Mars Artifacts

Examples of Large-Scaled Art On Earth

The imagery returned from Mars suggests there is large-scaled art on its surface.
Incredulous skeptics often ask rhetorical questions based on preconcieved notions regarding the motivation of an hypothetical group of builders and artisans on Mars...
Why would someone do such a thing, build/draw these structures?
Why are they directed upward?

These questions can be answered by studying examples of large-scaled art on Earth.

As it turns out, they are surprisingly common, some very old, some new.

Goughan Farms Moose Maze

August 13, 2005, Bangor Daily News. Farmer Mark Gaughan of Caribou, Maine created a maze shaped like a moose out of his six acre corn field. The maze is an experiment in agritourism that will be open to the public for two months. "I couldn't believe how good it looked when a friend, a pilot, took some pictures from the air," he said.

Munich Airport

Munich Airport is known for the very large swirls of earth which are enjoyed by airline passengers during takeoffs and landings. It distinguishes the airport from other airports and serves to help orient pilots.
Note the scale. That's a road with vehicles at right.
It would be interesting to learn how the city justified this large-scaled project.

Battle of Britain Memorial

It was the idea of Wing Commander Geoffrey Page (DSO OBE DFC), himself a WWII veteran, that there should be a permanent national memorial at the clifftop location over which much of the Battle of Britian was fought.
The Memorial itself takes the form of an immense three bladed propeller, each 38 metres long, cut into the hillside. The stone figure of a lone pilot is seated on a sandstone base on which Badges of the squadrons which participated in the Battle, are carved.
Like at Munich Airport, it is intended to be appreciated from the air. The large-scaled art commemorates the sacrifice of the those involved in the air Battle fought over the area.
Carved on a memorial wall is Winston Churchill's imortal words, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few".

Blythe Intaglios

Ancient, intaglios are gigantic human, animal and geometric figures on the ground's surface. There are over 300 intaglios in the American southwest and adjacent Mexico. The best known of these are the Blythe Intaglios, located west of the Colorado River about 15 miles north of Blythe, California. The ground drawings are situated on two low mesas or terraces. The largest human figure measures 171 feet from head to toe. Once again, they can only be fully appreciated from the air, only having been discovered since the advent of the airplane.
Links:
Intaglios by James Q. Jacobs
Bureau of Land Management

At Charles Sturt University

Charles Sturt University is located in New South Wales, Australia.
Students created the large reptile. It can only be fully appreciated from the air.

Maree Man

Initially spotted by overpassing pilots near Maree, Australia, this quarter mile long depiction of an aboriginal man is a recent phenomenon. It is not known who created the rendering in this remote location. Detailed and drawn to near perfect proportion, it is assumed the artists were guided by the GPS, scraping earth away with a bulldozer.

Roden Crater - Courtesy Terraserver

Roden Crater is a natural cinder volcano situated on the southwestern edge of the Painted Desert in northern Arizona. Since 1972, with grants from Dia Art Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts, James Turrell has been planning to transform the crater into a large-scale artwork, a great eye. It will not only provide visitors a unique experience on site, but also from high above, in aircraft or even from space. Turrell's project is now under construction under the direction of Dia Art Foundation and the Skystone Foundation with support from Lannan Foundation and will be accessible to visitors possibly before 2005.
Links:
http://www.rodencrater.org/intro2a.htm
http://www.lasersol.com/art/turrell/rc_intro.html

Located on a wide, arid plain near the coastal city of Nazca, Peru is one of the world's greatest mysteries: an ancient mosaic of gigantic stylized figures. A monkey, a fish, a spider and a hummingbird are among the hundreds of drawings, lines, and geometric figures visible only from the air. Indeed, they were only first noticed when aircraft began to fly over the area.

Nazca

Nazca Photo by Georges Rosset / Geneva

Link: The Mysterious Nazca Lines (Spanish)

Candelabra of the Andes

One of the most engimatic giant ground drawings (or "geoglyphs") in South America is seen best from several miles out at sea. Etched into a sloping hill at Pisco Bay on the Peruvian coast, this strange figure looks vaguely like a candlestick; thus, its name "The Candelabra of the Andes." The Candelabra is 595 feet long and can be seen from as far as 12 miles out to sea.

Link: Candelabra of the Andes

The Facinating "Hillfigures"
Mark Hows has organized a wonderfull collection of "hillfigures", primarily in the UK, at "The Hillfigures Homepage". Below are some examples from his site.

Hillfigures Homepage by Dr. Mark Hows