Dry Heat Photography
  • Dry Heat Blog
  • Print Store
  • CONTACT

New Mexico's Mystery Rock

2/1/2019

1 Comment

 
New Mexico Mystery Rock. DeAnna Vincent

Los Lunas Decalogue Stone

Way back in 2003, I bought a book called Mysteries & Miracles of New Mexico: Guide Book To The Genuinely Bizarre In The Land Of Enchantment, by Jack Kutz. Chapter One is about New Mexico's Mystery Rock so naturally I followed his cryptic instructions and found it at the base of Hidden Mountain. 

That was 16 years ago.

Last weekend, I grabbed the book and took Johnpaul out to the desert and we found it once again.

Still the topic of much archaeological debate, the Los Lunas Decalogue stone is written in a dead language and predates Columbus by well over 1000 years.

It is older than the petroglyphs and written in a language from the other side of the world. So, uh... hmmmmm.

The Ten Commandments?

One common theory about the Decalogue Stone is that it is a transcription of the Ten Commandments. I even had someone on Twitter, who lives in Jordan, claim to be able to decipher the writing and confirm that it is in fact the Ten Commandments. I'm not saying it is or isn't but there have been other translations that tell a very different story.
Specifically, the translation from ancient language expert, Dixie Perkins, who published another translation that reads as follows:

"I have come to this place to stay. The other one met with an untimely death in battle, dishonored, insulted and stripped of flesh. The men thought him to be an object of care whom I looked after, considered crazed, to be tossed about as if in a wind, to perish in poverty and need. By my kinsmen I was respected and honored, of blessed lot, with a body of slaves and so many olive trees, a peg to hang anything upon. Men punished me with exile to exact retribution for a debt; meanwhile, I remain here as a rabbit. I, Zakyneros, just as a prophet, out of reach of mortal man, I am fleeing and very afraid. I am dross, scum, refuse, just as aboard a ship a soft, effeminate sailor is flayed with an animal hide, all who speak offensively are lashed or beaten with a cane; but after a short time, the hurtful ones may be sated; at an unseasonable time, I remain to protect from the rainy southwest winds the hollow or the ravine. Very much harvest is gathered in, very much is the woody dell and glen; very many bags of young deer. Very many hides with delicate, luxuriant hair; by the channel of a river, swift flowing. Very much is given by the gods for again and again, at the unseasonable time I become gaunt from hunger."

Why?

There are some who dismiss the Decalogue Stone as nothing more than elaborate hoax perpetrated by archaeology students from The University Of New Mexico. However, due to eyewitness reports of the stone's existence in the 1800's, the hoax theory has been mostly dismissed.

I am not a historian or an expert on ancient languages so the writing on the stone could be directions to the closest Wal-Mart for all I know. What I am, however, is a person who asks "why?"

How and why was this traveler from the Mediterranean wandering around New Mexico 2000 years ago, when people from that part of the world were not known to have been here?

Why would this person spend untold hours carving the Ten Commandments into a rock on Hidden Mountain? I mean, not for nothin', but that's a lot of work. Why would they carve the Ten Commandments on a rock for no one to see?

In my mind, it makes a lot more sense that someone who was alone and frightened would write their story, a soliloquy of sorts, into the stone in hopes of someday being remembered. Like a message in a bottle or a page in a memoir, this message is meant to say, "I was here and this is my story."

How To Find The Mystery Stone

I've borrowed enough from Jack Kutz's book already so if you want to know how to find the Mystery Rock, I recommend buying yourself a copy. It can be ordered on Amazon by clicking here.
Picture
Los Lunas Decalogue Stone. Dry Heat Photography
Johnpaul Vincent at the New Mexico Mystery Rock. Dry Heat Photography
Johnpaul takes a break in the shadow of the Mystery Rock.
DeAnna and Johnpaul Vincent at the Mystery Rock. Dry Heat Photography
Los Lunas Decalogue Stone. Dry Heat Photography
Sadly, vandalism is taking a toll on this (possibly) ancient artifact and on the site as a whole. Obviously, the stone has become too easy to find and has been visited by too many disrespectful individuals. For this reason, I will not reveal the exact location in this post. If you want to get there, you're gonna have to work for it and hopefully vandals will look elsewhere for an easier target.
DeAnna and Johnpaul Vincent at Hidden Mountain. Dry Heat Photography
Ravine near Hidden Mountain. Dry Heat Photography
Ravine near Hidden Mountain. Dry Heat Photography
1 Comment
Jeremy
2/2/2019 10:56:59 pm

Hidden Mountain is an intriguing site, for certain! I've been dozens of times in effort to understand the conundrums it presents and hope to return again for further insights. The Decalogue Stone / Mystery Rock is most assuredly written in Paleo-Hebrew letters, and the content is an abridged version of the Ten Commandments from Exodus 20. As one who uses Hebrew daily, is a Bible teacher and has worked on several published translations, I can state this as a fact.

Unfortunately, Dixie Perkins was not an expert in ancient languages, and her attempt at translation is actually riddled with several types of errors. Firstly, her book records the letters that she claims are on the Mystery Stone, but close examination shows she got several letters wrong, did not recognize that one character is a scribal symbol altogether and not to be read as a letter, and also did not initially take into consideration the fact that some letters in the inscription are missing today, having been broken off over the passage of time (photos from the 1950 and early 1960s show the complete inscription before damage removed part). Secondly, Perkins' translation plays rather loose with the proposed Greek reading, taking at times merely two letters to create assumed words in the language that would need more letters to legitimately make sense.

To be sure, it is an amazing site worth checking out; so much exists there that most do not take the time to really explore and appreciate. There is indeed much mystery to be found, and another reason to showing New Mexico has much to offer those who are willing to wonder still at the world around us.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Author

    I am DeAnna Vincent, fine art and portrait photographer in Los Lunas, New Mexico. These are the photos from my everyday adventures.

    Archives

    November 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018

    Categories

    All
    Abandoned Places
    ABQ BioPark
    Albuquerque Artists
    Albuquerque Musicians
    Arizona
    Blogging Tips
    Bosque Del Apache Wildlife Refuge
    Colorado
    Ghost Towns
    Historic Sites
    Hummingbirds
    Lensball Photography
    Maryland
    New Mexico Ghost Towns
    New Mexico Mountains
    New Mexico Skies
    New Mexico Wildlife
    Ohio
    Photography Tips
    Rio Grande River Bosque
    Route 66
    Salinas Pueblo Missions
    Sandhill Cranes
    The Dark Continent
    The-new-life-of-betsy-bus
    Time Lapse Video
    Turquoise Trail
    Ukulele
    Urban Decay
    Virginia
    West Virginia
    Wisconsin

    RSS Feed

Website by Dry Heat Web Design
Home
Portfolio
Dry Heat Blog
​​Contact
All images and content copyright
​DeAnna Vincent and
​Dry Heat Photography.
  • Dry Heat Blog
  • Print Store
  • CONTACT