Within minutes of flying over the Nazca Lines, a series of pre-Columbian geoglyphs etched into desert sands in Southern Peru, Mike Tucker came up with what he believes formed the mysterious shapes.

His theory: Crops that grew from runoff caught by ancient farmers in nearby hills and delivered via the etched lines, acting like channels in the gradually sloped ground to the plants.

Scientists say the lines, which vary from simple straight lines or circles to forming intricate animal shapes, are between 1,500 to 2,500 years old. They are best viewed from the air or nearby hillsides and cover an area of nearly four miles.

In 1994, UNESCO designated the Nazca Lines as a World Heritage site.

But scientists debate how the lines came to be and what their purpose was.  Some say they have a religious significance, others argue they have an astrological connection and some point to communication with aliens.

Tucker, an environmental scientist who focused on hydrobiology and holds master’s degrees in biology and geological engineering, is also an Army reservist and now serves as chief game warden at Camp Pendleton.

Put all that together and when he and his family visited the Nazca Lines a year ago, Tucker said he saw the relics in a way others might not.

“When they dipped the plane, it reminded me of the circular farm fields in Southern California,” he said. “Then I immediately connected the dots (that the Nazca crop fields) were probably irrigated with runoff from the hillside and that you could probably irrigate the crops with one watering.”

While deployed to eastern Afghanistan in 2010-11, Tucker said he noticed the farmers were highly successful in growing a plentiful crop with just one irrigation a year. He found it remarkable then, he said, because he was so familiar with agriculture in California that required regular irrigation.

In Afghanistan, the farmers saturated their composted soil, he said. Mountain snowmelt drained into a lake with an ancient dam the Soviets improved. Irrigation workers would release water from the dam into canals that would span the desert plain to the family fields.

“Afghans created a system to turn desert sand into productive farms by providing an initial release of water for their crops,” he said. “This experience made me think that the Nazca Lines had an agricultural purpose.”

At Camp Pendleton, Tucker was trying to find a way to repair the guzzlers – artificial watering systems for wildlife. He volunteered for a catchment project in the Mojave desert. Those guzzlers were concrete spaces that slope to an underground cistern. When it rains, water collects and after 20 minutes, the guzzlers turn the precipitation into hundreds of gallons of stored water where thirsty animals can drink.

“Similarly, the hard-packed Nazca ground would serve as a catchment,” he said, “collecting and diverting water into fast-flowing, yet fleeting, runoff. A Nazca line filled with water-absorbing organic soil could capture the runoff like a sponge.”

Tucker said he continued to mull his idea as the small plane dipped right and left, providing the family a view of the various shapes.

They saw a monkey, a parrot, a flower, a hummingbird, a giant figure that’s been dubbed the astronaut and a series of spirals and straight lines. Each angle gave him more time to test his idea mentally, he said.

“I have something exciting to tell you,” he told his wife and two children as soon as they landed. “I think I know why they made the Nazca Lines.”

Aware of the standard theories, he checked Google to see any reference to farming. Johan Reinhard, a former National Geographic explorer-in-residence, had concluded in the 1970s that “the lines did not point at anything on the geographical or celestial horizon, but rather led to places where rituals were performed to obtain water.”

“Food would be a central resource to the Nazca people and it would make sense they would invest so much time and energy in creating food,” Tucker said.

After coming up with his theory, Tucker was extremely excited. “I was wondering why me? This is sort of unbelievable, like I won the lottery. I felt I had a responsibility to do something about it.”

So, once back home in San Marcos, Tucker set out to see if his theory worked.

“If I was wrong, I wanted to learn why I was wrong,” he said. “If I was right, I wanted evidence that I was right.”

It took him five months and multiple experiments to prove his hypothesis. He ordered quinoa seeds online – the hearty plant has a long history in Peruvian agriculture – and went to work irrigating and planting his “crop.”

On May 31, he placed a large bucket in his yard, saturating the soil and sprinkling the seeds on top.

“I never watered the quinoa after planting. On July 26, the quinoa was ready for harvest,” he said. “The bucket received no measurable precipitation. Once the quinoa plant started to grow, it was an important validation.”

Still, Tucker’s wife, a school teacher, was skeptical. So, he created clay models to show how his theory worked.

He concluded many of the Nazca Lines lie at the base of a hill and that rain falling on the hillside during a short storm would create significant runoff. He explained the various shapes by testing that a crop near a lot of runoff would require more zigzag and squiggly lines to reach saturation, while an area with a more gentle slope with less runoff volume could function with simpler lines.

“A farmer would maximize yields based on the runoff levels,” he said. “A big runoff would saturate many acres, leading to a big harvest. A trapezoid or a line could still concentrate a small amount of runoff to create at least some saturated soil and some harvest.”

The various shapes chosen could be a product of cultural, artistic or religious reasons, he said.

Now, Tucker hopes experts who study these ancient lines might take an interest in his theory.

He has approached National Geographic and is waiting to hear back. It’s been almost four months, Tucker said.

To get more input from others who may have studied the Nazca Lines, Tucker created a YouTube video explaining his theory. In a few days, he had 15,000 views.

“I’d like to motivate a professional archaeologist to examine the Nazca Lines with an agricultural perspective,” he said. “Look at the silt, see if there is any evidence of soil and quinoa. Get high-quality typographical data to see how effective they would be in collecting runoff. I would want to do that for more validation.”

Reinhard said he did take a look at Tucker’s video.

“I like his whole attitude,” Reinhard said. “I like that he looks at practical reasons. And I like that he is open and is asking for more people’s opinions. That’s what science is about.”

But, Reinhard, who added that he is not a specialist in slope drainage, believes Tucker needs to do much more research.

“As far as I know, every study ever undertaken has not found any evidence of agricultural work,” he said. “If it was widespread there would have to be some grain.”

Tucker’s also run his idea by Scott Mattingly, an archaeologist who works for the Department of Defense.  Mattingly has also worked in the private sector and has a background studying the hunter-gatherer cultures of Southern California.

“I don’t have any experience with Peruvian archaeology, or with agricultural societies in general, so I can’t speak on the technical details of Mike’s hypothesis,” he said. “However, I appreciate Mike’s enthusiasm for archaeology, and I think that it is important for the discipline to consider multiple interpretations about how people behaved in the past, particularly when non-destructive techniques are employed, as Mike did.

“I applaud his effort in offering an interpretation of the Nazca Lines,” Mattingly said, “especially one that does not include extra-terrestrials.”

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