LIMA (Reuters) -Peru's government has significantly reduced the protected area around its famed Nazca Lines, a move critics and archaeologists fear could leave the ancient geoglyphs vulnerable to hundreds of nearby informal mining operations.
Peru's Culture Ministry last week slashed the protected zone from 5,600 to 3,200 square kilometers, attributing the move to topographical and archaeological studies that more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value."
