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Nasca Lines: Space Tracking of Vandalism

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The Ancient Nasca World

Abstract

The Nasca Lines are one of the most impressive examples of cultural heritage throughout the entire world. Their exposure to damage and overall vulnerability are very high, much more than any other elements of cultural heritage, due to their intrinsic fragility and also because they are strongly threatened by several anthropogenic factors such as vandalism, ignorance, and urban sprawl. Moreover they are sparsely spread over large areas with easy and general access, which make their destruction almost effortless and their protection very challenging. This chapter is focused on the capability of remote-sensing technology capability for identifying and quantifying spatially-distributed damage to the geoglyphs, primarily caused by vandalism.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    About the risks threatening archaeological heritage, this chapter mainly focuses on vandalism and briefly on urban sprawl, whereas for looting the reader is referred to Chap. 25 by Lasaponara and Masini (2016).

  2. 2.

    On the interpretation and dating issues of Nasca geoglyphs, see Chap. 11 by Masini et al. (2016a) and Lambers (2006).

  3. 3.

    On the scientific activities performed in Pampa de Atarco by the ITACA mission of Italian CNR, the reader is referred to Chap. 12 by Masini et al. (2016b).

  4. 4.

    Moreover, the minimum areas are 25 and 100 km2, respectively.

  5. 5.

    It should be taken into account that the images available in Google Earth have a lower quality and reduced elaboration opportunities.

  6. 6.

    Every six years, Peru, as well as the other States Parties, have to provide to the World Heritage Committee a report related to the application of the World Heritage Convention, including the state of conservation of the properties. The periodic reporting is required in order to: (1) provide an “assessment as to whether the World Heritage values of the properties inscribed on the World Heritage List are being maintained over time”; (2) “to record the changing circumstances and state of conservation of the properties” (http://whc.unesco.org/en/periodicreporting/).

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Correspondence to Nicola Masini .

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Masini, N., Danese, M., Pecci, A., Scavone, M., Lasaponara, R. (2016). Nasca Lines: Space Tracking of Vandalism. In: Lasaponara, R., Masini, N., Orefici, G. (eds) The Ancient Nasca World. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47052-8_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47052-8_26

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