Hello everyone, my name is Michael and I am new to this site… I have searched high and low for some information on this fine day have came up empty-handed. I have wrote several museums to no avail. Hoping someone here can help me.
My dad and I were walking in and around the mountains in southern Colorado around Saguache county and we found this on the side of a cliff. It’s extremely heavy, about 150 pounds or so. It was actually laying face down but looked really odd based on where it was at so when we flipped it over this is what we found.
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That's a very nice find, AB. I'm not surprised that your research hasn't turned up any answers. Those symbols and their pattern is likely a unique creation by whoever carved it, for reasons likely known by him alone. I guess you wonder if it's a "treasure sign", since you posted the photo on TreasureNet. Maybe so - I'm sure you've been looking for old legends, mining activity, etc.
That said, I'll offer a few things to consider, FWIW. Others will have different ideas. First, it's almost certainly not Native American, IMO. The symbols are easily recognizable (X, star, cross, arrow) and don't resemble any sort of "language". The fact that the rock was upside down indicates that it was placed to be searched for and found, and since was noticed and turned over by you guys, that makes sense. I imagine you left it right where you found it. It sorta looks like a map. If it were me, with no other information to go on, I'd align the star and/or the arrow to the north and then follow the lines in their respective directions to see if you can find any additional carvings, cairns, et al on those bearings. Same goes for that football looking thing with the cross inside it, which is the most unusual symbol on the rock.
Of course, the rock may not be a map. It might simply be a marker randomly decorated to be easily recognized when found. If so, it's location may be significant as part of a larger pattern in the area, or it may have been placed there for all kinds of different reasons. Maybe it was not originally place face-down. Without knowing the history and character of the area, one can't rule out trail markers, surveyor's control points, miners, hunters and hikers' markers, etc. Any hippie camps in the area back in the day? Might be some of their mojo. The list goes on. Good luck.