In the desert of north Phoenix, a man who lives in the area claims he has found an archaeological site that touches antiquity.

"To me, this was like finding a pyramid," Pete Norris says of the geoglyph he stumbled across several months ago.

He believes the glyph, made up of a circle of stones, some precisely placed larger rocks, a pile of quartz pieces and a separate line of stones, could even be older than the Egyptian pyramids.

But a local professional archaeologist says that claim is highly unlikely, pointing to the history of the area and Western archeology in general.

Geoglyphs are drawings made on the ground, in the same fashion as petroglyphs and petroglyphs are done on rock faces. Geoglyphs have been historically created by either trenching the earth, revealing lighter colored earth below the surface, or by the placement of stones in specific patterns.

Norris is an amateur student of crytanalysis - the breaking of codes - that he believes helps him analyze the geoglyph.

"My interpretation is that this is a representation of a meteor event that dates to 3,200 B.C.," Norris said. "It was such an event that it or something similar is reflected on pottery and wall art of the period."

His rationale is that certain numbers of meteors falling to the ground as the meteor storm rotated the earth three times are represented in the site and in numerous ancient representations.

"The sequences and the counts line up," he said.

The area previously had been surveyed for archaeological sites in connection with a county zoning case, but the site in question was not noted. Norris said he is shocked that it was missed.

The site is approximately 10 square yards in size, significantly smaller than the better known Southwestern geoglyphs called the Blythe Intaglios.

Norris maintains each stone's placement is significant, and he does not entertain the idea that any of the stones except maybe one have been moved or altered in any way. The colors of the stones, most of them volcanic, the shapes and the sizes all are significant.

They are laid out in a pattern that Norris claims is "Genesis II pictoral script," a form of writing that predates even heiroglyphics.

Norris knows that something that ancient is unlikely.

"I have been looking for someone with more experience than I have in geoglyphs," he said the other day, while showing a reporter around the site. "I have not found one yet, but I know they are out there."

Todd Bostwick, archaeologist for the city of Phoenix, says he is just a phone call away.

Bostwick said he could not say for sure without seeing the site, but it probably is no older than the Hohokam peoples who lived in the area a thousand years ago - assuming it is not more modern.

"There are New Agers" in the Cave Creek-Carefree area who could have constructed the glyph themselves, he said.

Bostwick said Hohokam rock rings dot the area, usually accompanied by pottery sherds or other evidence.

Bostwick strongly reacted to the idea that the site depicts an ancient meteor shower, or that it is old as Biblical sites.

"He may be pulling your leg, but he may believe it," Bostwick said. "The minute you say 'Genesis,' you turn people off."

"We do not have materials related to the Bible (around here). That would be sensational. It would be revelatory."

Norris says he is continuing to attempt to have the site dated and verified, and emphasizes that his avocation lies in the interpretation of such sites, not the archaeology.

His site, he acknowledges, might not be all that old.

"It could be a more recent interpretation of an ancient event," he said.