Erich von Däniken

Lightly carved into the stone ground of southeastern Peru's Pampa Colorada ("red plain") are a series of massive figures and geometric shapes, some hundreds of feet in length and fully visible only from the air. Historians believe that the most recent designs were carved around 200 B.C., almost two thousand years before the Wright brothers invented the airplane. The exact purpose of these drawings (known as the Nazca drawings) remains a mystery. Most anthropologists believe that they had a religious function consistent with known ancient religions of the region (which generally included at least one major sky god), while others argue that they served as an astronomical calendar or were used to mark water routes.

Swiss writer Erich von Däniken, author of the best—selling Chariots of the Gods...