Hey everyone, a quick announcement. Next week's episode will be the final episode in the

Disappearing Spoon's first great season with the Science History Institute. And that episode

will actually be an excerpt from my upcoming book, The Ice Pick Surgeon. So I am excited for that.

If you are listening to these shows from the Distillations Feed, please subscribe to the

Disappearing Spoon podcast right away so you don't miss out on future episodes. I'll see you next week

and enjoy today's show.

The story sounded like a fable, a man wandering in the wilderness, a mysterious palace with a

beautiful woman inside, a head stolen from a grave. The year was 1864 and Ephraim George

Squire was one year into an archaeological journey across Peru. Evidence of his track cloned to his

body. Skin tattooed with mud, armpits ripe from the humidity, closed so soiled, their original

color was obscured. But the 42-year-old American was hell-bent on finding something that would make

him a legend among archaeologists. Squire finally emerged from the jungle and entered the city of

Cusco. Now, what lowered Squire to Cusco is still a mystery today. An invitation, a tip,

instinct. But after months in the wilderness, the city must have seemed otherworldly to him.

Squire later compared the palace he was seeking to the decadent houses on the Grand Canal in Venice.

The palace belonged to St. Nora's Antino, a local socialite.

She decorated her home opulently with huge mirrors and handsome furniture and a grand piano.

She also collected ancient ink and artifacts. There's no record of them, but you can imagine the

pottery and weapons and precious jewelry adorning every surface. Senora's Antino probably greeted

Squire that day in the full formal dresses of the time, a stark contrast to his muddy attire.

But neither Squire nor Senora's Antino were thinking about clothes much. Instead, they were focused

on the skull she held in her hands. The skull had been dug up from an ancient ink and grave.

...