To capture the so-called geoglyphs in all their glory, the archeologists used drones. They photographed about 50 geometric drawings depicting humans and animals. 25 of them had never been documented before.

The pictures in the Peruvian landscape show monkeys and a whale. "Many of the drawings depict warriors. From a certain distance they could be spotted with the bare eye. But many have disappeared with time," Luis Jaime Castillo from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru told magazine "National Geographic."

In contrast to the Nazca Lines, which are edged into the desert, the newly documented drawings are mostly drawn on the side of mountain ridges. That makes the geoglyphs visible from the ground. Inhabitants of local villages have known about them for a long time.

The drawings in the soil of Palpa are thousands of years old. Humans created them between 500 BC and 200 AD. They belong to the Paracas culture and the Topara culture.

Because of previous research findings on the Nazca Lines it is very likely that geoglyphs are commonly used in fertility rituals. Beyond that, scienctist say that indigenous peoples also created the images when there were periodic climatic fluctuations.

With the help of the lines in Palpa the researchers hope to get new insights into the cultures of the region. "[...] it is a tradition of over 1000 years that precedes the famous geoglyphs of the Nazca culture, which opens the door to new hypotheses about its function and meaning," says Peruvian Ministry of Culture archaeologist Johny Isla, the Nazca Lines' chief restorer and protector.