Located in a desert hillside of the remote Palpa Valley region, Southern Peru, a giant geoglyph that allegedly depicts a killer whale has been restored after 50 years.

The restoration was an outcome of archaeologist Johny Isla’s effort to find this particular geoglyph after seeing its description in an old catalogue and actual poor state at present. Isla and a team of six specialists from Peru’s Ministry of Culture cleaned and restored the orca geoglyph in March and April last year. The geoglyph is said to date over 2000 years and measures more than 70 metres. Orca is considered a powerful animal in ancient Peruvian lore. The region of the Palpa Valley contains geoglyphs that are older than the nearby Nazca region. The geoglyph was made on the hillside in negative relief by removing a thin layer of stones to form the outline. But some parts of it, such as the eyes were created by piles of stones, which is a technique was used by people of the older Paracas culture, who occupied the region from around 800 BC to 200 BC.

(after Johny Isla & Live Science)