Part 2: In Part 1 we reviewed the geoglyphic sand portrait termed “The Dynast” which presents itself as a complete anomaly within the Nasca Lines Archaeological Monument. Here in Part 2 we consider the “The Goddess & the Lioness” geoglyph which has, for some unknown reason, been ’drawn’ alongside “ The Dynast” and although, as with the “Dynast”, no site examination has been carried out it is not inconceivable that the image has been similarly ‘additively’ constructed. from the same textural palette. Each portrait area is roughly 150 Sq. metres - and that quite simply is where any similarity between the two, ends.

The “Goddess & the Lioness” portrait (Figure 5) exhibits a garlanded human head over whose right shoulder is portrayed a feline head. Between the two is imprinted a cross within a circle symbol. To the right of the bust is a plant motif. ( The title: “Goddess & the Lioness” has been coined for identification purposes only )

Just as with the “Dynast”, the geoglyph begs the question; Prehispanic or contemporary ?. Foremost, the overall impression is intrusive iconography. The figure has all the hallmarks of Classical Greek sculpture with delicate refined features and hair garlanded with naturalistic attributes. Then we have the “Lioness” - companion hunter to mythological Greek Gods . The plant motif is very similar to the wild parsley plant which appears on coinage minted in the 6th century BC at Selinus, a city on the west coast of Sicily. A cross within a circle is an ancient symbol extending back to the 7th Century BC and although having religious connotations, is also a character found in the early Greek alphabet and represents the letter t or th .

Presented with this information we can make a general statement about provenance of the portrait: Copy of a 5th or 6th century BC Greek figurehead wreathed with (possibly) bay leaves, accompanied by a Lioness and thus perhaps intended to represent the Greek Goddess Artemis; a Deity venerated in the region of Selinus, Sicily. The cross and circle symbol, if representing t or th , may be the mark or initial of the artist, a Title (letter) or town initial.

There we have it - two diametrically opposed portraits, side by side on a remote, inhospitable mountain plateau in southern Peru. One, “The Dynast” so inscrutably Oriental and marked with ancient ( Sumerian ? ) characters: provenance unknown. The other, The Goddess & Lioness, portrait of a 5th - 6th century Greek Goddess, perhaps representing Artemis of Selinus. As far as is known to the author, neither geoglyph has been photographed before and until now each have lain unknown to the world perhaps for centuries. How many centuries is the question ? The greater the number, the more we need to question the real origins and contacts of the Andean People.

If the portraits are ‘modern‘, i.e sometime after the Spanish Conquest (1532) then why have pictures not been previously published ?. Tourist flights criss-cross Palpa almost daily and teams of archaeologists are ever present in the region. The exquisite beauty of the sepia coloured sand portraits would be an aerial photographers delight. Finally, two points that might favour an ancient origin; a). the portraits do not intrude into the framework of the bordering geoglyphic combination suggesting the artist(s) might have been aware of its presence and b). two line geoglyphs : one cuts across the Priest God of St. Ignacio trapezoid, and, a narrower line crosses the Goddess & Lioness canvas; this form of imposition suggests chronological difference, however, further speculation is unwise without a proper on-site examination.

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