A dedicated group of archaeologists from Yamagata University, collaborating with a colleague from Université Paris and two AI researchers from the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, have employed an AI model to uncover additional geoglyphs on the floor of Peru's Nazca Desert. Their findings are detailed in a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, where the researchers developed an AI model that can detect faint geoglyphs hidden within the natural landscape of the Nazca Pampa by analyzing images taken by drones. For over a century, scholars, including archaeologists and historians, have been fascinated by the geoglyphs etched into the desert ground in Nazca, Peru. These enormous designs can typically be viewed in their entirety only from a significant height, such as from a mountain or an aircraft. Research has established that these geoglyphs were crafted by the Nasca culture between 200 BCE and 700 CE by moving stones or pebbles or scraping the earth, resulting in what we now call geoglyphs. Before this latest study, a total of 430 geoglyphs had been discovered and documented in Peru, although the discovery rate of new ones has diminished. Researchers believe that numerous others remain hidden, but the search for them has been challenging due to their size and visibility. For this new investigation, the Japanese team sought assistance from AI specialists at IBM to enhance their search efforts.

Together, they developed an AI application that can identify geoglyphs from aerial images of the desert floor, regardless of how faint the markings may be. After training the model with images of previously known geoglyphs, the researchers used it to search for additional patterns. They successfully identified 303 new geoglyphs, which they confirmed through site visits conducted by human experts. As anticipated, many of the lines in the newly discovered geoglyphs were faint, but the researchers managed to interpret the images, which primarily depicted humans and domesticated animals, along with some abstract forms, including a knife-wielding killer whale. The team intends to continue employing the AI application to search for further examples of this ancient art. © 2024 Science X Network