The two worst desecrations of the Nazca lines I’m aware of.
- Julie R. Neidlinger
- Jul 14
- 3 min read
The Nazca lines are gigantic ancient geoglyphs in Peru that can best be seen by air. This makes them intriguing on many levels.
But let’s get to the desecration stuff.
1. The Greenpeace protest that ruined the hummingbird Nazca lines.
In 2014, Greenpeace decided to take a dump on these ancient treasures, damaging the Nazca lines to make zero valuable activist points and instill zero change whatsoever. In an effort to promote a renewable future, Greenpeace activists decided to trample on the past.
Because why not protect the future by trampling all over the past. Nothing keeps the troops marching like burning the bridges behind them.
These Greenpeace folks laid out yellow cloth words so they could be photographed from the sky, creating an end result that looks like a photoshopped photo of yellow words on the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Why they didn’t just use Photoshop, I don’t know. The artist Christo has done less to whip nature into submission by wrapping eleven islands in Biscayne Bay with over 6.5 million square feet of pink fabric, much like the color of Pepto-Bismol with similar effects on the intestines of environmentalists everywhere, and I say that with full street cred on what it takes to be an environmentalist from personal experience.
Before Greenpeace protested so meaningfully, the hummingbird lines were perfect and untouched. God forbid we leave nature untouched in order to save it, much like there’s no better place for an environmentalist organization’s headquarters than a concrete-and-steel city with a Starbucks not far down the street.
In case you were wondering, the hummingbird was the most untouched and best preserved of all the Nazca lines. Not even the president of Peru can frolic about the Nazca lines, and they are only visible to tourists by air. If you’re lucky enough to see them on the ground, you have to wear special shoes, and even then, you might be destined for at least the first circle of Dante’s hell.
Greenpeace did not take such precautions, as you can see in this video, and forever altered the ancient landmark. Other Greenpeace leaders were quick to say that this was a stupid stunt, but so was the Dakota Access Pipeline protest that took place not too far from where I write this, and boy did Greenpeace eat that one.1
The Nazca stunt was stupider than most, however.
This desert is black rock on top of the lighter sand beneath, which is why the Nazca lines are able to exist in the first place, and why “innocent” footsteps (and perhaps a vehicle?) caused damage by making their own lines that are set to last thousands of years. Eons from now, perhaps, people will wonder at the amazing Humming Bird With Footpath artistry.
Some folks believe the damage was done when the letters were removed, while others disagree and say that you can see visible damage when the protesters are still there. The point is that, whenever it happened, it happened because of Greenpeace.
And even though Greenpeace is so very, very sorry (or at least sorry Peru was offended and that it looks bad for their organization), and even though Peru is rightly furious and says they will prosecute, too late. The damage is done.
Which leads me to the lesser-known hi-jinx at the Nazca lines.
2. Nancy Drew and The Clue in the Crossword Cipher.
Perhaps they weren’t aware of how fragile the Nazca lines were, but Nancy Drew and company went on an adventure there, with smugglers galore. I mean, they let themselves run absolutely amuck on those lines. In particular, her sleuthing skills led her to the famous monkey lines where, if memory serves, there was digging involved. The benefit here is that this book taught me, as a young child, that the lines even existed. It’s also worth noting that The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, made me forever loathe monkeys, but that is an entirely other discussion.
After reading the Nancy Drew book, curious about these giant lines, I looked them up in our Encyclopedia set, which is the paper version of Wikipedia for you young readers.
Of course, Nancy Drew’s offense never happened, since it is a fiction book, and instead, led me to learn about the history of the lines, whereas Greenpeace’s offense did happen, and they actually harmed the environment they swore they wanted to protect.
So there’s that.
I’m struggling desperately to find an actionable conclusion for you here, but really, this short article falls into the category of “i didn’t really need to know any of this.”
