Discovered by a pair of independent father-son researchers, these new geoglyphs were spotted using Google Earth, during a virtual survey of the Thar desert region.
Jaipur: Mysterious old drawings carved into the land have been found lying in the vast arid expanses of the Thar desert, the world famous beauty of Rajasthan.
According to the researchers, these newly discovered designs are of such immense scale, that they were not been seen even by those who made them. These huge motifs are examples of geoglyphs. The geoglyphs are handmade features created on the surface of the earth, or one can say, the giant depictions and patterns built upon or carved into the land. Among all famous geoglyphs that are of historical relevance that include the known Nazca Lines of Peru, the Thar desert formations appear to be unique, in the sense that they represent what may actually be the largest ever graphical depictions designed by humans.
Discovered by a pair of independent father-son researchers from Luriecq, France—Carlo and Yohann Oetheimer—these new geoglyphs were spotted using Google Earth, during a virtual survey of the Thar desert region; this region covers some 200,000 square kilometers (approximately 77,000 square miles) of territory overlapping India and Pakistan. The researchers, while detailing their findings, explain that these geoglyphs are not only the largest ones that are discovered worldwide and for the first time in the Indian subcontinent, but they also unique as regards their enigmatic signs. By enigmatic, we mean, that is difficult to interpret or understand or make sense of; or they are mysterious ones. The father-son duo identified several sites located around the “Golden City” of Jaisalmer, marked by geometrical lines resembling geoglyphs. They carried out a field study in 2016 using an unscrewed aerial vehicle and revealed that some of the identified sites were furrows dug for tree plantations, and also witnessed a spectacular cluster of enigmatic line formations seemingly absence of trees.
The Oetheimers further found that the largest geoglyph identified, the giant asymmetrical spiral (named as Boha 1), is made from a single looping line running for 12 kilometres. Another is the huge vortex shape rests a serpentine geoglyph (Boha 2), is an 11-km long line, which looks like a serpentine-like figure, a smaller spiral, and a long boustrophedon-style (writing of alternate lines in opposite directions) sequence of lines running back and forth.
Other small geoglyphs can also be found in the Boha region (including a feature of meandering lines{with a lot of curves and bends}, called Boha 3), which in total includes approx. 48 kilometres of still visible lines today, which according to the researchers’ estimate may once have extended for about 80 kilometres.
As it is not clear yet who created these formations, what could have been the entire thought process of people who were inhabiting that region to build these massive motifs, keeping in mind this very fact that they can be visible only at a far aerial distance. Researchers say that these are not ancient, rather only around 150 years old; may be the contemporary creations with the Hindu memorial stones found in the region. To sum up, they consider the Boha geoglyphs to be the largest abstract and organically arranged man-made geometric figures discovered so far. The researchers are convinced about the close connection of these unique geoglyphs to their geographical and cultural context, and might have a universal message linked to the sacred and the cosmos.
Asked about the reason why these motifs were made, was there any geographical, geometrical, spiritual, cosmological, or cultural significance responsible for building these formations; S.R. Jakhar, a renowned geologist, said that they are a number of cracks developed on the upper layer.
Rahul Easwar, an activist, explained this as the absolutely fabulous revelation, a great finding about the people, who had their own ideologies, their own myths, and their own particular cultural history. He said it is very astounding and astonishing how men can draw such proper patterns, with particular designs. He put emphasis that “ours and future generations should take pride about it”.
A.K. Sinha, Superintendent and Archaeologist, ASI, said: “We may have to take a detailed ground survey involving experts, taking care of the fact whether they are of historic or pre-historic age, after examining the site on ground zero; moreover, whether they are man-made or they are accidental, it would be preliminary to say this. Drawing conclusions just on the basis of Google Earth images would be too early.