Let me inform you of one of the ancient mysteries of Long Island, The Jericho Petroglyph.

I first learned of its existence from the local history librarian at the Jericho Library, Mrs. Betsy Murphy. She made me aware of this stone and its strange and mysterious markings. Mrs. Murphy delved into her historical volumes and extracted all the pertinent information including maps and photographs from varied sources.

Since I live in the immediate area and I have lived here for over 40 years, I was amazed not to have known anything about this phenomenon. Before we proceed any further let me define the term petroglyph as found in the Random House Dictionary of the English language. "Petroglyph - a drawing or carving on rock made by a member of a prehistoric or primitive people." Imagine that, right here in Jericho under our collective noses.

Because it resides on private property that is currently under eight inches of snow I will not print the coordinates of the location of the rock at present. My cousin Saul has a compass and a sextant and we have made an appointment to find this treasure when the winter is over.

I have included photographs of the petroglyph on which these strange markings can be observed. The following description is quoted from the Coastal Archaeology Reader - Readings in LI Archaeology and Ethno History - Volume II 1978 by Edward J. Lenik, March 1976 No. 66.

"Standing virtually in the shadow of the Long Island Expressway is the Jericho petroglyph, an ancient engraving on stone. This stone bearing five carved and pecked symbols, stands alone and mute, but gives permanent testimony to some ancient message or motive. Our minds race with many questions when viewing the stone. Who carved the symbols? How long ago? What is their meaning?

The Jericho petroglyph was reported to me by Marjorie Kling of New Hyde Park who indicated that the property on which the petroglyph stands is owned by a resident of Oyster Bay (Editor's note: This was written in 1976 and ownership may have changed.)

On Jan. 4, 1975, the property owner led me to the site to inspect and record the petroglyph. I photographed the rock, both chalked and unchalked, measured and sketched it. In addition a reconnaissance was conducted in the immediate area surrounding the stone in hopes of finding evidence of aboriginal occupation. Unfortunately, none was found as the area is heavily overgrown with trees and bushes."

In the next series of articles I will deal with the site, location, description and comparisons of the Jericho Petroglyph. This stone and its markings may or may not be as old as first recorded.

This is all very exciting!

To be continued ...