How much truth is there in ancient legends? Often truth is in the eye of the beholder. An example of which is the highly detailed lid of the tomb of Lord Pacal of Palenque.

This has been cited by Erich Von Daniken and others as possibly showing a figure on his back operating the controls of a spacecraft or rocket. That it was always a stretch is apparent if you examine the carvings in detail.

None of these theories hold any water with Maurice Cotterell. Quite rightly, he points out the symbolic features of nature revered by the Incans and their positioning on the coffin lid.

Of course, it goes without saying that some of his conclusions will in turn be disputed by traditional archaeologists.

However, even hide-bound conservatives are forced from time to time to change their opinions as when an unlooted tomb of a Mochica Sun king was discovered in Peru in 1987.

It was considered to be the most important find ever made in Peruvian archaeology. This tomb differed from many others in terms of roof and coffin construction. The repetition of the number “9” in the mathematics utilised by the builders is also echoed in King Tutankhamen’s tomb in far-off Egypt. Cotterell says the figure represents a spiritual teacher, or a Supergod.

The author speculates on a matter that should give all of us pause – namely that a change in the Earth’s electromagnetic field in correspondence with the sunspot cycle led to an increase in the aging process and decline of fertility.

The Incas definitely started to decline, and Cotterell says they may have sought out ways to increase exposure to solar inspired magnetic fields and decrease exposure to electrical fields. They did this by building a sanctuary for their virgins in the sky known as Machu Picchu.

Viracocha (whose name means “Foam of the Sea”) is a mysterious figure who seems to have literally emerged from and gone back to the sea. Whoever he was, this man was a miracle worker, giving spiritual instruction to the Incas.

According to surviving traditions, he was described as being a tall man dressed in a white robe that came down to his feet, with short hair, and he carried an object that somewhat resembled the breviaries which priests carry. Is this the man who is buried in the Supergod coffin? Cotterell thinks it is.

Viracocha may have been quite a travel enthusiast as there is the tradition among the Aztecs of Quetzalcoátl who had similar garb and a mission to save the natives, some four hundred years before the Spanish arrived.

There are also suggestive hints the Mayans were somehow aware of Christ and the basis of Christianity, thereby implying a white missionary from Europe made the Atlantic crossing centuries before the accepted dates.

Based upon the interpretation of ancient wisdom, the author recounts a somewhat bizarre, although plausible, theory of reincarnation, whereby those who do not engage in sex and reproduction will not be condemned to come back.

In this reasoning sex causes an energy discharge, and a lower voltage body would have to return once again to a low voltage body. Which explains why a number of religions insist upon celibacy for the purification of the spirit. Porno stars need not apply. In other words, they will have to wait until the next lifetime.

There may be a loophole, however, if you get the sex/reproduction aspect out of the way early on, and spend the remainder of your life contemplating spiritual matters. Obviously a very unpopular doctrine for today’s world.

The strange lines of Nazca on the Peruvian planes have long presented a puzzling riddle in that they can only be viewed from the air. There is a very interesting idea in this book that makes an odd sort of sense.

The author wonders why the builders of these images of animals (monkeys/birds/etc.) did so in such a way that it required one continuous line to form the pictograph. It might have made more sense to put it together in segments. The one thing the continuous line portraits most resemble is computer art, and who had a computer back then?

Based on clues found on a vase and a bas-relief, there are indications Viracocha passed through Nazca and may in fact be the mind behind the desert drawings. Did he have access to some sort of advanced technology? And did he instruct the natives to carry out his instructions?

There may, in fact, have been two Viracochas, the second being either an emulator, or part and parcel of the same Supergod mythos.

It is unlikely we will ever know the whole truth, but Cotterell does the stuffy field of archaeology a service in presenting his unorthodox theories in a readable fashion. Any book that causes you to think out of the box is worth perusing, which is the case with The Lost Tomb of Viracocha.

There are several areas that are on shaky ground, speculatively speaking, but then the uncovering of long ago secrets is largely a matter of educated guesswork. Most scientists, of course, will not admit that is so.

A journey into Indiana Jones territory that is accessible to the average reader.

– Reviewed by W. Ritchie Benedict in New Dawn No. 90