AI uncovers 300 ancient etchings in Peru’s Nazca desert

Japanese scientists have used artificial intelligence to uncover 303 new etchings in Peru’s Nazca desert — doubling the amount of known geoglyphs made some 2,000 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization.
The fabled Nazca lines, a series of massive incisions on the desert floor depicting animals, plants, imaginary beings and geometric figures, have fascinated scientists ever since they were first discovered around a century ago.
Best viewed from the air, the lines situated some 220 miles south of Lima are one of Peru’s top tourist attractions.
Announcing the new discoveries in Lima, archaeologist Masato Sakai, from Yamagata University, said:  “The use of AI in research has allowed us to map the distribution of geoglyphs in a faster and more precise way.”
He said the findings were the fruit of collaboration between his university’s Nazca Institute and the research division of the technology company IBM.
“The traditional method of study, which consisted of visually identifying the geoglyphs from high-resolution images of this vast area, was slow and carried the risk of overlooking some of them,” he added.
The study was also published on Monday in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) journal.