The View From Above: geoglyph

Showing posts with label geoglyph. Show all posts

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Long Live Chairman Mao! Whoops, never mind.

42°39'14.51"N 94° 9'58.30"E

In the area near XinXiang, China, huge geoglyphs like this one are fairly common. This one says (roughly translated) "Long Live Chairman Mao." I'm guessing when someone like that dies, they don't exactly rush out and start taking down megalithic signs like this one, which is 1300 feet from end to end.

Friday, June 5, 2009

What exactly are these mystery markings in the Algerian Desert?

31° 1'9.84"N 7°58'32.44"E

Approximately 183 miles SW of the Algerian town of Touggourt, deep in the sandy desert, lies this unusual geoglyph. It's hard to say whether it is just a glyph in the sands, or an object buried beneath them. It certainly looks man-made. There are oil drilling operations this part of the desert, so it's possible it is related to that industry in some way. Does anyone have any information on this?

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Giant Geoglyphs of the Atacama Desert

19°12'12.97"S 70° 0'28.90"W

An interesting site in the Atacama desert of Chile, possibly constructed by the Atacameños, a native american people who inhabited the andean portion of the Atacama desert between 2000 BC and 100 AD. Anyone have any more info about this particular site?

Friday, May 29, 2009

Giant Horse and Lizard Near Juarez, Mexico

31°39'40.82"N 106°35'26.02"W

This symbol appears on the ground 9.6 miles west of Juarez International Airport, Mexico. Just to the southeast of the horse is a small stylized lizard. There are also some other symbols in the area as well (a big "H" and a word or name spelled out, but pretty illegible). Painted in whitewash on a mountainside by local architect Hector García Acosta and his son Carlos, it is a huge reproduction of the Uffington horse in the U.K.

Why "View From Above"

I have an unquenchable thirst for exploration and mysteries. But that isn't the only reason for "View From Above." This blog exists primarily thanks to the despicable ignorance and laziness of the many, many people who will post a picture of some anomaly and simply make guesses about it, rather than do five minutes worth of research. I can't count the many times I've seen aerial pictures of "UFOs parked in a row on the beach" (They're beach umbrellas, you dork!) or questions like, "What's this aircraft doing sitting in the middle of the desert?" (It's a military firing range. They use junk aircraft as targets. Duh!) The unwillingness on the part of most people to do even a minimal amount of research just boggles the mind.

Another pet peeve of mine is the practice of posting an interesting site without a precise location. I don't know if it's laziness, oversight, or a desire to hoard information, but it's irritating as hell to me. That's why mosts of my posts will always include coordinates to the site.

I hope you'll enjoy perusing the sites I've listed. I can't take credit for being the first to "find" most of them, but I will do my best to let you know what I find out about them!

Michael Makai