Paul Kosok was a North American anthropologist whose greatest contribution was discovering the Nazca Lines, geoglyphs that can be observed in the Nazca desert, in Peru.
The Nazca Lines were a mystery until Paul Kosok launched a thorough investigation, along with other people. Currently there is no concrete answer as to what they are, however a hypothesis could be generated about it.
Together with the anthropologist Richard Schaedel, Kosok analyzed what is now known as the Sacred City of Caral, and was able to note that its existence went back many years, although how many were not specified.
Biography
Paul Kosok was born in 1896 and was an anthropologist who devoted himself mainly to the study of the Nazca Lines, between the 1930s and 1950s.
In 1933 he published a study on modern Germany. This was titled Modern Germany: A Study of Conflicting Loyalties. This publication was helpful to people in the American foreign service.
He also served as an educator in the area of History of Science at Long Island University. He was a musician and was part of the conducting of the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra. He composed The Andean Rhapsody, which was inspired by his tour in Peru.
Kosok was the first to notice the ruins of Chupacigarro, renamed the Sacred City of Caral. He visited the site with the American archaeologist Richard Schaedel.
This visit generated several hypotheses that were exposed in a report entitled Life, Land and Water in Ancient Peru, published in 1965.
After having analyzed the Nazca Lines for a long time, Kosok returned to his country in 1949 and delegated the work to María Reiche. The investigation took at least 50 more years.
Main contributions
Kosok's investigations attempted to explain the implicit prehistoric footprints in the valleys of the Peruvian coasts.
The Nazca Lines were always there. The discovery would not have been reached if it had not been for the aerial photographs of the United States Army taken for the Shippee-Johnson expedition, and of the Lima Aerial Photography Service.
For the analysis of the geoglyphs, Kosok used a technique based on carbon 14. Through this, he was able to realize that the lines were dated back to 550 AD. C. In 1941 he proposed the first strong hypothesis in this regard.
According to the anthropologist, the Nazca Lines represent some kind of signs to denote a calendar. He also attributed astronomical elements to them: he claimed that it was "The largest-scale calendar in the world."
Paul Kosok left a mark in the history of Peru. It brought great progress for anthropology. His studies and reports, supported by his expeditions, inspired and advanced the work for future research.
References
- Paul Kosok. Obtained from Wikipedia: es.wikipedia.org. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- Archeology: Toribio Mejía Xesspe and Paul Kosok. (December 23, 2009). Extracted from Blogspot-Noticias de Nasca: noticiasdenascadelperu.blogspot.com. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- Paul Kosok. Recovered from Academic: esacademic.com. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- The Andean world: population, environment and economy. (October 2012). John V. Murra. Retrieved October 4, 2017.
- Water: common good and private uses, Irrigation, State and Conflicts in the Achirana del Inca. (October 2005). Maria Teresa I prayed. Retrieved October 4, 2017.