Roughly 2,000 years ago. the Nasca people of Peru made strange markings in the South American desert depicting enormous birds and animals. They also created hundreds of uncannily straight lines stretching for many miles. The markings were so large they could be seen in full only from the air. Aided by colleagues Brian Harrison and Andrea Drusini, archaeologist Giuseppe Orefici has spent many years trying to excavate Cahuachi, the monumental city, dominated by a great pyramid, that was home to the Nasca.

He has unearthed a fascinating array of artefacts and burials sites which help to explain how and why the lines were created as well as provide an insight into the culture of the people that built them. Orefici and his crew, however, are forced to conduct a constant battle against tomb-raiders who leave bones, hair and materials from the 370-acre site scattered in the desert, lost to the scientists forever.
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