THE PERALTA STONE MAP (part I)

(©2008 Timothy King)

[See Part II-V below for images and descriptions of each stone]

Opening Remarks
The origin of the Peralta Stone Map is vague and anecdotal at best. This lack of substantial provenience has not prevented countless hobbyists and avid "authorities" from claiming with great certainty that it is indeed genuine (or fake). What the Peralta Stone Map suffers from, more than anything, is the need for formal scientific investigation by qualified researchers having a high standard of proof.

Personally, never having seen the map in person and having limited knowledge of it, I suspect that it may be genuine - however, I doubt that it reveals the location of the Lost Dutchman's Mine (which itself does not extend much beyond urban rural legend) and there is little evidence to associate it with its namesakes, Pedro and (son) Miguel Peralta (the names Pedro and Miguel are inscribed on one of the stones) . Whether or not this map is a modern (or antique) hoax, I have little hesitation in stating that whoever made this map was brilliant. At a graphic level: if it is a fake, it is not a casual one.

And for the record, if any of the materials below assist you in finding whatever treasure this map reveals, do the right thing and give me some minor credit and share some of the treasure with me.

Origins
The origins of this five-part stone tile map lay somewhere between legend and chaos. According to some sources, the Peralta Stone Map was found in the Summer of 1949 by a vacationer identified only as "Jack" (or a man named Travis Tumlinson) - a walkable distance from a highway (some sources specifically state Highway 60), somewhere within view of the "Weaver's Needle" in the Superstition Mountains of Arizona. Jack had climbed atop a hill to get a view of the Weaver's Needle and found beneath his feet two stone tiles - what would later be referred to as the "Horse Stone" and the "Priest (Witch) Stone" (see below). He returned to this location the next year to find three more stones: the "Heart Stone," the "Trail Stone," and the "Stone Heart" (see below). In 1956 Jack died and his widow gave the stones to a man named Travis Marlowe. In 1964 (June 12), Life Magazine ran the first large public article on the stones, entitled "Mysterious Maps to Lost Gold Mines." Currently, the stones are at the Arizona Mining and Mineral Museum in Phoenix, Arizona; apparently the stones are not on display (though you can ask to see them).

General Considerations
Either as an interested reader or as a motivated hunter, there are some general suggestions I would like to offer regarding this map (for the sake of argument - because I have a PhD in Anthropology and my research specialization is on writing systems and graphic communication of the ancient and modern worlds). Much of the goal of this post is to provide an inventory of what can be reasonably surmised from these stone tablets - to create a list of what can be said about these tablets:

• It is clear that this is a map of some type, which contains coded information and which focuses on a specific location - perhaps a treasure. At least three of the stones are rendered with landmark information, and these three stones fit together into one cohesive map. The two remaining stones (the "Horse Stone" and the "Priest (Witch) Stone") appear to offer instructional or supplementary information.

• A common assumption is that this map leads to a mine. There is nothing on these stones that specifically indicates this. There is even less to substantiate that this map leads to the Lost Dutchman's Mine(s) (which may not even exist beyond modern tales). If this map leads to some type of treasure, perhaps it has not been found because searchers are looking for the wrong thing.

• The evidence linking this map to local historical figures Pedro and Miguel Peralta is limited to the names "Pedro" and "Miguel" inscribed on one of the stones - consider the frequency of the names "Pedro" and "Miguel" in that area over that last 200+ years. The Peraltas were two among perhaps tens of thousands of Pedros and Miguels that have been through the region.

• The age of the stones cannot be determined. Radiocarbon dating cannot be used to date these stones - not necessarily because they are too new, but because they have been removed from their origin/context and have been handled for years (all it takes is cigarette or wood smoke to corrupt the radiocarbon profile of an object).

• They could be proven to be new/fake by linguistic means (examination by a professional/academic/researcher with an expertise in regional Spanish terminology - use of a new or distinctively modern Spanish term would suggest they are fake) or stylistic means (recently developed font or graphic features that indicate modern origin).

• The identification of modern machinery traces on the stone may not prove that they are fake - these stones have been in the possession of several people and there is the chance that someone has tried to "clean" them with power tools or has attempted to add more information to the inscriptions as a means of "hiding the treasure." A specialist in archaeological lithics (or something related) with experience in lithic microscopy needs to have a look at these stones.

• There is no way of knowing if all of the stones have been found. There is the possibility that there are missing pieces of this map, that could provide further information. However, given the amount of publicity and interest in this map, any "newly discovered stone maps" should be looked upon with suspicion.

• Aside from the actual variation in the size of the different stones, the descriptions of the sizes vary across sources: between 18"x12"x2" and 22"x17"x3". Also, I have not been able to track down what type of stone (local?) these tablets are made of.