Reiche, Maria

▪ 1999

      German-born Peruvian mathematician and archaeologist (b. May 15, 1903, Dresden, Ger.—d. June 8, 1998, Lima, Peru), was the self-appointed keeper of the Nazca Lines, a series of Peruvian ground drawings more than 1,000 years old. For five decades the "Lady of the Lines," as she was known, studied and protected the 60 km (35 mi) of desert near Nazca in southern Peru that served as the blackboard for etchings of animals and geometric patterns. Scratched into the ground and preserved by a lack of wind and rain, the figures are hundreds of feet in length and only fully recognizable from the air. Reiche, who emigrated to Peru in 1932 to escape the political situation in Germany, became fascinated with the mysterious lines after visiting the site in 1941. By 1946 she had moved to the desert and begun mapping and measuring the figures. Her work, the first serious study of the lines, led to the publication of The Mystery on the Desert (1949), in which she concluded that they represented an astronomical calendar; later experts, however, have suggested a ceremonial or community-building purpose. Reiche also funded several research projects and, as the region became a major tourist attraction, hired security guards to protect the drawings. UNESCO declared the Nazca Lines a World Heritage site in 1995 and in 1998 awarded Reiche a special medal for her work.

* * *