A mysterious ``circle stone'' is puzzling archaeologists (Arizona)

[Dover]

A mysterious ``circle stone'' is puzzling archaeologists who unearthed it with an ancient village in the West End.

``You don't find little pieces of rock art like that very often,'' archaeologist Avi Buckles said Wednesday.

The stone has caused a buzz of amazement and speculation among his peers.

Buckles works for WestLand Resources Inc., an Arizona engineering and environmental consultancy that has been studying the site for more than a year. The company has offices in Tucson and Phoenix.

Bill Deaver, a senior archaeologist and principal investigator with WestLand, walked among the still-exposed ruins on Dec. 10 and described what is believed to be a desert Mogollon community that preliminary analysis indicates existed about the time of Christ until A.D. 600.

Deaver estimated 200 people may have occupied the tiny village during those centuries. At any point in time, no more than one or two families lived there, with a family of four or five people dwelling in a ``prehistoric frame-and-stucco'' house built partially below the ground level.

..snip..

One tantalizing piece that you can hold in your hand is ``the circle stone,'' as WestLand archaeologist Christine Jerla calls it. Roughly the size of a slow-pitch softball, one hemisphere has concentric circles carved in relief. The motif is reminiscent of the relatively common spiral petroglyphs found etched on immovable rock faces in Arizona.

The circle stone is just one of more than 700 features found at the site, Deaver said.

About 20 boxes of artifacts were found at the site, which is known to archaeologists by the name given to it by developers Karol George and Dick Pino, Summit Heights. It is a pending new-homes development on 40 acres...>

http://ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1017882

[Fearless]

1. One word: Peyote

[Miss Chybil]

3. Wow. What an intellectual response. nt

[Fearless]

4. Oh come on, have a little fun.

:evilgrin:

[DJ13]

2. Maybe they discovered the worlds first bowling alley?

[CoffeeCat]

5. When they picked up this "circle stone"...

...did the Earth rumble, and then did a massive rolling rock come barreling at them--and then did they all
end up stuck in a pit of snakes and spiders that they eventually found their way out of, after Harrison
Ford threw them a rope?

Just wondering.

[Fearless]

6. Nah

That only happens every other time!

[CoffeeCat]

8. Maybe it did happen...

...but their peyote binge causes memory lapses?

;)

[Fearless]

9. Ahh... you may have something there.

:yoiks:

[dweller]

7. no pictures, sigh

my guess is an egg.

dp

[BlueJazz]

10. Yes !!...They went to Jared

[Jamastiene]

11. Ah, yes. My mother's wisdom can finally be put to good use.

It's a sex stone; another fucking rock.

I always try to pick up a rock whenever we go on a family outing or vacation of some sort. Back when I was still trying to learn the names of the different rocks, I would constantly ask, "What kind of rock is this?"

My mother never knew the answer. For some reason, I hoped she would eventually learn. Whenever I learned the name of a rock, I would explain it to my mother in deep detail while she rolled her eyes and wished for "quality family time" to finally be over.

Finally, one day, I picked up a rock and asked her what kind of rock it was. She replied, "It's a sex stone." I asked her what she meant. She said, "It's yet another fucking rock."

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. A StarGate?

I wished the story had pictures because that would help the comments.

[Historic NY]

13. boccie ball.

[TechBear_Seattle]

14. Do any of the artifacts contain Reformed Egyptian?

Maybe the Book of Mormon is true!

:eyes:

[semillama]

15. Interesting that the reporter used the term "Time of Christ" twice in the story

instead of using a standard date.

I would have liked to see the stone as well. but to tide folks over, here's a photo I took of a spiral petroglyph from Saguaro National Park west of Tucson:

[Ready4Change]

16. The Pizza Stone of the Gods! n/a