Esperanza Stone
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
| Hope Stone | |
Major Burnham standing next to the stone, with the inscription outlined in chalk.
|
|
| Location | Yaqui River valley |
|---|---|
| Type | stone |
| Material | igneous rock |
| Length | 8 feet (2.4 m) |
| Opening date | 1909 |
The Esperanza Stone was a large (8-feet long) inscribed stone found in the valley of the Yaqui, Mexico. It was discovered and excavated in 1909 by Major F. R. Burnham and Charles Frederick Holder.
File:Esperanza stone 1909.JPG
Esperanza Stone. Major F. R. Burnham (left), Holder (right), Yaqui Delta, Sonora, Mexico, 1909.
Discovery
The stone was discovered during an expedition in the Yaqui valley.
Description
The stone was "a brown, igneous rock, its longest axis about eight feet, and on the eastern face, which had an angle of about forty-five degrees, was the deep-cut inscription."[1] Symbols on the stone include a volute and a swastika, also found on other stones in Mexico.
Legend
There was a legend that the stone had fallen down out of heaven in times past, and that the carving was by human hands.[2]
Meaning of the symbols
Burnham believed that the symbols were Mayan. Others class them as Petroglyphs.[3]
