AI models are becoming smarter and threaten to surpass the human mind with the advent of artificial general intelligence. That moment is still far away, but A tool has finally managed to solve one of the great mysteries of history.
The team of scientists from the Nazca Institute of Yamagata University (Japan) has collaborated with IBM to decipher one of the greatest enigmas of modern archaeology, using artificial intelligence.
More than 303 new geoglyphs and 10,000 drawings
The task was not easy after more than 100 years of research with few notable advances. Scientists sought to decipher the Nazca Lines, drawings on mountains in Peru with a total area of almost 1,000 square km that would explain the enigmas of pre-Columbian civilizations.
Some studies suggested that it could be a huge astronomical calendar, others that it represents the four seasons with figures that allude to sowing and harvesting. The scientists had to analyze more than 10,000 lines with some measuring 30 meters and extending over 9 km in the hills.
The Nazca Lines are a set of geoglyphs created between 200 BC. C. and 650 AD. C. and have become one of the greatest enigmas of ancient civilization. Artificial intelligence has had to analyze thousands of images of felines, birds, fish, human figures and geometric patterns hundreds of meters long with no apparent connection.
Masato Sakai, principal archaeologist, has expressed that the magnitude of the desert and the limitations of traditional techniques have prevented the lines from being detected accurately. AI has changed the rules of the game after being trained with thousands of aerial images.
satellite images, drones and six months of study
Artificial intelligence analyzed images taken by satellites and hundreds of hours of drone flight that tracked the area, then archaeologists located the location of the lines barely perceptible to the human eye.
The analysis of thousands of lines puts an end to previous theories. The idea that is gaining strength is the possibility that civilizations made roads for processions. This has been possible thanks to six months of studying the orientation of these marks on the ground, the hills would be an enormous ceremonial landscape.
The case of the Nazca Lines is not isolated, AI is helping to map areas that are inaccessible or imperceptible to the human eye. Chatbots like ChatGPT help diagnose diseases or solve mathematical problems that have not been solved for decades.