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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Gillian Woodward.

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<v Speaker 2>And I'm Roger Basek. Spotlight Advanced uses a special English

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<v Speaker 2>method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand

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<v Speaker 2>no matter where in the world they live.

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<v Speaker 1>You are flying over the Nasca Desert in Peru. The

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<v Speaker 1>same flat, red earth stretches out in all directions until

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<v Speaker 1>it is broken by lines. These white marks in the

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<v Speaker 1>earth begin to connect into lines, making shapes, birds, insects,

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<v Speaker 1>and strange men with knives. Each of these shapes is

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<v Speaker 1>many kilometers long.

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<v Speaker 2>These are the Nazca lines. The mystery of these huge

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<v Speaker 2>shapes in the desert floor has long puzzled experts. Who

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<v Speaker 2>or what made them? What purpose do they serve? Why

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<v Speaker 2>would an ancient people make something that can only be

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<v Speaker 2>seen best from the air. Today's Spotlight Advanced is on

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<v Speaker 2>the mystery left behind by these desert shapes.

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<v Speaker 1>There are many theories about who created the Nasca lines.

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<v Speaker 1>Some even say that these lines are evidence of foreign

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<v Speaker 1>beings visiting our planet floating in the sky. These beings

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<v Speaker 1>must have cut the lines in the desert floor.

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<v Speaker 2>With modern technology, the reality is at once much more

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<v Speaker 2>common and much more unbelievable. Experts believe that the Nasca

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<v Speaker 2>people created these lines between five hundred BC and five

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<v Speaker 2>hundred AD. Though we know little about the Nasca people,

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<v Speaker 2>the imagery in the lines is simil to those found

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<v Speaker 2>in Nasca art. These cultured desert dwellers often painted animals

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<v Speaker 2>such as killer whales, hummingbirds, and monkeys on their pottery.

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<v Speaker 2>They wove similar shapes on their blankets and clothing.

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<v Speaker 1>Archaeologists, those scientists who study ancient cultures, have an important question.

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<v Speaker 1>How the Nascar could cut the lines. Some of the

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<v Speaker 1>lines run on for many kilometers without bending. This would

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<v Speaker 1>be a grand achievement today, but many of the shapes

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<v Speaker 1>in the Nazca desert are nearly two thousand years old.

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<v Speaker 1>There are no mountains nearby to see the shapes from above.

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<v Speaker 2>Some experts believe that the Nazca may have used early

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<v Speaker 2>hot air balloons to help them. Julian Knott was a

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<v Speaker 2>British balloonist. He once made a small balloon using a

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<v Speaker 2>fire and cloth like the Nasca made. After a short flight,

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<v Speaker 2>he said, I.

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<v Speaker 3>Do not see any evidence that the Nazca culture did fly,

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<v Speaker 3>but they could have, and so could the ancient Egyptians,

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<v Speaker 3>the Romans the vikings. Any culture with just a device

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<v Speaker 3>to make cloth, and with fire you can fly.

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<v Speaker 1>Theories like knots are interesting, but the truth may be

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<v Speaker 1>much simpler. The NASCAR people could have made a straight

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<v Speaker 1>line by tying a piece of rope between two posts.

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<v Speaker 1>Cutting the lines in the earth was not difficult. The

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<v Speaker 1>Nascar Desert's red soil is only a few centimeters deep.

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<v Speaker 1>Beneath it is white colored rock. The Nazca would only

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<v Speaker 1>have needed to remove a little earth to expose the

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<v Speaker 1>differently colored earth below. With little to no wind in

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<v Speaker 1>this desert, these shapes remained untouched.

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<v Speaker 2>Whilst some experts believe they know how the Nascar made

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<v Speaker 2>these lines, they do not know why. It is one

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<v Speaker 2>mystery for which we may never know the answer. Why

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<v Speaker 2>make such large shapes if you will never see them fully?

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<v Speaker 2>Why start such a project with no immediate visible purpose.

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<v Speaker 1>There have been many theories since people first rediscovered the

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<v Speaker 1>lines in nineteen twenty seven. Some think that the lines

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<v Speaker 1>held some religious purpose. Maybe the shapes were praised these

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<v Speaker 1>people offered to their gods. Early discoverers thought they could

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<v Speaker 1>have been a way to mark the stars. Maybe these

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<v Speaker 1>shapes were ways of judging the years maybe they helped

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<v Speaker 1>people find water in a land with very little.

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<v Speaker 2>Recent discoveries have made these theories more complex. Masato Sakai

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<v Speaker 2>is a researcher at Yamagata University. In twenty two twenty four,

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<v Speaker 2>he and his team scanned images of the Nasca Desert

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<v Speaker 2>using artificial intelligence, or AI. They designed this special program

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<v Speaker 2>to find shapes like the Nasca Lines. Before this study,

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<v Speaker 2>it took experts one hundred years to find four hundred

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<v Speaker 2>and thirty shapes. The AI program found three hundred and

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<v Speaker 2>three more in just six months. Sakai said the traditional

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<v Speaker 2>method of study was identifying these shapes from high resolution

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<v Speaker 2>images of this huge area.

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<v Speaker 3>This was slow it risked missing some of them.

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<v Speaker 1>Many of these new lines were much smaller than other

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<v Speaker 1>shapes in the Nascar Desert. They showed strange pictures like

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<v Speaker 1>fish holding knives. Several show the heads of dead enemies.

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<v Speaker 1>Before this find, the best theory that the lines were

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<v Speaker 1>places where the Nascar people performed ceremonies. They performed these

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<v Speaker 1>religious services to ask their gods for rain.

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<v Speaker 2>The new shapes do not disprove this theory, but they

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<v Speaker 2>do invite more mystery into the story of these ancient

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<v Speaker 2>shapes in the desert. Experts have identified many of the

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<v Speaker 2>new animals drawn in the desert. Some come from the

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<v Speaker 2>Amazon rainforest, many hundreds of kilometers away. These animals were

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<v Speaker 2>somehow significant to the Nascar people. These may have symbolized

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<v Speaker 2>growth or farming, but it is difficult to know why

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<v Speaker 2>the Nascar drew animals from so far away.

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<v Speaker 1>Some lines may have been for directions to water. Some

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<v Speaker 1>lines may have been for watching the stars, but others

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<v Speaker 1>may have been markers of important events. The larger shapes

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<v Speaker 1>would have required many people to make, but smaller ones

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<v Speaker 1>would not. Maybe these lines were training for larger shapes.

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<v Speaker 1>Maybe some were made by a single person trying to

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<v Speaker 1>make a permanent mark on the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Looking to other cultures may help us understand the Parakas.

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<v Speaker 2>People lived in the same area as the Nazca. These

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<v Speaker 2>people also drew lines, but they lived several hundreds of

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<v Speaker 2>years earlier. The Parakas also drew lines in the earth,

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<v Speaker 2>but these lines were usually on hillsides a person could

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<v Speaker 2>see them from the ground from villages where they lived.

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<v Speaker 2>These smaller shapes had less precise lines. It was probably

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<v Speaker 2>important that these shapes be seen by the people who

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<v Speaker 2>drew them, but the Nazca people did not seem to

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<v Speaker 2>care if they could see what they made. Instead, these

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<v Speaker 2>lines were for the sky.

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<v Speaker 1>Whatever these were for, the NASCAR lines represent an important

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<v Speaker 1>part of human art and history. What they meant to

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<v Speaker 1>the people that made them remains mysterious, but today we

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<v Speaker 1>recognize them as important markers of what humans are able

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<v Speaker 1>to do. In nineteen ninety four, UNESCO marked the lines

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<v Speaker 1>as a World Heritage Site. This makes sure these sites

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<v Speaker 1>are protected. It directs more care because of the site's

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<v Speaker 1>importance for everyone in the world.

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<v Speaker 2>Why do you think the NASCAR dru their lines? Do

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<v Speaker 2>you have a favorite theory? You can leave a comment

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<v Speaker 2>on our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com.

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<v Speaker 2>You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Blue Sky,

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<v Speaker 2>and x. You can also get our programs delivered directly

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<v Speaker 2>to your Android or Apple device through our free official

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<v Speaker 2>Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 1>The writer of this program was Dan Christman. The producer

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<v Speaker 1>was mitchyo Osaki. The voices you heard were from the

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<v Speaker 1>United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted

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<v Speaker 1>for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is

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<v Speaker 1>called the New Nazca Lines.

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<v Speaker 2>We hope you can join us again for the next

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<v Speaker 2>partlet program. Goodbye,