Nonesuch Silver Prints 1963 Early black and white photographs of the Nasca lines, Peru markings, Nasca (Nazca) Peru

1963 Nasca (Nazca) geoglyphs, Peru desert. The desert surface is covered by a layer of dark stones lying on top of fine yellow sediment left by an ancient alluvial deposit. The markings were made by simply moving the stones to one side as on a giant scraper board. In places the surface is so fragile that even footsteps show.

To the right of the picture is a trapezoid marking about 300 metres long with numerous straight lines alongside. To the left the outline of a similar trapezoid shows below a massive alluvial fan caused by a rainstorm in the nearby Andes mountains possibly within the last 1500 years. These markings are rougly 14 kilometres northwest of Nasca town.

Camera: MPP Microflex Twin Lens Reflex with F3.5 77.5mm Taylor Taylor Hobson lens. Film Kodak Verichrome Pan at F5.6 - 1/300 second with a 3 x orange filter (Actina) to increase the contrast between the stones and the yellow sediment. Developed by hand in Lima using Kodak Microdol at normal dilution.