More photographs of the geoglyph that I found next to National Highway 149 close to Uspallata in Mendoza Province, Argentina.
I used Google Earth image history tool which shows older shots of the same region. For this particular area there are three photographs taken in June 2002, August 2009 and December 2012. Then I went into Bing Maps and found an image which predates 2012 but is later than the August 2009 image (I know this because you can see that the road is being paved, something that happened after Aug. 2009 and before Dec. 2012).
Photo Gallery
Some photographs of the geoglyph over the years:
The sequence shows that the "drawing" was not visible back in 2012, but that it gradually became visible later. Perhaps it was covered with sand which blew away, revealing the shape below it. (or some flash flood from the river which runs just south of it). It does not seem to have been built during this period.
Its main axis seems to run North to South (maybe giving it some geographic or astronomic function). I have no idea what it is, but it is some kind of maze (the lines form a continuous path). I have been looking for similar maze shaped objects in South America but have not been lucky. Posting Labyrinth in Google shows up many shapes, but none exactly like it. Some images below:
A blog on maths describes how the Cretan maze can be drawn and gives an example and an explanation:
Another online labyrinth site says the following "The two most common labyrinths are the Classic-7 or Cretan and the Medieval or Chartres. The Cretan labyrinth refers to the symbol on the ancient coins from Crete. Its single pathway loops back and forth seven times before reaching the center. Some people think that the Cretan pattern represents the movement of the planet Mercury over an extended period of time." and provides this image (which I have inverted so that it matches the Mendoza geoglyph):
/>I don't want to bore you with mazes but the similarity between the Uspallata labyrinth and the Cretan one can one mean one of two things:
1. The wonderful human mind comes up with the same answer to similar questions time and time again, across the world and in different cultural settings. Inca and Cretan made mazes the same way because that is the way human brains think.
2. Cretans came to America, reached Mendoza and built a maze in the middle of nowhere...
I am more inclined to option 1.
I will keep on researching this matter.
Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2013 by Austin Whittall ©
This is my first comment.
ReplyDeleteActually, I enjoy your site, is full of interesting information. Many of the comments, however, are very biased from a predetermined, pseudo-scientidic evolutional point of view.
I enjoy your data.
However, I am disappointed with these posts about these mazes. For me this was incredible link between Minoans and ancient South America. Shocked to find out the truth:https://vimeo.com/132680177
This is a work of art by Yamila Marañón from 2011.
A little bit embarrassing!:)
Please keep up the good work and check the data even better!:)