Uncontacted contemporaries · 650 overlapping years

Nazca Culture Teotihuacan

For 650 years — from 100 BCE to 550 CE — both civilizations existed simultaneously. Neither this dataset nor the historical record shows any documented trade, war, or diplomatic contact between them.

100 BCE 800 CE

Nazca Culture

100 BCE–800 CE

Teotihuacan

100 BCE–550 CE

↑ Overlap begins, 100 BCE

Nazca Culture

Southern coast, Peru

Famous for enormous geoglyphs etched into the desert, fully legible only from high above the ground.

Teotihuacan

Central Mexico

One of the largest cities in the pre-Columbian Americas, whose founding civilization's identity is still debated.

Traits both developed independently

With no documented contact, any shared trait below represents independent development rather than transmission from one to the other.

Irrigation agriculture Long-distance trade Astronomical record-keeping

Nazca Culture only

No traits unique to Nazca Culture in this comparison.

Teotihuacan only

Monumental architecture
Standing army
Urban planning