Halloween, widely celebrated in North America, fills the air with intrigue and the thrill of the unseen. In Latin America, though, the focus shifts to commemorations like All Saints’ Day and Día de los Muertos, when people honor the dead in solemn, vibrant traditions. Yet, beyond these celebrations, Latin America holds mysteries as ancient as they are enigmatic. Here, we uncover a few of the region’s most intriguing puzzles.
1-Nazca Lines (Perú)
The Nazca Lines are a group of geoglyphs or large drawings on the Earth’s surface that can be seen from the sky. They are located in the northwest of Nazca, in southern Peru. These massive figures, which date from 2,000 years ago, depict animals -such as a 360ft monkey and a 210ft killer whale, flowers and trees, and geometric shapes -such as triangles, trapezoids and spirals. They cover an area of almost 190 square miles (500 km2) and since its discovery in the 1920’s, scholars debate their purpose. Some theories suggest they were used in astronomical maps related to the agricultural calendar while others think they were meant to communicate with the gods or they might even be a result of aliens’ work. Although their true purpose remains unknown, they were most likely meant as paths to be walked during religious ceremonies as a ritual since they connect sacred sites or point to water sources. One last interesting fact is that they were made over a long period of time, overlapping new designs over older ones, which suggests that they were made at different times and for other purposes.
2- Moai Statues of Easter Island (Rapa Nui, Chile)
Easter Island, a remote territory of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, is famous for its giant megalithic stone statues called Moai. These statues, carved by the island’s early inhabitants called Rapa Nui, date back to around 1000 AD and were discovered by a Dutch ship in 1722.
These colossal statues have a distinctive style. They feature a head with two large ears, shoulders and the upper arms. A prominent nose stands out of their faces, and some have unusual stone headdresses. A few years ago, a research study led by the archeologist Anne Van Tilburg revealed that the Rapa Nui believed that the moai were guarantors of great agricultural fertility and that this was why the ruling class ordered them to be erected. The island was colonized by the Polynesians around 500 AD. Between 1000 and 1500, they experienced a period of great prosperity, during which the large altars with their enormous statues were erected. Between 1500 and 1722, the island's clans clashed, and the chiefs competed to build increasingly large moai. The massive use of stone and wood led to an ecological collapse. Thus, the ancestor cult ended, and a new warrior caste took power; the ahu -flat pedestals- were abandoned, and the moai were toppled. It was this impoverished and crisis-stricken society that the first Europeans found when they arrived on Easter Island.
3- Olmec Colossal Heads (Mexico)
The Olmec civilization, which flourished in southern Mexico around 1100–400 BC, left behind gigantic stone head sculptures, which range in size and can weigh around 8 tons. The first head was discovered by a farmer in Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, in the late 1850s. So far, archeologists have found 16 more stone heads, making 17 altogether at four locations. 10 heads are from San Lorenzo, Veracruz and 4 from La Venta, Tabasco, two of the most important Olmec centres. Facial details were drilled into the stone so that prominent features such as the eyes, mouth, and nostrils have real depth. As these heads are carved with remarkable detail, researchers mostly agree that they represent rulers memorialized during or after their lifetime. For intance, Colossal head Number 5 appears to have been one of San Lorenzo’s rulers who lived around the second millenium BC. Several heads seem to have been destroyed and buried on purpose, most likely by new rulers when they seized power.
4- Stone Spheres (Costa Rica)
Hundreds of perfectly round stone spheres, between 0.7 m and 2.57 m in diameter, and often made of igneous rocks, are found in Costa Rica. The spheres, attributed to the now-extinct Diquís culture, are a source of wonder and admiration as they are rare in their perfection (lacking metal tools, the Diquís people grounded away the surface with stone implements), number (hundreds of them) and location (Finca 6, Batambal, El Silencio, and Grijalba-2) in the southeast of Costa Rica. At Finca 6, for instance, archaeologist Dr. Francisco Corrales Ulloa and his team recently uncovered spheres positioned on both sides of the entrance to a ramp that leads to one of the site’s main structures. Their cultural and symbolic significance remains a mystery. However, they were believed to be prestige objects that served as landmarks around ancient Diquís communities.
References
Nazca Lines
https://www.britannica.com/place/Nazca-Lines
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/665/nazca-lines/
Moai
https://www.britishmuseum.org/about-us/british-museum-story/contested-objects-collection/moai
El Origen de los Enigmáticos Moais de la Isla de Pascua
https://historia.nationalgeographic.com.es/a/enigmaticos-moais-isla-pascua_19045
The 3,400-Year-Old Olmec Colossal Heads Origins
https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/the-3-400-year-old-olmec-colossal-heads-origins
Olmec Colossal Stone Heads
https://www.worldhistory.org/article/672/olmec-colossal-stone-heads/
Sphere
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/321295
https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/stone-sphere-costa-rica
Precolumbian Chiefdom Settlements with Stone Spheres of the Diquís
https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1453/
