2,000-Year-Old Cat Figure Found Etched In Peru Desert

Archaeologists in Peru have discovered a huge feline figure etched onto a hillside in the country. According to Peru's Ministry of Culture, the cat was carved into an arid hillside 2,000 years ago. The ancient geoglyph forms part of the Nazca Lines.

The Nazca Lines are a collection of mysterious, gigantic geoglyphs - which are large designs or motifs produced on the ground - found south of the country's capital Lima. They were created around the first century CE by the ancient Nazca culture in South America.

"The figure was barely visible and was about to disappear due to its location on a fairly steep slope and the effects of natural erosion," writes the Peru's Ministry of Culture. It was discovered as archaeologists drew up plans for a new path leading to an observation platform.

The cat geoglyph, which measures 120 feet in length, has been cleaned and restored since its discovery. In its statement, the ministry said that the figure dates from the Late Paracas period. Representations of felines of this type are frequent in the iconography of ceramics and textiles of the Paracas society, it said. 

According to CNN, the cat joins several other zoomorphic drawings found across the region. Large-scale depictions of birds, animals and plants have been found in the Nazca Lines, along with mysterious geometric shapes and patterns. The lines and geoglyphs cover an area of around 450 square kilometers.

Scientists and historians believe that the cat and other geoglyphs were created by making depressions in the desert floor to reveal the bedrock beneath.