17:21 | Lima, Apr. 22 (ANDINA).
Peru’s Culture Ministry has announced it have filed criminal charges against the Galvez Trans firm for damaging and destroying a stretch of the Nazca Lines, massive ancient geoglyphs etched into the desert between 400 and 650 AD in southern Peru.
Staff of the Ica’s Regional Directorate of Culture (DRC) confirmed that an asphalt processing plant owned by the said company had damaged 150 meters (492 feet) of lines along with completely destroying a 60-meter (197-foot) trapezoid.
The DRC has determinated the affected area is located within the Nazca Lines reserve, which is an area designated by the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994.
Thus, the Culture Ministry has submitted a criminal complaint against the company accusing it of crimes against the country’s cultural property in its mode of archaeological monuments violations.
According to the DRC report, the damage to the lines was done by flattening them with heavy machinery and has an irreversible character.
The geoglyphs are located in the Nazca Desert. There are about 300 figures stretched out over 400 square miles of desert.
(END) ECG/LOG
Published: 4/22/2013