Paradise Overlook Maps & Descriptions

Jake, an Honors Student, drew the above map, took equinox sunrise pictures and made this poster.  His drawing after steping off distances is remarkably accurate!

The Paradise Overlook Circle first came to my attention when my student Chris Allen, a History major, found a record of the site in the Tonto National Forest Archeological Archive. He looked through the records to identify the recorded ruins within a five-mile radius of Circlestone for the "Surrounding Ruins Map" of the Cirelestone map series. Finding a report of another stone circle only a couple miles away was something I didn't expect. Archeologist Charles Vernon's 1993 report contained the notation, "Similarity to the Circlestone site indicates the possibility that it, too, was a ceremonial site. Also, it is orientated with a clear eastward view, so that the summer solstice could be tracked."

The Circlestone team created the GIS map above after a 2012 expedition to the site to collect data for the map.  The stone circle is nowhere near as defined as Circlestone, possibly a precursor to creating Circlestone.