AI Uncovers 303 New Nazca Geoglyphs, Fast-Tracking Archaeology
An AI-assisted survey of Peru’s Nazca Desert dramatically accelerates archaeology by identifying 303 new figurative geoglyphs and 42 geometric designs (bringing the total to 683) after screening 47,410 candidate patches and validating 1,309 sites through drone and on-ground checks. Led by Masato Sakai with IBM Research, the findings reveal relief-style figures (humans, decapitated heads, camelids) nearby trails and line-type figures (birds, whales) along formal routes, while suggesting about 1,000 more high-potential sites await verification, marking roughly a sixteen-fold jump in discovery rate and shifting fieldwork toward targeted surveying.
