Geoglyphs discovered in Thar Desert

GS PAPER I: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Context: Using Google Earth images, drone observations and field visits, two independent researchers from France have identified eight sites around Jaisalmer in the Thar Desert, that show linear features resembling geoglyphs.

• Geoglyphs are large, un-explained geometrical patterns on land usually proposed to be man-made features.
• The largest concentration of geoglyphs is reported from southern Peru, covering an area of about 1,000 square km.
• The new paper published in Archaeological Research in Asia notes that the identified geoglyphs in the Thar Desert cover an area of about 6 square km.
• In Boha, a small village 40 km to the north of Jaisalmer a series of concentric and linear features were noticed. They named these features Boha geoglyphs and suggested that the features could be at least 150 years old.
• It is however conceivable that they were built at the beginning of the British colonial period, in the middle of the 19th century.
• The Boha geoglyphs are clearly manmade as the main unit is a giant spiral, but they have been eroded due to the cars running over the lines lately. So, they are clearly not formed by weathering or another natural phenomenon.

https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/new-geometrical-lines-discovered-in-thar-desert/article34716927.ece?homepage=true