-Caveat Lector-
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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Sun, 2 Jan 2000
Subj: Re: Ancient Hebrew Inscription in New Mexico
[EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> An Ancient Hebrew Inscription in New Mexico
> Fact or Fraud?
> by James D. Tabor
Here's a bit more on the same rock. Regardless of
its origins, it gives a lot to think about.
Sam
New Mexico's Mystery Stone
by Dixie L. Perkins
From Best of the West
An anthology of Classic Writing from the American West,
edited by Tony Hillerman, copyright 1991
The discovery of rune stones bearing inscriptions in early
Scandinavian languages has long since cast doubt on the notion
that Christopher Columbus was America's first tourist from
Europe. Another inscribed stone, discovered in 1850 in the Rio
Puerco Valley eighteen miles west of Los Lunas, New Mexico,
makes the Norsemen, too, seem like latecomers. Long ago an
inscription was chipped in a basalt outcrop in strange
characters. Dixie L. Perkins, quoted here from her The Meaning
of the New Mexico Mystery Stone, believes the inscription was
the work of a Greek sailor about 500 B.C. who wrote: "I have
come up to this point... to stay. The other one met with an
untimely death a year ago... I remain a hair of rabbit. I,
Zakyneros... out of reach of mortal man, am fleeing and am
very much afraid... I become hollow or gaunt from hunger."
[A] significant communication was carved upon the Los Lunas,
New Mexico, "inscription rock" or "mystery stone."
People were aware of the inscription when New Mexico became a
territory in 1850, but no one could read it. However, one
century later, Robert H. Pfeiffer of Harvard University, made
the first known translation of the strange writing. He was
considered to be an authority on the Old Testament; he
concluded that the inscription was a copy of the Ten
Commandments. He decided it was written in the Phoenician,
the Moabite, and the Greek languages.
To my knowledge, Professor Pfeiffer did not state, at the time,
who he thought carved the message. However, his translation
seemed to satisfy the curiosity of the people of that era.
Indeed, it stood for many years as the final word. The stone
is still referred to, occasionally, as the "Ten Commandments
rock."
Further speculation involved the origin or the author of the
inscription. Some viewers conjectured a member of one of the
lost tribes of Israel, spoken of in the Bible, wrote it. In
1936, an anthopologist from the University of New Mexico, Dr.
Frank C. Hibben, saw the rock. He expressed the view that the
writing could have been carved by the Mormons when they
migrated westward....
In 1964, Robert H. LaFollette wrote an interesting translation
of the inscription. As did Robert Pfeiffer in 1949, Mr.
LaFollette determined some of the letters in the inscription
were Phoenician. In addition, he concluded that other letters
were in Hebrew, Cyrillic, and Etruscan. Thus, Robert
LaFollette made the first attempt at a translation which would,
in any way, challenge the established one of Robert Pfeiffer....
Zakyneros, the Greek, left the metropolitan Mediterranean area
with its empires, armies and navies. Behind him were the
seething cities and towns with attendant manufacturing,
marketing and trading industries.
He arrived in the vast, relatively empty region of central New
Mexico in 500 B.C. Blue, spruce-covered mountains stood apart
in green grasslands. Lean red and purple mesas stretched
themselves for many miles. From the north the great Rio Grande
twisted to receive a watery contribution from the lesser Rio
Puerco. Except for scattered ancient Indian tribes engaged in
hunting, farming, and food-gathering pursuits, Zakyneros
existed alone....
At any rate, he carved his story into pink-gray basalt.
Geologists identify basalt as an ingeous or lava-type rock.
It varies in texture and in color, also, but the one Zakyneros
wrote upon is very fine.
The denseness of this particular rock made Zakyneros'
self-assigned task more difficult. Possibly, he possessed
bronze or iron tools. Archaeologists found several such
European tools and weapons, too, in some of their digs in
the United States.
In whatever manner he did it, Zakyneros cut letters about
.25 in. or .635 cm. deep into the basalt. The letters
average 1.75 in. or 4.45 cm. high, and 1.5 in. or 3.81 cm.
wide. The great depth of his letters indicates an ancient
inscription. Despite some weathering, it has been preserved
in excellent condition....
The size of the rock's writing surface measures 4.5 ft. or 1.37
m. wide, by 3.33 ft. or 1.02 m. high.
The inscription rock is located on the lower right side of a
large mound of lava. The lava mound lies in a little canyon.
The canyon dents the base of a small, extinct volcanic
mountain. Its altitude is 5,500 ft.
The mountain is, appropriately, named Hidden Mountain on a
present-day geological survey map. Scientifically, the area
is known as the Lucero Basin, on the western edge of the Rio
Grande trough. Hidden Mountain and the adjacent basaltic
rocks, including the one on which Zakyneros carved, were formed
only 20,000 years ago. The Lucero Uplift and the Puerco Fault
Zone come together nearby.
Located approximately in the middle of New Mexico, Hidden
Mountain rises eighteen miles west of the city of Los Lunas.
The mountain stand [sic] on privately owned ranch land in the
desert, a mile south of New Mexico Highway 6.
.
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