8/16/05 | 11:53 am | Bounty: Arrow Man
Hey there Scavengeroogle Bounty Hunters. This was a weird looking series of paths or roads that have been carved into the shape of what I am going to call for lack of a more interesting term - Arrow Man.
Turn your head about 45 degrees clockwise and you’ll be able to see him better. His arms look like arrows, hence the name. His feet look sort of like the feet on the V.I.N.CENT robot from the 1979 movie “The Black Hole”. Don’t ask me how I know that, because the answer will be that I have the little robot plastic toy from 1979…
Anyhow, I’m not sure what this figure is, if it’s intended to be a man-like depiction or if it’s just a random series of paths that look like a man. Maybe one of you can tell me. This feature requires 16/18 magnification to see it which is pretty close in… the contrast is also quite light which may give some difficulty. The continent we are in is: South America.
I just got a “prize” in the mail that I sent away for, so I’m offering it up here. It is the Las Cruces, New Mexico Official 2005-2006 Visitor’s Guide. Now while a lot of people think of New Mexico as just a big desert or perhaps the home of the Trinity Atomic Test Site, there is a lot to like in this vast and complex Southwestern recreation area. I just like the wide open spaces in general which is why it appeals to me. I’ve been to the state a few times and it is pretty magnificient.
Las Cruces is located about 225 miles south of Albuquerque and near the border with Mexico. Some of the area attractions include Aguirre Springs, The Bicentennial Log Cabin, Fort Selden State Monument, White Sands National Monument, and the Historic village of Mesilla. You might also be interested in The Whole Enchilada Festival in downtown Las Cruces in Sept 23-25 where they’ll make the world’s largest enchilada. Yeah. Yum.
OK. Enough enchilada talk, get crackin on the bounty!
Bounty Name : “Arrow Man”
Submitted by: Scavengeroogle Admin
Status : Collected by: Aaron B
Time Elapsed: 5 hours, 4 min
Word Hint : NONE
Continent Hint : South America
Magnification Needed: 16/18Reward: Las Cruces, New Mexico Visitor’s Guide
Wow, fast action again as Aaron B. collected up this bounty in a hurry. He says:
There really isn’t too much high rez stuff down in S. America and I’d had an idea it was down in Peru anyway. I had heard of line drawings down in Peru but what I was looking at ended up being the Nazca lines which has no high resolution data at all. In anycase, I ended up searching around Lima and saw the little bit of island and went to look at it and *poof* there it was!
I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly it IS, but as far as I can tell, it is San Lorenzo Island…
Yeah, I’m wondering exactly what it is too… I thought it might be some sort of line drawing but apparently it isn’t. Anyone know?
For those of you who haven’t yet had a crack at bounties, I’m still attempting to get more than a few up at once. I think I may stick with mostly “featureless” items like the Compass in order to make it more tough. And, I might lay off the “continent clue” until a few days have elapsed. In any case, I’m not sad you are all finding the bounties quickly; I only wish I had more time to come up with them! If I had my choice I would just do this all day long, hehe.
Anyhow, the prizes were the problem b4, but we should have more prizes rolling in as time goes by. A roogler mentioned trying to hit up some of the manufacturers of GPS devices to donate a “real” prize. I just might try that, maybe if we do a mass scavenger hunt like we had been planning earlier!
Toodle-oo…
August 16th, 2005 at 5:31 pm
Darn it! I just sent in my submission, then refreshed the page and saw that Aaron B had gotten there first! Good for him.
As Aaron did, I noticed that South America didn’t have many high res sections, so I really just started randomly picking them out and searching. I probably spent 30 minutes total. Good one!
August 16th, 2005 at 5:36 pm
Tim - LOL… I just got your submission. As I told Aaron, you guys are just too fast! =)
I thought about South America having not many high res squares. You know, this actually really limits the effectiveness of bounties and until they get more high res imagery online it’ll remain like that. I think I may stop giving out the “continent clue” right away, because of that. But I’d imagine it’d be pretty tough if all of South America had been mapped and we used continent clues!
Well, it’s back to the drawing board for me for more bounties!
August 16th, 2005 at 5:48 pm
Haha, sorry Tim! Maybe next time!
I think continent-less clues would be a good idea for bounties. Of course, the Compass one is awful enough as it is…
I look forward to the next clues you get up! Doing this sort of thing seems like such a better usage of my time than searching randomly about the internet or other sorts of junk there is out there so I look forward to each new post^^
August 16th, 2005 at 5:51 pm
thanks aaron, it is fun on my end as well coming up with the bounties. Yeah, maybe I will wait a little while after a bounty is released before doing the continent clue… I think I may have more time coming up in the Fall to devote to clues and such which should be cool!
August 17th, 2005 at 6:45 am
In response to Aaron B. pondering as to what theArrow Man is, the following is from Frommer’s guide to Peru:
En route to the islands, boats pass the famous Candelabro, a giant candelabra-like drawing etched into a cliff overlooking the bay. The huge etching, 126m long and 72m wide (413 ft. by 236 ft.), looks as though it could be a cousin to the Nasca Lines, and it is similarly shrouded in mystery. Some believe that it’s a ritualistic symbol of the Paracas or Nasca cultures, while others contend that it dates only to the 18th or 19th century, when it served as a protective symbol and navigational guide for fishermen and sailors.
So it really is something cool and not just something that looks like something cool!
August 17th, 2005 at 9:45 am
Judy - wow, that’s some nice sleuthing. Yeah, the symmetry of it had me puzzled because if it was roads then I don’t know why tbey would make them completely equivalent on both sides. That’s interesting they say it looks like a Candelabra because it looks more like a headless person to me. With arrows for hands, of course.
August 17th, 2005 at 11:45 am
wow, thats super cool! I want to go see it…
August 17th, 2005 at 12:25 pm
Maybe I should write to the government of Peru and see if they would sponsor a Scavengeroogle crew to fly out there and survey it. =)
August 17th, 2005 at 1:21 pm
Hmm, I’m not sure Judy B has it right. Check this link, which has a picture of the Candelabro geoglyph.
http://www.trekker.co.il/english/peru/p-pisco-05.htm
Looks different to me.
August 17th, 2005 at 3:01 pm
Hmm, I see what you mean Tim. In looking at the Google Map area, it appears there are at least 3 or 4 different designs in the sand. Some of them are a bit hard to see, but they are up in the northern area near the town. I’ll bet they are all part of the same group.
August 17th, 2005 at 3:26 pm
I think you’re right Tim. Well, no, you’re obviously right. And I thought the clue looked more like a guy than a candelabra as well. There have been several Nazca-like figures found in that area in recent years that archeologists believe may pre-date Nazca. I work with people that frequent that part of the world and they put me onto the Frommer’s description without seeing the actual clue. So it’s definitely not the candelabra, but I’m still pretty convinced it’s a human-created figure as opposed to something that just resembles a human-created figure. This is actually a good thing as I’ve got a few more days of dead time until the semester starts. This will be a good mystery to unravel.
August 17th, 2005 at 5:47 pm
Just checked out Tim’s link, so I guess it definitely isn’t the exact same one. But I think I agree it might be some related Nazca-like figure and I still am thinking it is not “random” occurence. Very interesting…
August 18th, 2005 at 8:07 am
Looking at the figure using Google earth and rotating the image soyou are looking at it from the direction of the sea it looks like two anchors crossing to me.