India’s Thar Desert has the world’s largest geoglyph
Recommended for Secondary Grades
India’s Thar Desert may be home to the largest geoglyph ever discovered.
Geoglyphs (or glyphs) are big designs formed with earth or stone on land. They are so big that you can see the designs only from the sky (using drones, satellites or aeroplanes). The Nazca lines of Peru are particularly famous. They have also been found in deserts in Kazakhstan.
However, they have never been seen in India before this.
The Thar Desert geoglyphs
They consist of several spirals and a long, snaking line that keeps repeating. Overall, they cover 51 acres of the desert near the border with Pakistan. If you wanted to hike along all the lines, you would need to walk 48 km!
Not only that but the designs also cannot be seen from a higher hill nearby. Experts found them only from satellites images on Google Earth in 2014. Then, they went to the site to study them. The lines are dug into the desert soil. They are about 10 centimetres deep and 20 to 50 cm wide.
The lines are about 150 to 200 years old. The area does not have any farms and is mostly used for goat and sheep grazing.
Experts are not sure about the purpose of the lines. But they think that maybe they have some religious or ceremonial meanings. They also said that the lines need to be protected as some are already damaged.
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