American Nazca? Unusual and Prolific Geoglyphs in Southwest

A special thanks to research James Carroll (we are now referring to these as the "Carroll Geoglyphs") for pointing out strange glyphs on the desert in the Southwest. Dennis Guern, James and I spent the weekend documenting easily over 100 of these giant geoglyphs on the ground. 

What we noted about this swath of geoglyphs:
Geoglyphs cover over 46 miles long 
Geoglyphs cover over 17 miles wide. 
Geoglyphs are around 300 feet across (280-320 feet).
Geoglyphs about 1000 feet apart. 
Some geoglyphs look fairly precise, others cobbled crudely. 

The shapes include a circle within a circle with a line through center of the central circle, slash marks of either 4 of 6 slashes, a medicine-wheel looking circle with 12 sections in it, a flower, some double rectangles side by side, eye-shapes, and more. 

What do we know about the age of these? 1993 Google Earth (earliest images available) they were there back then. A close-up look at them shows how the desert brush has grown up through the figures and also the trackway that led to their construction.

Do others know these are there? Well, on the ground you would never detect these with the brush grown over them. Luckily, satellite images reveal them. In fact, the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) created roads cutting across them in some areas, so they obviously didn't know they were there.

This plateau-like area has a reputation for giants, Jesuit treasure, and lots of gold hunting. Who would take the immense time and effort to create these glyphs on the ground in the middle of nothing? What did they utilize to get out there and make 8-10 foot "roads" and these shapes that appear rather random and odd? 

What can we discern about it? Well, it is cradled between a mountain range and a river on each side of it. 

The symbols are fairly grouped, but not always. Most areas with 4-slash marks are in one region and ones with 6-slash marks in another, circle within a circle figures in one area. It seems generally as if the slash marks are along the fringe of this shape and the circles are within the center. Still, nothing can be assumed as sometimes there are eye-shapes throughout, almost like a giant chain. 

We are continuing our research on this area and other geoglyphs in our southwestern deserts, as they remain in place in the dry climate and also might give us some insights into why there are geoglyphs that can really only be translated from above. 

Our research group is focusing a great deal on ancient giants in Arizona particularly as that is our state of residence. Expect much to be revealed including expeditions in the West!