It was in the summer of 1972 that Maria, Pierre, and I first arrived in this wretched South American desert. At the time we weren’t at all interested in the drawings, our intent being simply to determine the relationship between the elongated skulls of Mesoamerica and those found in Nazca. I can still recall my first week working on the plateau—swearing at the vile Peruvian sun which tortured me on a daily basis, blistering my face and arms. If you had told me then that I would eventually return to this purgatory of sand and rock to live out the rest of my days, I’d have thought you insane.

Insane.

I struggle to even write the cursed word. By now, many of you may question whether you are reading the accounts of a scientist or madman. I must confess, not a day goes by that I don’t debate the very issue myself. If I have lost my mind, then it was Nazca that did the deed, her incessant heat causing my brain to swell, her unforgiving surface pounding the arthritis into my bones for decades. Any chance of attaining inner peace fled the day I condemned my family to that desert. I pray Michael forgives me for raising him in that hellhole, and for the other childhood unjustness I brought to bear upon his tortured soul.

From the summer of ‘72 to the winter of ‘74, our little trio toiled in Nazca, unearthing hundreds of deformed skulls found in ceremonial burial grounds heated close to the Andes Mountains. A thorough examination of each skull revealed that the defamations had been caused by the strapping of wooden boards across the child’s head at an early age.

It was in January of ‘74 that we discovered a royal burial ground, situated dose to the Andes Mountains. The walls of this incredible tomb were made of enormous columns of rock, each weighing between 10 and 20 tons. Within the subterranean chamber were male mummies, each possessing an elongated skull. Our excitement reached new levels after extensive X-rays and other tests revealed that the deceased, like the La Venta skull Maria had found, had achieved the shape of their skull purely as a result of genetics!

Discovering a new race of men proved to be as controversial as startling. Upon hearing of our find, Peru’s president ordered all of our artifacts placed in a basement vault of the Archaeological Museum in Ica, away from public viewing. (To this day, the skulls can only be seen by special invitation.)

Who was this mysterious race? What caused them to be born with skulls twice that of normal size?