Is this Nazca cat a hoax?

[Hugh]

You've probably seen the news of this new Nazca Lines discovery:

I just find it hard to believe.

Huge cat found etched into desert among Nazca Lines in Peru

Feline geoglyph from 200-100BC emerges during work at Unesco world heritage site

www.theguardian.com

but all the news stories seem to be accepting it as genuine.

 

[Alex The G and T]

Hmmm. The style does look more like Felix the Cat, or My little Kitty, than the style of its ancient neighbors.

And it's tiny compared to the others.

 

[CupofJoe]

Some of the other newly discovered earlier made shapes and lines are far less descriptive and more abstract. I'd be more concerned about the amount of "interpretation" when on during the "restoration". The "air quotes" may be a bit much, but humans are great at working out patterns from random noise.

 

[Hugh]

. I'd be more concerned about the amount of "interpretation" when on during the "restoration".

This may be the issue...

 

[Montero]

It's the face I find unbelievable - looks a bit modern and smiley. Body is plausible (ish).

 

[Hugh]

It’s as if a crop circle hoaxer has had a go at the Nazca.

 

[Dragonlady]

if you search 'paracas cat' they did have some pretty groovy cat art

 

[Pyan]

If it’s just been found , why does the path and railings (which don’t look at all new) carefully avoid the area where it was ‘discovered’?

 

[Parson]

It's probably legit. Here's an article from the New York Times.

2000 year old cat

There are many other such things in the area and it has been a UNESCO world heritage site for a while now. The Photo was just released by the Mexican government.

 

[paranoid marvin]

I must admit that as soon as I saw it I immediately raised an eyebrow. Having said that, they surely wouldn't claim a drawing like that to be genuine unless they were 100% certain.

 

[BAYLOR]

Were it real , it would have documented long ago.

 

[Ursa major]

It looks more like the efforts of one of those picture "restorers" they seem to have in Spain (much to Spain's regret...).


Was one of them in the area on holiday?

 

[RJM Corbet]

A cat is actually quite a difficult thing to draw and imo the artist has pretty much got it down -- the main essentials of a cat?

 

[CupofJoe]

Were it real , it would have documented long ago.

I'm not so sure. You are looking for a brownish grey that is slightly different from another brownish grey, in a location where the lines aren't usually seen and in styles that are unusual. Apparently they have found many of these new shapes, or the remaining fragments of them, with the use of drones where they can overfly an area at different times of the day and in several different directions to try and pick out the features.

 

[RJM Corbet]

What if it IS a cat? What would be the great significance?

 

[paranoid marvin]

I'm guessing that there has to be a little guesswork involved? Join the dots, interpret the configuration of the lines and hey presto... a cat. As I said earlier it looks a bit too fake to be a fake if you know what I mean.

 

[paranoid marvin]

What if it IS a cat? What would be the great significance?

I love my cats. In fact I love all the cats I've ever owned (or who have allowed me to serve them). I have photos to remind me, perhaps someone etched an enormous picture on the side of the hill in his back garden 2000 years ago to remind him?

 

[wtw1947]

Domestic cats did not exist in the Americas before the arrival of Europeans Tt o the pot at the Met looks nothing like this and I likely a jaguar motif tsimilar o that used by other cultures. Good luck getting a cute jaguar or ocelot kitty to sit still for a portrait.

 

[wtw1947]

Forgot to mention that the so-called stripes on the tail are actually a genuine motif that can be found on petroglyphs as far away as here in Pennsylvania. Thought to be anything from a bird wing to the fingers of a hand.

 

[Danny McG]

It’s as if a crop circle hoaxer has had a go at the Nazca.

What?
Some of those are faked?