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."[1] These markings are believed by some enthusiasts to have been left by pre-Columbian European travelers, a view not accepted by mainstream researchers.
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It has been rumored that the site was a hobo shelter in the 1920s.[2] 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.
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", with gwyn (female form: gwen) and gwynn meaning "white" in Welsh and Cornish respectively. 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'."[3]
Although other amateur archaeologists agree with Fell, such as Gloria Farley, an amateur rock art enthusiast, and William F. McNeil, a historian of baseball,[4] his speculations are not considered credible by mainstream researchers.[5][6]
There are two other inscriptions reading "LOS CAVE" and "Bad Dog" claimed to be made with a different etching tool than the alleged Punic and Ogham scripts.[2]