Qualla: Sajama Lines https://qualla.com/sajama-lines en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:08 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/6/k/z/0/sajama-lines-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Sajama Lines https://qualla.com/sajama-lines Sajama Lines: Introduction https://qualla.com/sajama-lines/ Photo credit Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Public domain. Everyone knows the Nazca Lines. Almost nobody knows their older, larger cousin. Across 22,525 square kilometers of Bolivia's western Altiplano -- an area fifteen times the size of the Nazca geoglyphs -- thousands of perfectly straight paths radiate outward from shrines, burial towers, and small settlements like the threads of an enormous spider's web. The Sajama Lines were etched into the earth over more than three millennia by indigenous peoples living in the shadow of Nevado Sajama, Bolivia's highest peak. Their total linear length stretches roughly 16,000 kilometers, about three times the breadth of the United States. They may constitute the largest artwork ever created.

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Image: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/k/z/0/sajama-lines-wp/6kz0-sajama-lines-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Sajama Lines: Scratching Through to the Light https://qualla.com/sajama-lines/ Photo credit Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Public domain. The technique is deceptively simple. The Altiplano's surface is dark -- oxidized rock and soil covered by sparse, tough vegetation. By scraping aside this dark layer, the makers exposed a lighter subsurface material beneath, creating lines that stand out against the landscape lik...

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Image: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/k/z/0/sajama-lines-wp/6kz0-sajama-lines-scratching-through-to-the-light.mp3 0:06 2 full Sajama Lines: Pilgrimage and Sacred Landscape https://qualla.com/sajama-lines/ Photo credit Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Public domain. Where lines converge, sacred structures cluster. Wak'as -- shrines marking places of spiritual power -- sit at many intersections. Chullpas, the burial towers of the Aymara and Chipaya peoples, rise along the paths like stone sentinels. Small hamlets dot the network. Scholars at ...

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Image: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/k/z/0/sajama-lines-wp/6kz0-sajama-lines-pilgrimage-and-sacred-landscape.mp3 0:06 3 full Sajama Lines: Rediscovery and the Race to Preserve https://qualla.com/sajama-lines/ Photo credit Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Public domain. The first English-language mention of the Sajama Lines came from the Argentine-Swiss traveler Aime Felix Tschiffely in 1932. That same decade, anthropologist Alfred Metraux published ethnographic fieldwork on the Aymara and Chipaya of the Carangas region, bringing the lines to sc...

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Image: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/k/z/0/sajama-lines-wp/6kz0-sajama-lines-rediscovery-and-the-race-to-preserve.mp3 0:06 4 full Sajama Lines: The World's Largest Canvas https://qualla.com/sajama-lines/ Photo credit Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Public domain. Scale is what sets the Sajama Lines apart from every other geoglyph site on Earth. The Nazca Lines, famous enough to anchor Peru's tourism industry, cover roughly 450 square kilometers. The Sajama Lines blanket more than fifteen times that area. They are the largest archaeologica...

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Image: Earth Science and Remote Sensing Unit, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center | Public domain

]]> Mon, 23 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/6/k/z/0/sajama-lines-wp/6kz0-sajama-lines-the-worlds-largest-canvas.mp3 0:06 5 full