The "PERALTA STONE MAPS"

[deducer]

I am sorry, what should I be looking for in the second and third photo? Not sure I follow.

[somehiker]

Left click on the photos, then look for something priestly. In the second shot, which is an enlargement of a photo taken from about 3/4ths of a mile away, a figure with the same pose as the priest on the stone, and with a pointed hat can be seen. The tip of that pointed hat corresponds with the tip of the dagger on the upper trail map as well.
If you compare the upper edge of the bluff with the wavy line across the top of the upper trail map, you should see a match, along with an "R" at the right position, just below the edge of the cliff.

Regards:SH

You also asked about the manner in which the lower body of the Priest on the stone was depicted,
as a series of what seems to be stacked blocks.
Leading many to the conclusion that a monument of stacked stones must be found.
Many mountains in the southwest, including the Superstitions, have a "layer cake" or stepped appearance, due to the geological history of the region. The mountain all of this is on is no exception.
The larger of the two priests, shown in the first of the three photos, is located at, and is, the left front hoof of the Horse. He is also located on the second tier, or "layer" of the mountain.
Which I assume, is the reason his beltline area is carved like half of a horse's hoof.

[deducer]

Thanks for the explanation, I was going to ask about the horse. I have quite a few questions about that side of the stone.

But I am still stuck on the priest side for now. I have been trying to think like a 18th century priest leaving behind directions for someone that I may or may not know, from the same church, and possibly someone who is knowledgeable about the practice of concealing riches (e.g., South America). Are the directions I'm leaving behind designed to be around forever? Or just 10-20 years? If I'm smart enough to leave behind such an elaborate riddle, I'm also smart enough to think about what's going to be there after 5-10-20 years, factoring in natural erosion, potential vandalism, or some other phenomenons, such as heavy rain. What kind of landmarks would I designate as markers?

Your idea of the maps and particular landscape features both being in a semi-finished state and only coming together when both are present, makes a lot of sense since it saves a lot of labor that way. E.g., the illustration of a priest only being used as a starting point because there happens to be a particular natural landscape feature that most resembles a priest, that just needed a few finishing touches here and there.

Also, the one thing that keeps bugging me is why the author chose to say "study the map, study the heart" and not include the phrase "study the terrain" or something to that effect? Isn't that just as critical?

[somehiker]

I think if an organization with ties to the church was responsible for all of this, Jesuit or Franciscan, or even with members of both societies, that the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 had something to do with it.
It wasn't until 1692 that the Spanish and their Padres were able to return to the ruins of what they had previously built. There may have been other factors as well, which in their minds justified both the accumulation of wealth, as well as finding the means to keep it safe from warfare and looting, or confiscation by Spanish authorities. Even the Vatican may have been viewed as a potential threat, given the history of the Templar suppression as well as the ongoing Mexican Inquisition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Inquisition
I believe they were working on a long term solution to any potential threats and that this was part of that solution.

I've previously shared my belief that traditional monuments and signs would have been avoided.
Unnatural piles of rocks and any carvings on rocks, trees or cactus which were obviously man made would have been noticeable to both nomadic native groups and unwelcome European searchers.
That mainly natural features were used in creating the stones supports this theory, IMHO.
And where it may have been necessary to place additional signs, such as petroglyphs or carvings, that these should blend in with the natural in such a way as to be overlooked entirely or even if noticed, to be dismissed as nature's handiwork, rather than man-made.

Without the upper and lower Map Stones, the H/P stone is little more than a pictorial representation of what can be seen with the naked eye from a vantage point opposite the mountain, and without the use of satellite or aerial photography. In fact, with so much being on vertical or near vertical surfaces, virtually nothing is recognizable using such media.
Rather than study, "Busca" in this case means to search for or to seek. As in to "search for the Map and search for the Heart. This makes sense, given the lack of enough information on the H/P stone to pinpoint a specific location. In other words, since you already have the H/P stone in hand, the priest is instructing you to look for the Map (#1 and #3 stones), and then to look for the Heart (#4 stone). These instructions begin with the #1 directly in front of the Priest, and includes a depiction of the back side of the Upper Trail Map (#1), which would tell me that I'm to look for a second stone like the first, marked with a #3 but with also with a #2 on it. (2=3).

While it is necessary to study the terrain, I don't think the map maker felt a need to impart the need to do so on the stone. That would have been obvious to anyone who found themselves in this area of the mountains.

As to why the word "COAZON" is missing the "R".
I suspect he wanted to indicate that it was something else which had to be found, in order to locate the "CORAZON".
The "A" in "MAPA", directly above where the missing "R" should be in "COAZON", has a small circle at the bottom right, barely scraped into the surface of the stone. The same circle-dot, also barely scraped, is found above the horse's mane. The "R" at the top of the bluff/cliff can be seen at that same location in the field.
Directly below the "R" on the cliff is where the first photo of the black triangles I posted in the other thread was taken.

Regards:SH.

[Rick from Kali]

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE....

[coazon de oro]

Back at you Rick, and as the Peraltas would put it, "Feliz Navidad a todos".

Homar

[deducer]

Or as the authors of the stones may have put it: "Felis Novidad!"

[deducer]

I think if an organization with ties to the church was responsible for all of this, Jesuit or Franciscan, or even with members of both societies, that the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 had something to do with it.
It wasn't until 1692 that the Spanish and their Padres were able to return to the ruins of what they had previously built. There may have been other factors as well, which in their minds justified both the accumulation of wealth, as well as finding the means to keep it safe from warfare and looting, or confiscation by Spanish authorities. Even the Vatican may have been viewed as a potential threat, given the history of the Templar suppression as well as the ongoing Mexican Inquisition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexican_Inquisition
I believe they were working on a long term solution to any potential threats and that this was part of that solution.

I've previously shared my belief that traditional monuments and signs would have been avoided.
Unnatural piles of rocks and any carvings on rocks, trees or cactus which were obviously man made would have been noticeable to both nomadic native groups and unwelcome European searchers.
That mainly natural features were used in creating the stones supports this theory, IMHO.
And where it may have been necessary to place additional signs, such as petroglyphs or carvings, that these should blend in with the natural in such a way as to be overlooked entirely or even if noticed, to be dismissed as nature's handiwork, rather than man-made.

Without the upper and lower Map Stones, the H/P stone is little more than a pictorial representation of what can be seen with the naked eye from a vantage point opposite the mountain, and without the use of satellite or aerial photography. In fact, with so much being on vertical or near vertical surfaces, virtually nothing is recognizable using such media.
Rather than study, "Busca" in this case means to search for or to seek. As in to "search for the Map and search for the Heart. This makes sense, given the lack of enough information on the H/P stone to pinpoint a specific location. In other words, since you already have the H/P stone in hand, the priest is instructing you to look for the Map (#1 and #3 stones), and then to look for the Heart (#4 stone). These instructions begin with the #1 directly in front of the Priest, and includes a depiction of the back side of the Upper Trail Map (#1), which would tell me that I'm to look for a second stone like the first, marked with a #3 but with also with a #2 on it. (2=3).

While it is necessary to study the terrain, I don't think the map maker felt a need to impart the need to do so on the stone. That would have been obvious to anyone who found themselves in this area of the mountains.

As to why the word "COAZON" is missing the "R".
I suspect he wanted to indicate that it was something else which had to be found, in order to locate the "CORAZON".
The "A" in "MAPA", directly above where the missing "R" should be in "COAZON", has a small circle at the bottom right, barely scraped into the surface of the stone. The same circle-dot, also barely scraped, is found above the horse's mane. The "R" at the top of the bluff/cliff can be seen at that same location in the field.
Directly below the "R" on the cliff is where the first photo of the black triangles I posted in the other thread was taken.

Regards:SH.

Thanks for the very informative post. It answered quite a few of the other questions I had and the light is starting to dawn on me, as far as the "puzzle" itself and the intents of the authors.

I think that the horse map is the one that is most confusing to me. I cannot for the life of me figure out the purpose for it.

It seems to me that if I had the priest map, and the upper/lower maps with both heart inserts, that would be all I need, since the priest is the starting point, and the directions are detailed in the upper/lower maps, as well as the hearts which detail where the caches are placed?

[somehiker]

Go back to that ridge just north of the Gila River.And assume for a moment, that what is/was there is contemporary to the Stone Maps.
The three most prominent "scrapings" or intaglios are of a horse, a heart, and a "7". These three images may very well have been reproduced on the ridge because of their importance, and also a message that all three would be found at the end of the trail.
There were also two smaller hearts on the opposite side of the ridge, which may have been a reference to the two hearts said to have been found
carved into the rocky bluff below the place where Tumlinson found the stones, and where the Latin Heart was later found as well.
The Horse side of the H/P stone may be the most important map of all.
At least it is to me, because for everything I have managed to find so far, the Horse map was the beginning. There is a great deal of information carved (and scratched) into that surface, including the very reason for the stones themselves....Holy Faith.
Without the knowledge of what the horse is, and where he is, little chance of success exists, IMHO.

Regards:SH.

[TradClimber]

Infacinating!

TradClimber