The desert lies on Peru’s Pacific coastal plain, where extremely dry conditions have helped preserve lines, trapezoids, and enormous figures scratched into the dark surface. The Nazca people created many of the geoglyphs between about 200 BCE and 600 CE, although some nearby designs are older.
The figures include hummingbirds, monkeys, spiders, and other shapes. Many can be seen clearly only from elevated ground or from the air, but researchers study them using archaeology, mapping, and remote sensing rather than relying only on aircraft tours.
The Nazca Desert is part of Peru’s wider coastal desert system. It is distinct from the Atacama Desert, which lies mainly farther south in Chile and extends into southern Peru.