Scientists Are Using AI To Hunt for Geoglyphs In Peru

The famous, mysterious geoglyphs in Peru, only discovered in 1920, are the stuff out of which conjectures like aliens visited earth is made of.

“Scientists are using AI to hunt for ancient etchings. Located in the Nazca Desert in southern Peru, the Nazca Lines are a collection of giant etchings that only make sense from a great height. Created between 200 BCE and 600 CE, they were made by removing stones to reveal the white sand beneath and depict various geometric shapes, people, and animals, known as geoglyphs. Since their discovery in the 1920s, their purpose and meaning have continued to elude historians.

Now a research team who has been mapping out new geoglyphs for over a decade plans to use AI to speed up the process. They have been creating high-fidelity maps of the search areas by stitching together massive amounts of geospatial data, including lidar, drone, and satellite imagery and geographical surveys. They will then train a neural network to recognize the data patterns of known geoglyphs in order to look for new ones. During testing, the team already discovered a new design—a smaller humanoid figure ([below])—that had been missed in previously collected data.”

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