No lost pyramid in Nazca
November 5, 2008
At least not this one anyway
Italian scientists announced to the world weeks ago that their “new sensing technology” had allowed them to discover a long lost pyramid, not too far the the ancient Nazca archaeological site of Cahuachi. Their “optimizing” of the images with their “special algorithms” seems to have failed them. There’s nothing there.
I decided to head out across the rolling sands of this Nazca valley, under the intense sun and strong gusts of dry throat-cracking winds to see for myself.
Unfortunately, I found a flat piece of land – a field in a farm – which has conveniently greener grasses where a water channel passes through. From satellite this looks remarkably like a pyramid, not the usual kind you find in Peru, but a pyramid.
No pyramid
Closer look
The flat valley floor has clearly changed little in centuries. The only way a pyramid could be buried at this remote location would be if some ancient peoples dug a very deep hole in the valley floor, placed a pyramid inside and covered it up again. Unlikely.
My hopes have been dashed. 
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I would probably have gone for a look too, and been disappointed.
I, however, live in London and only get to Peru irregularly. Can’t eait for my next visit.
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Well how about this, you went there! I would’ve loved to go too. As we say in geology, satellite images will never replace going to the field. Remote sensing is an excellent mapping tool, but if you don’t go and see for yourself, you’ll probably make mistakes. And I’ve seen it happen before.
[...] Updated here. [...]