Guardian of the Ancient Nasca Lines
Maria Reiche Gone At Age 95

LIMA June 1998 - Maria Reiche (pronounced RYE-kuh), a German mathematician who dedicated half a century to protecting and studying massive ancient drawings in the Peruvian desert, died Monday, June 8, 1998, from stomach cancer at the age of 95, doctors said. Reiche became a legend in Peru for her almost single-handed battle to preserve the Nasca lines, a set of mysterious animal figures scratched into the desert floor about 250 miles (400 km) south of Lima.

For years before the lines became a big tourist attraction, Reiche guarded them so zealously that even after she was confined to a wheelchair she was known to chase trespassers off the sand dunes near the lines. ``This is a really painful and sad loss for Peruvian archeology,'' President Alberto Fujimori told reporters during a trip to the United States.

``We will remember her as a scientist who made a mark of transcendental importance for the good of the lines. Perhaps those 'Nasca lines' should even be renamed after her,'' he said. Reiche, who became a Peruvian citizen in 1994, died in an Air Force hospital in Lima surrounded by family members. German and Peruvian flags flew at half-staff in Nasca and authorities declared a day of mourning in the southern town, where the white figures, measuring up to 1.2 miles (1.9 km) in length and etched in shallow ditches, can be fully appreciated only from the air.

The scholar's tireless work promoting the pre-Columbian drawings persuaded UNESCO to declare the 200 square mile area a world heritage site in 1995. The figures of a hummingbird, a monkey, a man, a spider and other geometric figures were thought to have been created by members of the Nasca culture between 700 B.C. and 900 A.D. although other investigations show the Lines to be much older. Their meaning is a mystery and has been the object of centuries of speculation. Reiche, who invested all of her money in a foundation to preserve the lines, earned international respect for her theories that the Nasca peoples used the drawings' alignment with the sun as a calendar.

But her work was also costly to her health. Exposure in the bright sun eventually caused her to go blind and she suffered skin ailments as her white complexion became heavily-wrinkled and turned a black-berry color. In the last few years, illnesses, including Parkinson's Disease, kept her away from the lines and she has spent long periods in hospital for cancer treatment.

During her life she received numerous honors and acknowledgement, especially from the town of Nazca that named her "Nazca's Favorite Daughter". In 1992, the Government of Peru granted her Peruvian nationality in recognition of her work carried out through 50 years. In 1993 she was honored by the Government with the Medal to the Merit, "Orden del Sol" in the degree of Great Cross by the Peruvian Prime Minister. She was buried in Nazca with Honors of State.

Maria Reiche (1903) - (1998)


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