A Preliminary Investigation into the Geology of the Overton Stone

On a perfect sunny day on August 31, 2017, my wife and I along with three friends hiked along the rocky shoreline of extreme southwestern Nova Scotia, Canada, to see, potentially, one of the most exciting petroglyphs in North America.  As we approached the two, car-sized boulders sitting on a slight rise roughly three-hundred feet from the ocean at low tide, the carvings quickly came into view. 

The carvings are on the south-facing surface of the larger boulder roughly four feet off the ground.  What stood out most prominently was the approximately six-inch tall Templar style cross encircled with an egg-shaped line that had four dots at the cardinal points at the flared ends of the cross.  The lower arm of the cross is longer than the other three resembling a Christian style cross some have interpreted to be connected to the Portuguese Templars.   Immediately left of the cross is what some say is a leaf, but to me it looks like a feather carved in detail.  Underneath the feather are what appears to be crossed tobacco leaves in the form of an “X.”  Immediately to the right of these is a carving of a crescent moon or possibly Venus.

Janet Wolter points the Overton Stone carvings of a Templar Cross, crossed tobacco leaves, a large feather and a crescent moon. (Courtesy of Patrick Shekleton)

My goals for the investigation were to document the rock type which is a strongly foliated mica schist, obtain a rock sample from the back side of the boulder for laboratory analysis of the mineralogy to try and understand aspects of the weathering, examine the depths and weathering aspects of the carvings, and to assess the site for possible archaeological assessment and possible dating of the carvings.  Fortunately, I was successful in all getting everything I hoped to accomplish on this trip done.  I’ll provide additional comments about the laboratory analysis of the rock and the archaeological work as results become available.

Of course, the significance of these carvings to my own and others’ research is huge.  If several centuries old they represent what was likely the consummation of a strategic alliance between a group of Knights Templar from Europe and the local indigenous people; the Mi’kmaq.  It would provide powerful new evidence that not only that pre-Columbian Templars visited these shores, but they had positive relations with Native Americas.  I have argued for years this allegiance was due in large part to their shared ideological views that included above all else a deep reverence of the Goddess they also called the, “Holy Mother.”  These carvings go a long way to proving this thesis was indeed true.  Stay tuned as we learn about these amazing carvings.