Since their discovery, various theories have been proposed regarding the methods and motivations underlying the lines' construction. The archaeological explanation as to who made them and how is widely accepted; namely that the Nazca people made the lines using simple tools and surveying equipment. Wooden stakes in the ground at the end of some lines (which were used to carbon-date the figures) and ceramics found on the surface support this theory. Furthermore, researchers such as Joe Nickell of the University of Kentucky, have reproduced the figures using the technology available to the Nazca Indians of the time without aerial supervision. With careful planning and simple technologies, a small team of individuals could recreate even the largest figures within a couple of days.

Two Methods were used to create geoglyphs in the coastal plains of Peru and Chile.

• The typical method, the lines were made by removing pebbles which cover the surface of the Nazca desert. When the gravel (desert pavement) is removed, they contrast with the light-colored earth underneath.

• The other approach is to pile stones or gravel to form the symbol or line.  There are also geoglyphs that employ a combination of the two.

There are several thousand simple lines and geometric patterns on the Nazca plateau and surrounding regions, as well as over seventy curvilinear animal, insect, and human figures in the Nazca area alone, with more in other areas. The area encompassing the Nazca lines is nearly 500 square kilometers (200 square miles), and the largest figures can be nearly 900 feet (270 meters) long.

The geoglyphs persist due to the extremely dry, windless, and constant climate of the Nazca and coastal Peruvian regions: the Nazca desert is one of the driest on Earth and maintains a temperature around 25°C (77°F) year round, and the lack of wind has helped keep the lines uncovered to the present day.  Other geoglyph areas, such as the Atacama desert of Chile are even drier!

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Note the precision of the construction of the spider compared to the long line running through it - both were created by removal of the desert pavement - by digging a very shallow trench or trough

Here there are multiple lines created by removing the desert pavement, plus an irregular pile of material forming a line

Even though we know exactly how the lines were made, there is less existing evidence concerning why the figures were built, so the Nazca people's motivation remains the lines' most persistent mystery. Many scholars believe that their motivation was religious, making images that only gods in the sky could see clearly. Kosok and Reiche advanced one of the earliest reasons given for the Nazca Lines: that they were intended to point to the places on the distant horizon where the Sun and other celestial bodies rose or set. This hypothesis was evaluated by two different experts in archaeoastronomy, Gerald Hawkins and Anthony Aveni, and they both concluded that there was insufficient evidence to support an astronomical explanation for the entirety of the massive geoglyphic complex.

However, having said the above, in August 2007 new science was presented by Anthony L. Peratt, Fellow, IEEE, John McGovern, Alfred H. Qöyawayma, Life Member, IEEE, Marinus Anthony Van der Sluijs, and Mathias G. Peratt, Member, IEEE.  This new study and theory explores the relationship between petroglyphs, geoglyphs, and periodic extreme intensity aurora discharges and displays.  The world over, on a frequent basis (every few thousand years) there are extreme high energy aurora that change the coloration, patterns, and low latitude visibility of aurora.  In many cases the aurora may product high energy static discharges on to the ground - resulting in the formation of "lightning glass" in shapes and patterns significantly different from regular lightning strikes - in lines and bands.

A major problem with these artifacts is our ability to correctly and precisely date the lines and symbols.  We have mostly relied upon easily datable objects (wood and ceramics) to provide reliable dates for the lines.  However, these may not be as reliable, as some would like to believe.  Most estimates place the lines creation within a span of 200 years, yet this could actually be a window of 1,000 years or much more.  Thus they may very well not be an artifact (the major lines) of the Nazca culture, and that the Nazcans may be responsible for only adding their own mimicked lines and symbols to those original put down previously.  Because of the dry climate of the region, it is possible the lines (or some of them) are substantially older than current prevailing theory.

In 1985, the archaeologist Johan Reinhard published archaeological, ethnographic, and historical data demonstrating that worship of mountains and other water sources played a dominant role in Nazca religion and economy from ancient to recent times. He presented the hypothesis that the lines and figures can be explained as part of religious practices involving the worship of deities associated with the availability of water and thus the fertility of crops. In his hypothesis that the lines were interpreted as being primarily used as sacred paths leading to places where these deities could be worshiped and the figures as symbolically representing animals and objects meant to invoke their aid. However, the precise meanings of many of the individual geoglyphs remain unsolved.

Another, less scientific hypothesis involves the work of David Johnson. Johnson has researched the Nazca Lines and their apparent connection with underground waterways. Johnson allegedly used dowsing to track these water tunnels, claiming that the lines indicate whether the ground contains water or not. The areas with the most geoglyphs are purportedly centered around areas with high amounts of underground water and are usually close to wells and other on-land water sources. A suggestion Johnson makes is the fact that the inhabitants living in such a dry land would spend a significant portion of their time searching for water sources. By creating a giant, full-scale map they would know exactly where to find their water no matter what area of the desert they were in. The geoglyphs would then be religious figures for the gods or names given for each water source. That being said, this information should be taken with a lot of care since Johnson used the very unscientific method of dowsing to locate the purported watering holes.

Notwithstanding Gerald Hawkins' and Anthony Aveni's dismissal of an astronomical explanation of the Nazca Lines and geoglyphs, eclipsologist Robin Edgar has hypothesized that the Nazca Lines, particularly the biomorph & zoomorph geoglyphs that depict animals, human figures, birds and "flowers" that may be an ancient response to the so-called "Eye of God" that is manifested in the sky during a total solar eclipse. An unusual series of total solar eclipses over southern Peru potentially coincided with one estimated time period during which the Nazca Lines and geoglyphs were created. The totally eclipsed sun distinctly resembles the pupil and iris of a gigantic eye looking down from the sky thus providing an hypothesis as to why the Nazca Indians created gigantic geoglyph artworks that are best viewed by an "Eye in the Sky".

Another hypothesis contends that the lines are the remains of "walking temples," where a large group of worshipers walked along a preset pattern dedicated to a particular holy entity, similar to the practice of labyrinth walking. Residents of the local villages say the ancient Indians conducted rituals on these giant drawings to thank the gods and to ensure that water would continue to flow from the Andes. This view correlates with the purposes of other North American geoglyphs.   However, the emergence of ritual after the fact, does not prove that ritual was the reason or the basis for the creation of the geoglyphs to begin with.  To the contrary, it is common for practices to de-evolve over time from fact to mythology.

Also, according to another fanciful recent hypothesis from Michael Vaillant, conductors under the form of very slim gold or copper leafs would have been stretched on the ground. These conductors would have been used as antennas to collect the very low frequencies magnetotelluric waves produced in certain seismographic areas, and that occurred a few hours (or days) before the seisms. This hypothesis relies on a controversial theory named as "SES" (Seismic Electric Signals).  However, there has never been any remnants of these antennae found.

Perhaps the most controversial hypothesis was put forward by Erich von Däniken in his book Chariots of the Gods, who proposed that the lines were in fact landing strips for alien spacecraft. His argument is similar to Woodmann's, claiming that the designs are so large and complex that they could only have been constructed using or for flying machines.

However, the major missing point in most hypothesis is simply that almost all religious or mythical structures also serve functional roles.  From Stonehenge to Notre dam, these structures fulfill a mythical aspect, coupled with a physical use or manifestation.  Thus when you look at the scope of this creation, covering hundreds (thousands) of square miles, it becomes obvious that there was a practical use for the geoglyphs, or they would have been far more limited.  However, one of the practical uses could simply have been documentation of an event as suggested in a August 2007 theory relating the Aurora!

The single most disturbing aspects of the Nazca lines - and I mean lines, not the zoomorphic symbols, is both the precision and quantity.  Though they tend to fall into two distinct classes (one: precise; two: imprecise). Regardless, this was a massive undertaking, to which what purpose justified the considerable labor required?  It is this "purpose" that is the central mystery of the Nazca Plateau!  As well as the lines of Palpa, Casma, and elsewhere!

One of the first thing that an observer sees when looking at both the Nazca (Nasca) and Palpa Lines & Symbols is that there are two distinct classes of artifacts: one class (Class One Geoglyph per McGuinness) is the ultra precise lines & designs - near perfect geometries, including symbols such as the Nazca Spiral, and lines and trapezoids found across the plateau; the second (Class Two Geoglyph per McGuinness) are the obviously not so perfect shapes and symbols that appear to be created without the benefit of the technology and skill used to create the former.   Both of these classes of objects use similar techniques of removing the desert paving to expose lighter soil beneath.

This is not an uncommon occurrence in ancient sites for there to be multiple architectural or design styles occur over the span of significant time.  Frequently you will see cultures evolve  their science and technology, building upon the structures of the past.  You will also see cultures in decline, or new emergent cultures attempting to recreate the much more precise structures of their ancestors, without the skill or precision used previously.

While precise dating makes this difficult to establish with absolute certainty, in the author's opinion, it appears clearly, from the visual evidence, that not one culture produced the Nazca lines, but rather two.  One mimicking the other, and producing lines and symbols of noticeably less precision and quality.

This is also significant for another reason.  Namely that the original purpose of the more precise lines and symbols, may have been altogether different than that of the copies.  While we speculate on the ceremonial nature of the line's use, it is important to remember that there may have been two different purposes, depending on which class of objects we are looking at!