A team led by Professor Masato Sakai of Yamagata University, Japan, working alongside scientists from IBM, has trained AI systems to identify potential geoglyphs hidden across hundreds of square kilometres. (Image: X/ Balck hole)For more than 100 years, enormous patterns carved into the desert plains of southern Peru have left archaeologists scratching their heads. Known as the Nazca Lines, these vast drawings stretch across the arid landscape south of Lima and remain one of the greatest mysteries in archaeology. However, researchers are now increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to solve the riddle.Created by the Nazca civilisation between 200 BC and 650 AD, the lines include giant images of animals, plants, geometric shapes, and human figures. The designs are so large that many can only be fully appreciated from the air – a perspective their creators never had.When early researchers flew over the region in the 20th century, they were stunned. Writing in 1959, historian Paul Kosok described the desert as a network of strange lines and figures stretching in every direction.A mystery etched in sandThe Nazca people made these geoglyphs by removing the top layer of dark stones and soil to reveal lighter clay beneath. The dry desert climate helped preserve the drawings for centuries. German mathematician Maria Reiche, who spent much of her life studying the site, believed the designs were carefully measured and planned with remarkable precision.Also Read | Exposure to burns may have shaped human evolution, study suggestsOver the decades, researchers have proposed many theories. Some thought the lines formed a giant astronomical calendar marking the movement of stars or the solstice. Others suggested they pointed toward underground water sources or served as ritual pathways. More speculative ideas have even claimed they were signals to gods or extraterrestrials.Despite decades of study, no single explanation has fully answered the question: why were they created?Enter artificial intelligenceNow, a new wave of technology could finally bring answers. Archaeologists are using artificial intelligence to scan large areas of aerial and satellite imagery, searching for patterns too faint or too vast for the human eye to catch easily.Story continues below this adA team led by Professor Masato Sakai of Yamagata University, Japan, working alongside scientists from IBM, has trained AI systems to identify potential geoglyphs hidden across hundreds of square kilometres.The effect has been staggering. In only six months, the team was able to find 303 new figurative geoglyphs, which is almost twice the number that was known before. The success story is a testament to how quickly AI can analyze thousands of high-resolution images and spot shapes that could easily be missed.Also Read | Medieval pendant with 2,000-year-old Roman gem found in EssexAccording to Sakai, it would have taken years to search the entire desert for the geoglyphs using the conventional approach.The Nazca desert marks the meeting point of three technological eras. First came the ancient builders who carved their designs into the earth. Centuries later, aircraft revealed the full scale of their achievement. Now, in a third era, AI is being used to piece together the bigger picture.Story continues below this adArtificial intelligence is already helping archaeologists locate burial mounds, shipwrecks and lost settlements around the world. Experts believe its role will only grow as more historical data is digitised.While the purpose of the Nazca lines may not yet be fully understood, researchers are closer than ever before – with machines scanning the desert from above and analysing patterns at speed.