THE OWL GEOGLYPH OF THE ANDEAN CORDILLERA. - A rather lighter hearted News Release this month - we cross the boundaries of archaeology into ornithology to introduce a new discovery by Archaeologist and Author of this web-site, William J Veall: An Owl Geoglyph from the Andean Cordillera.

The Owl as an emblem was used by several culturally diverse civilisations: the first to use the Owl symbol extensively was undoubtedly the Egyptians in development of their “picture writing” called hieroglyphs. A hieroglyph represents a word, sound or syllable in a pictorial system of writing. For example, letter “A”, an eagle, “B”, a human foot, the Owl ...... letter “M”. The Egyptian for “water” was M M M (i.e. owl owl owl ), however, because hieroglyphics did not include vowel symbols, the middle (owl ) symbol became a “Y” ...M Y M to make the sound for water - M I M; this incidentally is the same word in Hebrew for “water “. Within Egyptian hieroglyphic script the Owl symbol ( Plate 1 ) can be seen carved extensively on temple walls, burial chambers, on statues and in delicate gold work.

Astarte, the important and all powerful Goddess of Phoenicia and the Greek Goddess of Athens, Athena , were both endowed with attributes of the Owl......symbol of the night, lunar mystery, the all-seeing eye , dispenser of wisdom and bearer of the good and the evil . The Arabians and the Romans believed the Owl was an omen of evil intent. The owl even found its way into astronomy. Perseus was known as the Owl Constellation.

It was as an emblem on coinage that brought the Owl symbol greater prominence. The Phoenicians adopted the Egyptian Falcon God, Horus, in much of their art form, but in view of their close connections with the Greeks, the Phoenicians replaced the Falcon with an Owl , so like its Athenian precursor the Tyrian Owl it exhibited the same frontal head pose, oblique stance and large rounded staring eyes.( circa 450 B.C. ) Some coins issued by the city of Tyre carried the more upright stance Horned Owl ( erect feathers on the sides of the crown that look like “ears” ) often supported with a crook and flail motif.( Plate 2 )

Owls are found in many areas of the world, therefore, it comes as no surprise this creature occupied an important role in the mythology of Early Civilisations .According to the excellent little booklet “Birds of the Department of Lima”, there are six species of Owl known to live in the Department and it seems that the closest species mimicked by the geoglyph design ( Plate 3 ) is the Short-eared Owl ( Asio flammeus ) distinguished from the others by its manner of perching on the ground- axis of body oblique, not vertical; this stance precisely mirrors the motif on Greek and subsequently Tyrian ( Phoenician ) currency. Lechuza de los Campos inhabits swamps and meadows but can be found in the grasslands of the High - Andean Puna zone.

For the present the precise location of the geoglyph ( Plate 4 ) is being withheld , suffice to say , it is on the slopes of the Andean Cordillera within the Nascodex research area. The geoglyph is additive type, i.e. small surface rocks are built up to form the owl motif ; this is now believed to be the very earliest form of geoglyphic construction technique and probably dates from 800 B.C. However, more supporting evidence is needed to date the motif - it could well have been constructed additively simply because it was impossible to scratch (subtractively) into the plateau surface ! There are a few representations of owls in Nascan or Paracas ceramic and textile art but not as a dominant motif (after Proulx, personal communication ).







Having thus read this far it is logical for a reader to ask: what has the foregoing to do with a precolumbian geoglyph found in the High Andes mountains?. Perfectly logical question. A clue can be gleaned from a close look at the Geoglyph and Legend in Plate 4 - then click on to News Release 1: Epigraphy. However, all will be made clear in a future monthly News Release.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Birds from the Department of Lima, Koepcke M. Harrowood Books, USA. 1983
Phoenicians ( Peoples of the Past Series ). Markoe, University of California Press 2000.
Les Phoeniciens. Direction Scientifique Prof.Sabatino Moscati. Editions Stock 1977
Plate 4: Nasca Display Interpretation Project, Research Photo Collection.

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