New rock lines discovered in Peru predate the Nazca Lines by "centuries" and probably marked the site of ancient fairs, according to a recent study.

The lines were made by people of the Paracas, a civilization that ascended around 800 B.C. in what is now known as Peru.

The Paracas culture came before the Nazca culture, which arrived around 100 B.C. The Nazca were known for their geoglyphs, or rock lines, built in the shapes of birds, monkeys, and other animals, according to Discovery.com.

The newly discovered lines date to approximately 300 B.C., meaning they're about 300 years older than the oldest Nazca lines, according to Charles Stanish, the director of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Stanish's research was published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"They used the lines in a different way than the Nazca," Stanish said to Live Science. "They basically created these areas of highly ritualized processions and activities that were not settled permanently."

Stanish and his colleagues discovered the lines in the Chinca Valley, which is approximately 125 miles south of Luma, Peru.

The location has a history of pre-European-contact settlements from at least 800 B.C. to the 1500s A.D.

Archaelogical surveys showed large, ancient mounds in the Chinca Valley. Over three field seasons, Stanish and his fellow researchers were able to map out these mounds, as well as nearby rock lines associated each specific mound.

They discovered 71 geoglyph lines or segments, 353 rock cairns, rocks forming circles or rectangles.

At one point a series of lines converged in a circle of rays, according to Discovery. The researchers were also able to excavate one cluster of man-made mounds.

The excavations and mapping showed a carefully built environment. Some lines marked the spot where the sun would have set during the June solstice.

The researchers found three large mounds that were used for a ceremonial purposes. Each was connected to separate pairs of geoglyphs that point directly to the spot where the sun sets on the winter solstice in June, according to Discovery.

"I don't think people needed the signposts, but it was more kind of a ritualized thing, where you come down and everything's prepared," said Stanish.

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