WATCH: Drone footage of Greenpeace protesters' damage to Nazca heritage site

 

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If you still have doubts on how severely a publicity stunt by environmental group Greenpeace damaged the Nazca Lines World Heritage Site, this video footage from a drone might help.

 

Tech site io9.com said the Nazca figures were drawn between 500 BC and 500 AD on dark rocks covering light sand, in one of the world's driest regions.

 

Citing details from the drone's footage aired on PBS News Hour, it said the "C" from Greenpeace's message is visible from the air.

 

Also, it said "horizontal lines show where the message was laid out and there are large paths revealing where the activists walked in and out of the site."

 

The Nazca figures were drawn between 500 BC and 500 AD by removing a thin patina of dark rocks covering light sand. This is one of the driest regions of the world, and the lack of water and wind has helped preserve the lines for centuries - yet they are still fragile.

 

Photos taken by Peru's culture ministry also showed footprints and overturned rocks, allegedly by Greenpeace's demonstrators.

 

Peru Deputy Culture Minister Luis Jaime Castillo said merely stepping on the patina breaks it and exposes the bottom surface.

 

"How long does it take for nature….to again create a patina? Hundreds of years? Thousands of years? We really don't know," he said. — Joel Locsin/TJD, GMA News