Google Earth is the perfect tool to explore and discover the physical remains of ancient cultures or unexplained anomalies found throughout this wonderful world. Believe it or not, some amazing discoveries have already been found using this program. And now a mysterious site spanning the Pisco Valley, Peru, has been highlighted by Google Earth.
On the same plateau where the famous Nazca Lines are found, thousands of holes have been carved into rock, creating a band that stretches further than a mile.
It is unknown who carved these holes, or why they were created, but it is clear that this vast creation must have been a painstaking job, requiring many hours of manpower.
This strange-looking construction in the Pisco Valley on the Nazca Plateau in Peru was first documented by aerial photography in 1933.
From the air, the mile-long strip of land with the strange marks looks very much like the tire tracks left by a monster dirt bike made a long time ago.
Located on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, Machu Picchu is considered one of the most mystical sites on our planet.
Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian Inca site built around 1400 AD.
The area only thrived for 100 years and the place was abandoned following the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire in Peru.
Theories of its purpose range from it being the birthplace of the Incan “Virgins of the Suns”, an estate of the Incan emperor Pachacuti, a prison for the select few who commit extremely heinous crimes or as a settlement to control the economy of the conquered lands.
Archaeology magazine wrote that Charles Stanish, an expert on Andean cultures at the University of California, and his colleague Henry Tantaleán had their interest in the Band of Holes sparked when a man from Pittsburgh questioned Stanish about possible alien involvement in the creation of the holes.
Mr Stanish was not familiar with the site, but after he and Tantaleán took a look at it via Google Earth, they decided it was an area of interest.
He said: “It seemed to be made up of thousands of small depressions running upslope. I’d never seen anything like it.
“It really seemed unique.”
It was also only 10 miles from Stanish and Tantaleán’s own excavations in the nearby Chincha Valley.
The Band of Holes is composed of some 7000 holes in a band about 20 meters (65 feet) wide that extend for several miles in straight lines and curved rows over uneven mountain surfaces in the Nazca Plateau.
Individual holes measure on average a half a meter (25 inches) in diameter and depth varies from less than a foot to two to three meters (six to seven feet) deep.
A row has between nine to 12 pits. The best way the Band of Holes can be seen is with an aerial view.