In southern Peru’s desert, the Nazca glyphs have long baffled archaeologists. These massive, ancient symbols, etched into the ground hundreds of years ago, can only be fully seen from the sky. Since their discovery in the 1940s, around 430 glyphs have been identified across the vast Nazca Pampa. Recently, a team led by Masato Sakai from Yamagata University in Japan used drones and AI to uncover 303 new glyphs in just six months, nearly doubling the known number. Some of the glyphs, interpreted as humanoid, or humans wearing headdresses. (Credit: Sakai et al., PNAS, 2024) “The reason why the purpose of the geoglyphs’ creation remained unknown for so long is that previous researchers lacked basic information about the distribution and types of geoglyphs,” Sakai explained. By clarifying the distribution with advanced technology, they now believe these symbols served a sacred purpose tied to pilgrimages to Cahuachi, a ceremonial center of the Nazca culture. Uncovering these glyphs has been a challenge, as they were created between 500 BCE and 500 CE and have been weathered by time. The immense size of the Nazca Pampa—400 square kilometers—has also hindered traditional fieldwork. Since 2004, Sakai has relied on remote sensing, discovering 318 glyphs before the latest findings. By collaborating with the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center, the team developed an AI algorithm to detect faint glyphs from drone images. Of the 303 new discoveries, 178 were identified by AI, showcasing its potential to assist in archaeological research. These newly found glyphs are of the relief type, smaller and harder to spot than the line-type glyphs. Relief-type glyphs often depict humans and animals, while the larger line-type glyphs depict wild creatures. The team believes the placement and size of the glyphs provide clues to their use, especially in relation to Cahuachi and other ceremonial centers. Sakai’s next goal is to decipher the information encoded in these ancient symbols. The post Hundreds of New Mysterious Nazca Glyphs Discovered appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Image: Logitech After acquiring Steam Deck rival Loupedeck last year, Logitech is launching a $199.99 MX Creative Console that’s designed to control Adobe Photoshop and Premiere Pro. The control panel includes a Stream Deck-like keypad and a dialpad that has an analog dial and plenty of buttons to speed up creative tasks. Logitech has created custom plugins for Adobe apps like Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Illustrator for its MX Creative Console. In Premiere Pro you can use the dial to scrub through a timeline, and there are four buttons around the dial to activate functions like undo. There’s also a roller for navigation, allowing you to easily adjust the level of zoom on a Premiere Pro timeline for more... Continue reading…

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