Los Lunas Decalogue Stone

So a group of friends and I recently made the hike to Los Lunas Decalogue Stone. It’s an 80 ton rock out in the middle of nowhere that has the 10 commandments carved into it in a combination of an Ancient Semitic and Phoenician.


Of course it’s authenticity is surrounded by controversy. Here's a link to the Wikipedia page and another site that has a good write up on it. Ancient Hebrew Research Center What I found most interesting was at the top of the mountain that the Mystery Rock rests near. Named “Mystery Mountain” it's littered all kinds of petroglyphs.



Not only that, the remains of what appear to be several structures scattered all over the mountain top in several places as well.



There was a spot at the very top where more Semitic/ Phoenician was carved into a stone.



I definitely feel the spot has more history than simply the location for a disputed (but still freaking awesome) rock. Has anyone been there? What are your thoughts/ feelings on the area?

Sorry...I guess you did hit enter too soon.

Where are these rocks? What country and what part?

reply to post by webpirate


pushed post too soon! I was trying to preview to make sure the image embedded.

Originally posted by webpirate
Sorry...I guess you did hit enter too soon.

Where are these rocks? What country and what part?

edit on 27-1-2012 by webpirate because: (no reason given)

The rocks are just one example of several such mounds all over the mountain. It looked like holes had been dug into the ground and rocks built up around them. Though time and the wind had blown them over and all but obscured them. That particular picture is of one structure that looked to be partially restored.

Los Lunas is in New Mexico, USA. About 30 minutes south of Albuquerque on I-25

reply to post by LeftySinister


Figured....I looked them up....I see now they are in New Mexico. This really is an interesting mystery. I hadn't heard of these before. Of course the obvious explanation is the inscriptions were carved long after they supposedly were. But dating has put the rock itself from between 500 and 3,000 years old.

You found us a decent mystery here. The first notation I have found on this was it was first seen in the 1880's. It still could have been done earlier...the text doesn't really seem to have all that much wear on it, yet this is an obscure language that hasn't really been used in 1500-2,000 years or so.

Perhaps...the Mormons are right? There was some type of biblical activity here during the extended period of the Christian Jesus's life which was never documented. They say he came here.

I doubt that, cause I doubt most of all religions. But....this certainly raises some really big questions.

The text to me just looks to be in way too good of a condition to have been around for 2,000 years. But...it's also known, the Phoneticians were very good sailors. Even if they did make it to North America then though, New Mexico was an awful long way from the Atlantic Ocean.

My guess is..and it's only a guess..I have no proof...but my guess is someone from earlier in the 1800's who knew this language....carved it out. Perhaps one of the early Mormons as proof the 12 tribes and Jesus were indeed here back then.

It's also curious that there are what appear to be carvings of humans? on the same rocks or in the same area which do appear to be much older than the writing.

I'm not trying to slam Mormons here, but that's the best explanation I can come up with as to this. Nice find though OP. It is indeed curious.

Originally posted by webpirate
The text to me just looks to be in way too good of a condition to have been around for 2,000 years. But...it's also known, the Phoneticians were very good sailors. Even if they did make it to North America then though, New Mexico was an awful long way from the Atlantic Ocean.

My guess is..and it's only a guess..I have no proof...but my guess is someone from earlier in the 1800's who knew this language....carved it out. Perhaps one of the early Mormons as proof the 12 tribes and Jesus were indeed here back then.

It's also curious that there are what appear to be carvings of humans? on the same rocks or in the same area which do appear to be much older than the writing.

I'm not trying to slam Mormons here, but that's the best explanation I can come up with as to this. Nice find though OP. It is indeed curious.

edit on 27-1-2012 by webpirate because: additional thoughts

Thank you for your thoughts! The actual inscriptions on the rock are chiseled very well into it. You can see around the rock and in several other places, people leaving graffiti. That rock isn't easy to dig into. Most couldn't muster more than scratching the surface. Whoever did that, knew what they were doing and actually took time to complete the project. An acquaintance of mine who also took the hike took a piece of rock from the area. When he got home, he tried carving into it with no luck. He said he scraped at it for over an hour and didn't even get half as deep as the inscriptions on the Decalogue stone.

It stands in stark contrast to the petroglyphs in the area which are faded and in many instances wiped away altogether.

The fact that someone named "Jim Culp" inscribed his name (far right of second photo) and that it looks really similar to the supposed ancient carvings makes me question the ancient nature of all the carvings.

Originally posted by 35Foxtrot
The fact that someone named "Jim Culp" inscribed his name (far right of second photo) and that it looks really similar to the supposed ancient carvings makes me question the ancient nature of all the carvings.

Mystery solved! That dastardly Jim Culp! He's behind it all! Yeah...Jim, along with tons of other people "inscribed" their legacy on that area. That happens a lot in places where there's petroglyphs and things of that nature. I also saw "MG" scratched nearby. Perhaps it's Jim's accomplice? Michelangelo Gauguin?