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Benvenuti in queste pagine dedicate a scienza, storia ed arte. Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, Torino

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Snake near the lake

Image from Google Maps: a geoglyph near the Titicaca Lake, Peru.
This image shows a plain area covered by a network of waru-warus, that is, of the "raised fields" - earthworks separated by canals - near the Titicaca Lake. This is an ancient agricultural technique used by Andean people starting from the first millennium BC. Note that the structure of the network is created after a careful planning. Each raised field is approximately 10 meters large and more than one hundred long. 


It seems a snake, the pond as its eye and a forked tongue. More on waru-warus: arXiv:1009.4602 [pdf] Geoglyphs of Titicaca as an ancient example of graphic design, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, and arXiv:1009.2231 [pdf] Symbolic landforms created by ancient earthworks near Lake Titicaca, Amelia Carolina Sparavigna