The new insight, published in the December issue of the journal Antiquity, came because two archaeologists decided to use a decidedly low-tech method to understand the sand drawing's ancient secrets: by walking it.

MSN: Peru's mysterious Nazca Lines form a labyrinth, says study

It extracts oil from the ground using a method called fracking - pumping down a mixture of sand, water and chemicals at high pressure.

BBC: US to become 'world's biggest oil producer'