The Cantalloc de Nazca aqueducts, in the dusty and desert land of Ica, on the southern coast of Peru. Photo: EFE
The dusty and desert land of the city of Ica, on the southern coast of Peru, was the cradle of the Nazca culture, where its inhabitants came to build, more than a thousand years ago, kilometers of underground aqueductsthat today the Peruvian state wants to re-evaluate.
“It’s a very important technological model because we have buildings here that date back over the years 300 and 500 AD c. approximately, which means that there is a 1,700-year-old technology that has worked and that works today, “said the director of the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Ica, Alberto Martorell, in the Cantalloc aqueducts.
The subsoil of this area is rich in underground water networks, which are mostly still active irrigating crops and palm trees in the green valley that stands out from the arid environment.
The Cantalloc aqueducts in Nazca (Peru) are more than 1,000 years old. Photo: EFE
“The water resource it was used brilliantly in a desert area, allowing the flourishing of a culture as important as that of Nazca under conditions that, had they not developed this response, this cultural development would not have existed, “Martorell noted.
the aqueducts collect and convey water from the Andesas well as from nearby rivers and springs through tunnels that rise to the surface in cultivated areas or remain underground.
Nazca’s wells and hydraulic system continue to function after 1.7,000 years of construction.
“This land use is maintained with that ancestrality. Technology allows us to know the level of progress of this complex engineering work,” said Martorell while visiting the archaeological center. When this city carried water into external canals, it implied the extraction of the water table (accumulation of groundwater at a relatively small depth below ground level) at the surface, which for archaeologists implies a complex operation.
The “water eyes” of Nazca
The archaeological center of the Cantalloc aqueductslocated just 4 kilometers from the current city of Nazca, it is composed of twenty spiral-shaped vents about six or seven meters deep that connect and allow you to see, hear and feel the presence of the precious water.
“The function of these vents is basically supplying light and oxygen to the underground tunnels to ensure a constant and homogeneous flow of water “, explained the archaeologist Abdul Yallifrom the management system of Nazca and Palpa of the Decentralized Directorate of Culture of Ica Yalli added that these suggestive springs also serve for the entrance and maintenance of the aqueduct network.
The Cantalloc aqueducts in Peru are 29 and archaeologists do not know all the functions they performed. Photo: EFE
But the purpose of the vents wasn’t just practical, the mystery that surrounds the famous Nazca lineswhich can only be appreciated from the air in all its magnificence, is contagious even in this engineering work.
Given that there are so many consecutive sources, sometimes separated by just one meter, it is clear that have been used for other purposes that only the maintenance and oxygenation of water. What were they for then? A mistery.
“A culture so tied to the need for water must have had a consideration of water as a sacred elementor, “Martorell said, explaining that it is not yet known for sure what these respirators were for, but they could be used for ritual purposes.” The Nazca society was a theocratic culture, “added Yalli, indicating that it was a city that seemed very “high”as evidenced by the verses they elaborate, whose origin and function is also linked to the cult of divinities.
Rituals, religious ceremonies …? The purpose of the Nazca aqueducts has not yet been specified by specialists. Photo: EFE
In addition to having a very advanced development of hydraulic technology, this culture that inhabited the current territory of Peru from the 1st to the 7th centuryit was also characterized by the processing of ceramics and polychrome fabrics.
“There are 29 aqueducts in the Nazca Valley20 in a regular state of conservation and the others have practically disappeared due to the urban expansion “, explained Yalli. The archaeologist added that” many aqueducts have been irreversibly affected, and in others there is a lack of maintenance, cleaning, restoration”.
“Due to its antiquity, the level of technological development and what it represents for hydraulic engineering since ancient times, it is one of the sites that the Peruvian State has included in the indicative list, that is to say that they will become unesco world heritage siteMartorell said.
The private group AJE and the María Reiche Internacional Association (a foundation named after the most famous scholar of the Nazca lines) have joined the mission of enhancing this ancestral knowledge.To achieve this international recognition, this public-private commitment will undertake a path that includes the continuation of the investigations, follow the cleaning work and to spread the importance and audacity of an engineering work that gave birth to the people of Nazca. EFE
Source: Clarin
