A culture developed on the southern Peruvian coast c.200 bc–600 ad, eventually eclipsed by the expansion of the Huari culture of central Peru in the 7th century. In the extremely dry environment its settlements and population remained modest, but its craftsmen produced a long sequence of pottery styles, with animal and human figures. It also produced large drawings of animals, abstract designs, and straight lines on the coastal plain (the Nazca Lines), by clearing and aligning the surface stones to expose the underlying sand; their purpose is uncertain, but may have been religious.