Nazca lines. Aerial photograph of a geoglyph, or landscape drawing, in the coastal desert of southern Peru. The white lines of this geoglyph represent a hummingbird with its beak extending to upper left. Many of these geoglyphs take the form of stylised animals and other, unknown objects. They cover huge areas and can only be properly seen from the air. They were made by removing the dark surface stone to reveal a lighter stone layer underneath. They are thought to have been made by the Nazca, a native South American people, around 2000 years ago. Theories about the lines have ranged from uses in astronomy (for seasonal agriculture) to ceremonial uses in religion.