New remote sensing technology reveals a huge structure beneath the surface, with white arrows showing a buried pyramid and black arrows of another structure that have not yet been explored.

Italian scientists presented at a conference on satellite images in Rome a new remote sensing technology that virtually peel off layers of mud and rock near the Cahuachi desert in Peru and revealed an ancient clay pyramid. Nicola Masini and Rosa Lasaponara of the Italian National Council for Research (CNR) discovered a pyramid by analyzing Quickbird images capturing it under Peruvian soil.

Scientists have explored a test area along the Nazca River, covered with plants and grass, about a kilometer from the archaeological site of Cahuachi, which contains the remains of what is today considered the world's largest underground mud city.

Through the Quickbird satellite, Masini and colleagues collected infrared and multispectral high-resolution images. When scientists optimized data with special algorithms, the result was a detailed visualization a pyramid that stretches over an area of ​​9 000 square meters. The discovery is not a surprise for archaeologists, as it is believed that about 40 hills in Cahuachi contain remnants of important buildings.

"We know that there are still many buildings under the sands of Cahuachi, but it has been almost impossible to accurately find and shape them from an aerial perspective," Masini told Discovery News. "The biggest problem was the very low contrast between the soil, which is sun-dried and the ground in the background."

Cahuachi is the most famous place of Nazca civilization, which flourished in Peru between 1. century BC and the fifth century AD, which fell into oblivion at the time when the Inca empire rose to overthrow Andy.

The civilization of Nazca is known for creating hundreds of geometric lines and images of animals and birds in the Peruvian desert, which are best seen from the air. Nasco people built Cahuachi as a festive center, built pyramids, temples, and desert squares themselves. There the priests led the ceremonies, including human sacrifices, which attracted people from all over the area.

Between 300 and 350, Cahuachi struck two natural disasters - a strong flood and a devastating earthquake. The place lost its sacred power to Nazca, which then left the area. But before leaving they sealed all the sights and buried them under the desert sand. “So far, we have uncovered and restored a huge asymmetric pyramid known as the Great Pyramid. The terraced temple and the smaller pyramid are in an advanced state of excavation, ”he wrote in a conference paper.

Giuseppe Orefici, an archaeologist who has been digging Cahuachi for decades and collaborating with CNR researchers.

Thanks to the 300 x 328 stop, the newly discovered pyramid consists of at least four cascading terraces that indicate a truncated pyramid similar to a large pyramid. With seven levels this impressive monument was created from the landscape and reinforced by large clay walls.

"That's an interesting finding. As with the Great Pyramid, it is likely that this pyramid also contains remnants of human sacrificesAndrea Drusini, an anthropologist at the University of Padua, told Discovery News. During previous excavations in Cahuachi, Drusini found 20 separate sacrificial heads in various locations inside the Great Pyramid. "They have circular holes on their foreheads that have been anatomically perfect," Drusini said. Scientists are now examining other buried buildings in addition to the newly discovered pyramid.

"This innovative technology opens up new perspectives for the discovery of buried monuments of unfired clay in Cahuachi and elsewhere," said Masini. "Once we have more information about the size and shape of the structures, we could turn to virtual archeology to restore the pyramid and its nearby structures."