Anthropology professor emeritus Robert Benfer, of the University of Missouri (USA), has been using Google Earth images to help him confirm his discovery of ancient, gigantic animal shaped mounds. The mounds have been discovered on the coastal fringe of Peru and are made from a mixture of soil and rock.
     Benfer had previously noticed ground 'structures' that vaguely resembled animal shapes but had dismissed the idea as, until then, the only known animal shaped mounds had been found in North America, in Ohio, created somewhere between 400 and 1200 CE. It was not until he later viewed satellite images of the same area that he realised that the mounds were in fact giant animal effigies. Benfer is quoted as saying "I had always noted that a very large structure, just north of Lima, resembled a bird. But since there were supposedly no giant animal effigy mounds in South America, I thought it couldn't be".
     Armed with the knowledge gained from the satellite images, Professor Benfer re-visited the site and confirmed that the structures had in fact been constructed around 2,000 BCE and were contemporary with the pyramids in Egypt.
     Since that Eureka moment Professor Benfer has revisited the area on several occasions and has identified more animal mound sites. Like the Nazca figures several mystical interpretations of the shapes have been made, including Professor Benfer himself, who believes them to be astronomical symbols. His findings have been published in the journal 'Antiquity' and it is hoped that he will carry out a further review of his findings this year.

Edited from University of Missouri (28 March 2012)