Greenpeace sorry for demonstrating on, damaging Nazca site

During a publicity stunt timed to coincide with UN climate meetings in Lima, Greenpeace activists in the middle of the night entered a restricted area around the "hummingbird" figure, the only remaining figure on the plateau that up until the stunt was still completely intact and thus specially protected by the government, and scuffed up the area while placing giant cloth letters to create a protest sign which was then photographed from the air.



The lines themselves were very simply made. Dark red surface-level gravel was brushed away to reveal light gray sandy soil beneath. But such excavation is done just as easily by accident as with deliberation, so that people walking or driving vehicles on the plain often leave similar tracks, which over time have degraded or destroyed the integrity of many of the original images across the site. So it was that the Greenpeace activists' vehicle and footstep marks left visible scars in a significant area along the front of the hummingbird figure.



Greenpeace has issued an apology, although the apology is worded to characterize the activity they apologized for in the most positive possible terms. The government of Peru is unmoved and is seeking to identify the protesters and prevent them leaving the country while they are charged with damaging an archaeological site.