Turkey Mountain inscriptions

Turkey Mountain inscriptions refers to some markings etched on stone in Turkey Mountain, a large hill on the west side of the Arkansas River in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Some of these have been described as "Old World Records in Ancient America." ["In Plain Sight: Old World Records in Ancient America" by Gloria Farley] These alleged runes and other markings are believed by some enthusiasts to have been left by pre-Colombian European travelers.

Background

It has been rumored that the site was a hobo's shelter in the 1920s. [Farley, chap. 3] Gouges at the narrow hallway's entry seem to indicate that a gate had once hung here. Notches cut in the slab's top and the opposite cliff further suggest boards had once been in them for the roof.

peculations of Punic and Ogham scripts

On the wall of the cave is a cross-hatched line, carved above the letters "PIA". Rather than reading this as initials or a common Spanish name, the controversial Barry Fell, a professor of invertebrate zoology and amateur epigrapher, claimed that, due to the shape of the "A", it is a Punic word written in the Northeastern Iberian script, which had fallen out of use by the 1st century AD, meaning "white". He also interpreted a nearby marking as a word written in the Ogham alphabet, used on the British Isles between the 4th and 10th centuries AD, and reading "GUIN", meaning "white" in Celtic. He wrote:

"The Ogham script is 'G-W-N,' meaning 'Gwen' or 'Gwynn,' masculine form of 'Fair,' one of the commonest Celtic names and equivalent to the English 'White.' The inscription below the Ogham, reading from left to right, are the North Iberian letters, 'Pa-ya-a,' spelling a Punic word that also means 'white'." [Fell, Barry (1984) "America B.C. : Ancient Settlers in the New World." New York: Simon & Schuster]

Although other amateur archaeologists agree with Fell, such as Gloria Farley, an amateur rock art enthusiast, and William F. McNeil, a historian of baseball, [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=4Av2ShA7V2AC&pg=PA223&dq=%22turkey+mountain%22+ogam&sig=7wJvm7jv410Zj6rE_7sB4CxOCgg "Visitors to Ancient America: The Evidence for European and Asian Presence in America prior to Columbus"] - p. 223 by William F. McNeil (2005) ISBN 0786419172, and [http://privatei.com/~bartjean/chap3.htm Farley's 1994 book on Oklahoma petroglyphs including Fell's analysis] ] his speculations are not considered credible by mainstream researchers. [Williams, Stephen (1991) "Fantastic Archaeology", Phila.: University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 0-8122-8238-8, p.264-273.] [Feder, Kenneth L. (1996) "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology", Mountain View: Mayfield Publishing Co., ISBN 1-55934-523-3, pp. 101-107.]

Other petroglyphs

There are two other inscriptions reading "LOS CAVE" and "Bad Dog" determined to be made with a different etching tool than the alleged Punic and Ogham scripts. [Farley, chap. 3]

ee also

* America's Stonehenge
* Bourne stone
* Los Lunas Decalogue Stone
* Míkmaq hieroglyphic writing
* Petroglyphs Provincial Park
* Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact

References