Mysterious Geoglyphs in India Are Largest Ever Discovered
Researchers discovered the world’s largest geoglyphs in the Great Indian Desert. Will their findings reveal who made these giant, enigmatic designs, and why?
Geoglyphs are sprawling designs made by digging into the Earth or piling up stones to form what mostly appear as geometric lines, and more rarely, as humans and animals.
Usually only fully visible from above, they can be found all over the world with some dating back to prehistoric times, and others quite recent. The most famous to date are the Nazca lines in Peru. While there are various theories around their builders and function, none have been proven and continue to be widely debated.
Carlo Oetheimer is an independent researcher of geomorphology, the study of Earth’s landforms. While conducting a Google Earth survey of India, he and his son Yohann Oetheimer, made a fascinating discovery.
“I was traveling all over the desert, and suddenly I found lines in the desert similar to the Nazca lines. I was amazed, and I said, ‘Oh, what’s that?’ I found one place, then two places, then eight places almost. That was the way I found the Thar Desert Boha geoglyphs,” C. Oetheimer said.
“So, under Google Earth’s images, we could see a concentric spiral — concentric lines. We didn’t really know at that point what they were, but we had to go on the site, on the field, to understand them better,” Y. Oetheimer said.
When the researchers visited the desert site in India’s Rajasthan region, what they found astounded them.
“We brought a drone with us to be able to take aerial photos of the geoglyphs. With the drone images we could finally see the true form of the line, which is a spiral,” Y. Oetheimer said.
“Those glyphs are really, really big. They are the biggest geoglyphs discovered so far on Earth. It’s a big spiral which is an 11 km continuous line. The other one, which is connected to the spiral, is a serpent-shaped line with many patterns. We’ve managed to reproduce 48 km of lines. In the lines, you have archeological features which are called memorial stones. The big ones are in memory of deceased persons. For us, these landmarks are a symbol of death. We have to understand if there are connections between these Hindu memorial stones and the lines,” C. Oetheimer said.
Given the difficulty of precise archaeological dating in a desert environment, the Oetheimers are very cautious about providing any definitive interpretations of the origins and meaning of the geoglyphs. They are, however, working on some ideas.
“Concerning the antiquity of the lines, the main point, of course, is not the fact that they are at least 150 years old,” C. Oetheimer said. “We don’t know exactly, but I’m almost sure that they are not old, that’s for sure. What is interesting here is more the symbols. As the line ends with a little spiral or begins with a little spiral, we were wondering if this was a kind of global symbol of the life of a human in the Thar Desert. It’s obviously made to see from above, so we’re supposed to see a symbol of heaven, the afterlife, and the gods. With the north-south lines we were wondering if they could symbolize something with the cosmos, and suddenly we got the idea that we could try to separate both the Ursae Minoris, so the constellation of Ursa Minor, on this spiral. This gives an interpretation of how this is a message to the cosmos; to the people who are in this other world.”
The team plans to continue trying to glean further information about these fascinating designs. However, it is likely, they say, that the true origins will remain a mystery.
The Zone of Silence: An Ancient Mystery of Old Mexico
Because of Mexican engineer and chemist Harry De La Peña’s blond hair and blue eyes, since high school he had been called “El Luminaro,” the Luminous One. After a European education, De La Peña returned to Mexico to teach chemistry at the Instituto Tecnológico de Laguna in Torreon, Mexico. On a blistering day in 1966, he departed Torreon for a photo expedition with a group of friends.
On that day, El Luminaro would stumble into a zone of anomalous paradox. While native mestizos, the ethnically mixed descendants of Anglo and indigenous people, had long known the the area had strange and special qualities, it was now on the radar of a European-trained scientist. The locals believed that couples having trouble conceiving children could visit the Zone with a baby coming nine months later. Notably, Zone locals also had superior dental health with straight white teeth, and random blood samples from Zone residents show far greater health than those from outside the area.
Like the Bermuda Triangle, the Zone of Silence is located on the 27th parallel. Comprised of 1,500 square miles of inhospitable desert and extreme temperatures, there are no roads; only dirt tracks. And travel mishaps are dangerous as it’s difficult to call for help. El Zona del Silencio is an electromagnetic void; an anomaly, where compasses spin like dervishes and cell phone and radio signals are the definition of “hit-and-miss.” Even so, some view these odd reports as “deliberately invented to generate tourism and sold to the world via the mass media.”
Entering El Zona del Silencio
Ceballos, in the Mexican State of Durango, is the point of departure closest to the zone. In 1966 the town, comprised of dirt roads and shacks, was barely on the map. More than 50-years since, the roads are still some combination of dirt, dust and mud, but signs point the way to El Zona del Silencio, and a 16 kilometer rail spur provides access from the outside.
The wise enter the zone with as much ice and water as a vehicle can carry as well as extra gas. Only a fool would forget a hat. During monsoon season the ground becomes a slippery paste, and dry arroyos fill with torrential flood waters in an instant. Daytime temperatures can hit 120F and plummet to freezing after the sun drops below the horizon.
Nopal cactus grow in abundance — on the zone outskirts they have the typical green coloring, but change to pink and purple as one travels deeper into the region. What’s even weirder is that the purple and pink specimens are interspersed with green cactus plants.
Another rare species, the tailless Mapimí tortoise, is native to the area. Foot-long centipedes with purple heads and tails hunt anything they can catch, including mice and birds. Insects grow two to three times normal size, and albino reptiles and snakes are frequently sighted. Today much of the zone is within the boundaries of the Mapimí Biosphere Reserve — the inexplicable flora and fauna are subject to ongoing research.
