More impressive than the Hanging Gardens of Babylon
April 23, 2016 1:54 PM   Subscribe

The ancient Peruvian mystery solved from space By using corkscrewing funnels, the Nasca were able to use wind to move underground water supplies without benefit of electricity, thus allowing for “an inexhaustible water supply throughout the year" and "an intensive agriculture of the valleys in one of the most arid places in the world.”
posted by Michele in California (4 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Since the articles seem too unclear to allow discussion except about how the articles are unclear, let's wait and you can repost once there's a better or more thorough article to link to. -- Eyebrows McGee



 
I don't think I've ever read a more frustrating article. It's as though the writer has cobbled together some interesting bits to make an article (new research!, linked to Nazca lines!, poorly understood technology!) but without grasping the whole enough to truly inlighten us. There are a hundred questions I want answered.
posted by Emma May Smith at 2:17 PM on April 23, 2016 [3 favorites]


I came back here to say exactly what Emma May Smith said. I would love to find out more about these fascinating constructions, but the article is horribly unclear. Has anyone found better, more informative articles?
posted by brambleboy at 2:24 PM on April 23, 2016


I looked at several. They all seem to say roughly the same thing, but the quotes are rearranged. This one seemed to be the most different thing I found:

Images from space helped solve an ancient Peruvian mystery

I would be thrilled if someone showed me up and found something better. I find this fascinating, like a cross between passive solar design and wind cooling towers and...I don't even know. "A science so advanced it seems like magic." and all that.
posted by Michele in California at 2:28 PM on April 23, 2016


More impressive than the babbling gaggles of hanger-ons.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 2:45 PM on April 23, 2016


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