They spent more than 2,600 hours inspecting the sites by conducting field investigations and capturing drone photography. The A.I. model helped map out the geoglyphs more quickly and accurately.
“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,” said Masato Sakai, the lead author of the study and an archaeologist at Yamagata University in Japan.
The 303 geoglyphs portrayed human-like figures, livestock, cats, birds, fish, a ceremonial scene, people interacting with animals, and killer whales with weapons.
According to Sakai, there have been scenes on pottery of orcas with knives cutting off human heads, so orcas can be thought of as beings that carry out human sacrifices.
The purpose of the Nazca people’s giant illustrations remains unclear. However, some experts think they were created for spiritual reasons. The team plans to continue using the A.I. model to search for more examples of ancient art. They believe they will be able to identify around 250 more Nazca geoglyphs.
“The A.I.-based analysis of remote sensing data is a major step forward since a complete map of the geoglyphs of the Nazca region is still not available,” said Karsten Lambers, an archaeologist at the Netherlands’ Leiden University who was not involved in the study.
The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
