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Nina had to ad artifacts fro nono, and had told neither Fisel nor Nox Nor was Fisel aware that her preli off to UPenn's cybervault The stone head still remained her secret as well She rationalized her uncharacteristic behavior Drastic times call for drastic measures

Kassiave her a friendly wave Duot to know hi the tranquility, Nina went into her tent, slipped out of her bathing suit and into dry clothes She switched on her coe was from Dr: Elinor Sanford, the faculty member at UPenn to whom she had directed her computer transmission

Sandy Sanford and Nina had been undergraduate class into their own specialties Sandy went into Mesoa that her preferences had more to do with cuisine than with cultures She preferred burritos to couscous Her culinary tastes ht be open to question, but her scholarship was not She had just been appointed a faculty curator at the university's e:

Congratulations, Nina! You don't have to bring me Hannibal's head to convince me you've hit a Phoenician port! Wish I could show tire fabulous stuff you transmitted to the Jurassic set here in the hidebound halls of archaeological academia Could start another Punic War But I'll abide by you wishes to keep things quiet What does El Grando Professoro think? Can't watt to see you Stay dry Love, Say

There was more

RS Re sketch of the big stone head So me Check your fax line

Nina called up her fax function A photo of a stone face appeared on the screen At first she thought it was the carving in the lagoon But next to it for comparison was the sketch she had sent She stared at the screen The sculptures were identical She scrolled some more Other stone heads came into view They all could have been carved by the saht details, pri stare, broad nose, and impassive fleshy lips Below the Pictures was another note from Sandy:

Hello again Welco of all Mesoarnerican raphic Society and the Sate reports of giant basalt heads buried up to their eyebrows They found eleven Africantype rock figures like this at three sites in and around La Venta, sacred center of Olhteen h, up to forty tons each Not bad considering the quarry site was ten miles away and they were carried overland without the use of the wheel or draft animals All had that funny hel figures at 800 to 700 BC Say, what's a nice girl like you doingaround in Meso?

Nina typed out a quick reply:

Thanks for info Most interesting! Due home next week Will fill you in : )

Love, Nina

She hit the Send key, turned the laptop off, and sat back in her chair, stunned

A Mexican Olure she found had African characteristics Big deal This Is Africa, after all Of course, that didn't explain the ures thousands of miles away A couple of possibilities could explain the siht have been carved in Africa and transported to Mexico Unlikely Not at forty tons apiece The alternative theory wasn't ure was carved in Mexico and transported to Africa With either scenario, there was still the proble The heads were carved hundreds of years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue

Ouch, Nina thought, I' like a diffusionist

She looked over her shoulder as if so to an open mind on diffusionisist Diffusionists believe cultures didn't evolve in isolation, that they diffused from one place to another The siued Nina The UFO and Atlantis enthusiaststhat the pyramids and Nazca lines were the products of aliens fros from lost continents A female diffusionist was a double loser in this business She had enough proble a woman in a man's world