LIMA, Peru 鈥 Environmental group Greenpeace apologized Wednesday after Peru accused it of damaging a millenia-old archaeological site when its activists displayed a protest banner there calling for action on climate change.
The stunt at the ancient Nazca lines, enormous drawings etched in the earth some 2,000 years ago by a pre-Inca civilization, drew a furious reaction from Peru, which is currently hosting UN talks aimed at curbing global warming.
Greenpeace set up large letters beside one of the designs, known as the Hummingbird, reading: 鈥淭ime for change! The future is renewable.鈥
Describing the action as an 鈥渁ttack,鈥 the Peruvian government said the site had been damaged and vowed to prosecute those responsible.
鈥淎fter the illegal, premeditated action by environmental defense group Greenpeace, the zone has been seriously affected,鈥 the culture ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
It called on Peruvians to 鈥渃ollaborate in identifying the people who carried out this attack on the cultural heritage of all Peruvians and all humanity鈥 and said those responsible must be 鈥渟topped from leaving the country.鈥
Greenpeace said it was 鈥渄eeply concerned about any offense鈥 it may have caused and said its activism was always waged with respect for 鈥渢he peoples of the world and their cultural heritage.鈥
But the Peruvian government 鈥渄id not accept the apology鈥 because Greenpeace 鈥渉as not accepted the damage caused,鈥 said Vice Minister for Culture Luis Jaime Castillo after meeting members of Greenpeace鈥檚 delegation to the climate talks.
The lines were listed as a Unesco world heritage site in 1994.
Created between 500 BC and AD 500 by the Nazca people, they have long intrigued archaeologists with the mystery of their size, their meticulously drawn figures and their abundance.
Some of the drawings depict living creatures, others stylized plants or fantastical beings, others geometric figures that stretch for kilometers (miles).
The site is best seen from the sky, its lines criss-crossing the Peruvian desert over more than 500 square kilometers (200 square miles).
Greenpeace said on its Facebook page that the letters it used were simply cloth spread across the ground, and that its activists had taken care to cause 鈥渁bsolutely no damage鈥 to the site.
But Peruvian authorities said even entering the area was 鈥渟trictly prohibited because of the fragility of the terrain around the lines.鈥
They say a group of 12 to 15 people wearing boots and sneakers entered the zone, where access is only allowed in special foam-covered foot equipment.
RELATED STORIES
Study of latrines shows ancient Romans ate local