The dancing men jump and pose and they will tell you a letter by the way they froze.

They aren’t waving flags just for the fun. It is a sign for you that the word is done.

If you read the short missive that goes with this mystery, you will find two clues that will help you make this one history.

Sometimes other clues are left lying around. Go to another pueblo where one can be found.

If you haven’t discovered the petroglyph link, studying them will help you think.

There is a page that includes petroglyph squares over red rock used in another puzzle. You may notice that some of them resemble the figures on this puzzle. Each of those petroglyphs are surrounded by a single letter which that figure represents in this substitution cipher. If you use those letters to fill in some of the message, you may be able to decipher the whole thing. A few subtle words in the narrative and the scrambled words on the back of those glyphs are a final clue that may lead you to the cipher’s key.

On the back of the narrative about dancing is a chart with a group of dancing figures and blank spots. This is the key to the puzzle and the chart represents the alphabet. Fill in the letters that you have been given from the other chart, and the rest of the alphabet will become clear. The missing figures are letters that were not used and so no figures were needed.

The text reads: “Accompany Popay to battle the Spanish”

Additionally, a few words in the narrative are subtle hints to the origin of this cipher: “detective” and “dancing men”. Also, the unscrambled words on the back of the ‘dancing men’ petroglyphs are “famous”, “detective”, “dancing”, “men”, and “cipher”. If you were to search the internet for these terms, you would get “The Adventure of the Dancing Men”, a Sherlock Holmes mystery written by Arthur Conan Doyle in 1905. In it, Holmes must decipher several messages encoded with these figures. Illustrations of the figures in the 1905 publication reveal the key to deciphering the message:

Original Sherlock Holmes Dancing Figure Puzzle

Dancing Figures in the Sky Key

These words are all jumbled and scattered about. Rearrange letters to sort it all out.

What to do with the symbols is not something we hid. Just match up the words with the ones in the grid.

The squares connect in a particular way. Put together the letters to see what they say.

If the extra symbols leave you bemused, look around for another place they are used.

The grid of squares with line drawings are similar to petroglyphs, symbols scratched into rock. What each symbol means is written on the back, but the words are scrambled. Unscramble the words. Some squares have scrambled letters that are decoys and do not spell anything. Once you unscramble the words, cut out the squares and place each petroglyph square onto the other grid where you find the matching word in the narrative. Some of the squares are not used. Starting at the top, read the letters following the path where the petroglyph squares are connected. You will only read the letters that come where two squares come together, so each square will only use two letters (except the last, which only connects to one other square, using one letter.

Read the message in the order top to bottom in the order of the squares.  They read “FIND THE LOST KATSINAM.  To see the final image click below:

Petroglyph solution

The instructions here will not lead you astray. When they connect, code them together in some way.

A jigsaw puzzle puts pieces together, but for this creating a chart will be a fruitful endeavor.

Follow every instruction and soon you will know. There is only one way this all can go.

This is a logic puzzle known as a “Zebra”. You are presented with several elements to connect together through clues and then use shape logic to fit them together. Read each instruction and make note of which elements are connected positively (e.g. “Ahote can be healed with powdered roots” means the patient ‘Ahote’ goes with the method ‘powdered roots’) and negatively (e.g. “Muna does not suffer from burns” means the patient ‘Muna’ cannot go with the symptom “burns’) Color-coding is one way to do this. After all the connections are made, there will be only one way in which the elements can fit together without violating any of the instructions.

The password is “dockjuniperapacheplume” See the links below to see the full solution.

Medicine solution image 1

Medicine solution image 2

medicine solution image 3

The animal tracks don’t tell you a lot, but put them in layers and you’ll see what’s what.

The animals here are all of your brothers, but only one crosses all others.

There is a picture you seek, so use this small hack: concentrate on the prints in all black.

When the picture emerges it will give you a peek to know where to go to find the elder you seek.

Layer the tracks cards on top of each other so that the tracks of each type of animal align. The webpage is password protected. Figure out which of these five animals is the spirit that guided the elder. Study the black colored tracks for a clue to the elder’s whereabouts.

The only animal that crosses the path of all of the others is coyote. That is the password. The image produced most closely resembles the pictograph for the sacred Kaweshtima mountain.  You must click on the link to get the solution. The cards align like this:

Tracks solution

The grid seems a mystery without any clue, but the list of hints tell you what to do.

The pictograph pairs correspond to the chart. They’re there to tell you where to start.

Each clue you read should spark a good thought. The names of katsinam are what should be sought.

The katsina cards are gorgeous, no doubt. Look to the descriptions to figure this out.

When the grid is filled out a last step you must take. Read top down for goodness sake!

The clues page includes text that you will find on one of the katsinam cards. Find the name of that katsina and write it on the grid beginning on the square noted by the pictograph coordinates (include spaces between words).

Note the words that are formed vertically. They read: ACCOMPANY POPAY TO WIN YOUR FREEDOM

Grid solution