Mystery Site

 is an unmarked location in Red Dead Redemption near Repentance Rock. It refers to small objects, possibly a Native American shrine or burial site, on the ground.

Background
Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that there is a pelt on the ground, a deer pelt with cryptic markings on it surrounded by three rune stones with various symbols carved into them placed at north, west and east. There is also a 'plate' at the southern point of the configuration with carvings on it: (from left to right) a sun, a large man, a devil like man, a spear or tree, and what is thought to be a buffalo.

The player cannot interact with the objects in any way.

Location
Off the main road is a smaller trail that makes a loop just south of Repentance Rock. In the approximate center of the loop in between two bushes is where this site can be found.

Native American Symbolism
Traditionally, the bear-print means "good omen" in Native American lore, suggesting the map (if it indeed is a map) leads to treasure. On the other hand, the bear-print may simply mean that the Native Americans finally found "goodness" (peace).

The medicine wheel is a universal symbol of healing, again, suggesting that the plains and forests of the northeast had saved them.

Triangles in Native American symbolism usually referred to the Tipi, or temporary homes. The sun-down marking over the triangle could indicate that the Native Americans' "old ways" on the frontier are over, and they must move on to the reservations to survive.

Theory 1
A theory proposed by a reddead.net user seems to try to take a shot at the Guardian Plates meaning.

"It looks like the Sun is the Sun of Happiness symbol. It is being blocked by the big man so he is hiding or blocking something from the light. Could that big man represent a White Man? It is all white and not colored in like the smaller one. The darkman could represent Indian people in what looks like a warrior head dress or hunting head dress. The last symbol looks close to the Symbol of a Buffalo. So the White Man blocked happiness or took happiness away. So the Dark Man hides (because he is hidden from light) near the Trees by the last Buffalo. Could it mean the Indian camp in Tall Trees?".

This also seems to match perfectly where Seth finally found his treasure at the end of the game.

http://indra.com/~dheyser/fremont/fremont_e.html

Theory 2
Another theory is based on dissecting the map as parts of a treasure map/pictogram. Of course, this was only done based on the theory the map is describing Tall Trees. The sun on the left (possibly setting) indicates the west, the tall man indicates a big white man. Normally a status symbol of immense wealth, the buffalo like symbol indicates it is in a location that buffalo pass and the tree symbol is actual location the tree is taller than the buffalo hinting at Tall Trees.

Theory 3
ProvokedElf has given another such theory: "I have seen the medicine wheel on the skin, and the apparent triangle and visited Mescalero, the stone circle in the center isn't identical but the tipis around it can possibly be the triangles on the skin.

Also it has been suggested the White Man blocked happiness or took happiness away. So the Dark Man hides (because he is hidden from light) near the Trees by the last Buffalo, so maybe the white man drove the Indians away from Mescalero with guns and the indians moved to the reserve at tall trees to hide from the white man (hidden from light = hiding).

"I do not see how it can relate to anything, apart from being a Easter egg but maybe the stone circle is important, ritual or treasure maybe. The four spots on the stone could be four positions of standing on the Mescalero circle and in the center could be a sacrifice spot or a summoning place. Maybe the devil looking creature is the creature that could be summoned at the Mescalero circle (it bears resemblence to the Aztec/ Indian god Quetzcuotl, god of war). Its far fetched, but maybe the Indians were trying to summon Quetzcuotl to fight the white man, or it might resemble war itself with the white man."

There's an another theory, the large creature with horns might be a clue to Ojo del Diablo as there is a large carving on the wall that looks almost the same as the picture. Maybe each symbol on the skin is a place, and one of those places has treasure.

Theory 4
The wheel in the picture could mean modernization, the white figure represents Dutch van der Linde, the Other man is a hiding Indian,the spear like object means tall trees or, Cochinay and the final picture is a buffalo. Probably meaning: modernization made the Indians leave, and the buffalo die, forcing the Indians move to Cochinay. Van der Linde brings hope by blocking the wheel.

The Deer Pelt Map Theory


The deer pelt markings appear to be some sort of map. An arrow pointing North-East towards the bear pawprint suggests something in the direction of Tall Trees. For this reason some players have been working on looking at the Bearclaw Camp (where there are reports of Indian Ghosts). Another marking is a sun with an arrow pointing down towards a triangle like object.

It's possible that the Sun and the triangle symbols represent noon, since the triangle symbol clearly represents the mathematical symbol for angle, and the dot found in the angle indicates that the angle of it is 90 degrees (right angle), which if connected with the Sun, would represent noon, since at noon Sun is halfway through the sky (as seen from Earth) making it be at 90 degrees, this could mean that if connected with other symbols, and their meaning, that somewhere, something happens at the noon. Another explanation is that if the map is leading towards Tall Trees the triangle could be a mountain. The triangle could also represent an eye from a side-on perspective, as in "looking."

The final symbol is a medicine wheel with four dots (one in each quadrant). What this suggests, no one is certain.

It has also brought attention to the long abandoned Indian settlement, Mescalero, just next to Warthington Ranch on Hennigan's Stead. For the most part it appears to be vacant, but the arrow with the claw seems to point towards it as well. There have been some odd rock formations but it is still unknown where it leads.

Clues
There are possible clues that led up the mystery site, these are:
 * Tall Trees
 * White man taking away Indians "happiness"
 * Mescalero Stone circle
 * Sundown
 * Bear Track, possible Bearclaw Camp
 * A triangle shape and a path going from the circle on the pelt to the bear track.
 * The "Devil" looking creature could be hinting at the Ojo del Diablo area as there is a large carving on one of the rocks there with a creature with horns on it.

Gallery
The Guardian Plate shown below in a sketch and actual picture: www.reddeadredemptionmysteries.yolasite.com.

Video
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Further Information
A video was taken and posted on youtube of the mystery site. To try to gather more information on the site the video was posted on the forums of reddead.net. The users on reddead.net have been on a hunt for more information regarding the site. The original forum can be found here: Original Thread. The thread includes both the videos and gives all the details into the investigation.