Rock Carvings on NM Boulder – Help with Interpretation

[Goldmember]

I’m looking for help with interpreting the symbols carved into this boulder. The carvings might have been more elaborate and easier to see before they were weathered. There are four prominent and easily visible symbols:

1) A cross within a circle. There may also be the upper torso and head of a man carved into the boulder, with the cross centering over the left eye of the “man.” The outline of the man might be a natural feature of the boulder, though.

2) A U or horseshoe symbol. There may or may not be dots carved into the horseshoe itself, and/or inside the interior of the horseshoe (hard to tell with weathering and the natural texture of the rock).

3) A zig-zag line that starts at the bottom with a checkmark and terminates with an arrow. It may be hard to distinguish from the picture, but there may be a second arrow that appears to be pointing up where the first arrow terminates.

4) A circle within a circle.

I’ve gotten some solid advice from others, and I’ve done some research myself, but I wanted to cast a wider net by posting on TreasureNet to see if others had different interpretations. I might have found the next marker in the hunt, but I’ll wait until I’ve gotten several interpretations on this picture to post the second one; the second “marker” might be natural and unrelated to the first, and I don’t want to influence anyone’s thinking yet. I know the distance and direction to the next potential marker, so it will be interesting if anyone has an interpretation that matches those coordinates.

For context, the boulder is in New Mexico, and while facing the symbols one would be facing north-northwest. Any insight on what the symbols mean would be appreciated, but I’m particularly interested in what the symbols might say about distance and direction to the next or final marker. If you came across this on a hike, where would you look next?

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Family Maps of Hinds County, Mississippi, Deluxe Edition - Grab it through Amazon!

[stefen]

Unfortunately the symbols described are not fully legible.

Sometimes chalking the symbol make them more legible for pictorial views.

There are sites on TN that deal specifically with symbolic signs that may be helpful.

 

[Goldmember]

Unfortunately the symbols described are not fully legible.

Sometimes chalking the symbol make them more legible for pictorial views.

There are sites on TN that deal specifically with symbolic signs that may be helpful.

I can't get there to physically add chalk to the boulder at the moment, so I did it digitally with Paint; that should make it a little easier to see the four prominent symbols. In terms of doing it in the field, the symbols are more like scratches as opposed to indentations, so chalking the symbols to reveal anything not seen by the naked eye might not be useful (I'll try it next time I'm there just in case). As I mentioned in the first post, there may be more to the carvings than the four symbols, or I may just be seeing things, or seeing the natural texture of the boulder and assuming it was also carved.

 

[Goldmember]

Update and photo of second boulder



Using Microsoft Paint I outlined the other things that may be carved into the rock. The green arrow pointing left is definitely there; there's an indention in the rock that is more visible after pouring water over it. The yellow arrow pointing up is probably there as well. The yellow outline of a man may just be a natural feature of the boulder, but who knows. The red dots I added to the horseshoe are there as well, although the two on the bottom and the one on the right are more distinct than the two on the interior and the one on the left.

To stir up a little more interest in this thread I'm going to go ahead and post a picture of the second boulder in the area that may be related to the carvings in the boulder above. Some will think I'm crazy for thinking these holes are natural, but there are other boulders in the area with these same features, just not quite as many or in the same configuration as the one below. Another interesting angle is I've run across the third symbol on other websites, like TreasureNet member Gollum's, and it might suggest a distance of 50 varas. The distance to the boulder pictured below? Almost exactly 137 feet, or 50 varas in the general direction of the white arrow. If the holes were drilled, my next step would be to figure out what the drill holes are telling me. I'm going to post the picture in a thread concerning drill holes to see if I can get any help there too.