Discovery of an inscription written in characters of 3rd Century B.C. Phoenicia within the Nasca Lines

Vertical lines of stone heaps are arranged to simulate a line of text in a style of the period 3rd century B.C Phoenicia. The Inscription is over 300m long and characters over 20m high. Discovered by WJVeall Autum 2002

INTRODUCTION
Startling and certain to be contraversial, a gigantic inscription sculpted in a character style typical of 3rd Century B.C. Phoenician has been located on a remote mountain plateau near Palpa a small township some 20 kms north east of Nasca, in Peru.

Discovered whilst researching surface texture changes to geoglyphic features within the Nasca Lines complex , the inscription may help to explain why certain pre-Incaic statues are of bearded humans and others negroid in appearance. Why puquios and sub-terranean drainage systems resemble those of Iran, but most importantly how primitive cultures of early Precolumbian Peru might have acquired the sophisticated geometry and surveying ability to construct the Nasca Lines archaeological monument.

EXPERTS OPINION: Dr Jorge Alonso, one of Spain’s most prestigious Historian, Sociologist and Epigraphic experts states : “Without a doubt the script is Phoenician, circa 3rd century B.C. and syllabic, possibly from Armenia or Caldea, or others parts of Syria-or perhaps a region close by“.
(Dr Alonso has given full permission to reproduce this statement)

Dr Clyde Winters ,PhD, Adjunct Professor Educational and Linguistics, University of Saint Savior, Chicago, Illinois ,makes the following comment: “The signs resemble Ethiopic writing with a vowel attached to each symbol, thus I cannot be sure that my interpretation is correct . To ensure the translation has some validity generic roots are used to interpret the signs; these can be found in any Semitic language dictionary“.

Dr Winters transliteration:

Come down (into the earth) and spread this...
Strain and pacify the water (in the area)
Come and spread ( within this region). Grace.
Go out (among the land) and become strong.

Dr Winters further commented: “ It would be interesting if this area was settled in the past and provided arable land and water for the ancient farmers”. (Reproduced with permission from Dr Winters).

This question can be answered by reference to Papers concerning extensive research in the Rio Grande de Nasca drainage by Dr Helaine Silverman (Associate Professor & Chair, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) and Dr David Browne, (Government Archaeologist, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales) conducting a similar programme of research in the Rio Palpa , Rio Viscas & Rio Grande river valley areas. Both confirm there is substantial evidence of extensive domestic habitation sites, civic/ceremonial centres, architecture and cemetery sites occupied at the time of the Nasca Culture, 200 BC - 600 AD.

David Johnson (Adjunct Research Associate, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts) and a team of hydrogeologists and archaeologists are currently in the Palpa region studying archaeological sites affiliated to surface geoglyphic activity ,sub-terranean water flows (aquifers) and their associated puquios (wells). Similar research activity is being conducted by Dr Markus Reindel of KAVA (Kommission fur Allgemeine und Vergleichende Archaeologie) .

(By drawing the readers attention to the above programmes of research the author wishes to make it clear that the Persons and Institutions named are not associated in any way with the Nascodex project , or any conclusions drawn by the author).

In his transliteration of the Palpa Inscription, Dr Winters appears quite unknowingly to have stumbled upon possibly the correct interpretation of the text- a dedication instruction by a “Priest-God” exhorting his followers to :

Come, carve (dig) down into the earth,
Pacify ,control and increase the waters,
Make them flow forth into the region,
Gaining grace and favour,
Go out among the people ,become
strong Leaders.

AUTHORS INTERPRETATION

The question still remains; Who was the Priest-God and his Followers ; When and where did they come from?. An inscription written in Ethiopic script 200-300 B.C. Knowledge of water hydraulics similar to that used in Iran for many centuries (qanats) - located on a desert pampa 3500 kms across the other side of the world from Southern Arabia? Many questions still need to be answered.

UP-DATE :

The 3rd century B.C. date for the “Phoenician “ inscription has been strengthened by discovery of potsherds in the region of Palpa (Reindel/Isla 1999) attributed to the Paracas /Middle Ocucaje Phase, i.e. circa 300 B.C. It is not known if artifacts of this period were found within or around stone heaps making up inscription characters.

The transliteration by Dr Clyde Winters has an added dimension also: A study by Jeanette Sherbondy (1982) and we quote...” A modern myth from Puquio (Ayacucho) states that ancestors travelled sub-terranean aquatic routes. The ancestors created springs and openings in the earth. They distributed lands and waters to each people”.



BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Aveni, Anthony. F. “Between the Lines” (Univ. Texas Press. 2000)
Browne, Dr David M . "Further archaeological reconnaisance in the Province of Palpa". Contributions to New World archaeology. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Johnson, David: "The Water Lines of Nasca".  http://www.rumbosperu.com "Peru’s Nasca Lines point to water sources" - suggests U.Mass researchers http://www.umass.edu
Reindel, Markus and Isla Johny, (1999) Das Palpa-Tal: Ein Archiv der Vorgesichte Perus. Geheimnisvolle im alten Peru, ed. Judith Rickenbach (1985) pp.177-98 Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Switzerland. (cited in “The Nasca”)
Silverman Helaine (1990) "Beyond the Pampa: the Geoglyphs in the Valleys of Nazca" National Geographic Research 6(4):435 - 456.
Silverman H, Browne DM (1991) "New evidence for the date of the Nazca Lines" Antiquity 65 (1991) 208 - 20.
Silverman - Proulx: “The Nasca “. (Blackwell Publishing. UK and USA 2002 )
Sherbondy, Jeanette (1982) The canal systems of Hanan Cuzco. Un-published dissertation, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana - Champaign. (cited in “The Nasca”)



Subject matter has full copyright protection under reference INPI 124427. Reproduction and distribution prohibited without permission from William James Veall.