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This sketch by Maria Reiche clarifies the relative size of the stylised figures on the pampa of Nazca. The biggest figure (not shown here) is about 275 yards long. Anyone who flies over the plain can see the lines shining up at him clearly—even from a great height they are perfectly recognisable. They stretch for miles, sometimes running parallel to each other, sometimes intersecting or joining up to form trapezoids with sides as long as 850 yards. Between these dead straight tracks it is possible to make out the outlines of enormous animal figures, the largest of which in its great extension measures some 275 yards. Seen at close quarters the lines turn out to be deep furrows which expose the yellowish-white subsoil of the pampa and stand out clearly from the crustlike upper layer of brown desert sand. Maria Reiche, who has been working on the preservation, measurement and interpretation of the drawings since 1946 and was the first person to prepare field sketches with measuring tape and sextant of the triangles, rectangles, straight lines and numerous animal figures, found out later why the ground