Alien fever dreams fuel Peruvian grave robbings

Tiny bodies seized last year from a shipment going through the Jorge Chavez International Airport are displayed during a press conference where authorities asserted they are dolls, discrediting them as possible evidence of extraterrestrial life, at the National Museum of Archaeology, Anthropology and History of Peru, in Lima, Peru, March 20, 2024. REUTERS/Sebastian Castaneda

NAZCA, Peru (Reuters) - Leandro Rivera says he chanced upon the cave in Peru's remote Nazca region that contained hundreds of pre-Hispanic artifacts – including human bodies with elongated heads and what appeared to be only three fingers on each hand.

The plateau is famous for the Nazca lines, incisions on the desert floor forming birds and other animals visible from the air. The ancient geoglyphs have long intrigued anthropologists and exert a powerful fascination over some believers in extraterrestrials.