By Mary Fairchild
My daughter exploring petroglyphs near Mesa, Arizona; 5/2014.
I am fortunate to be able to visit Arizona annually where I find time to hike and trail run. Petroglyphs and pictograms are abundant in the Southwest (pictured above) and I have found them to be an added treasure to my time there. Naturally, when our local rock club chose to host a guest speaker at the archaeology study group who would discuss petroglyphs I was anxious to see what he had to report.
Last February, the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois (ESCONI) hosted John Ruskamp, who is also a member of the club, at their archaeology study group meeting where he was able to promote his book that claims to be identifying ancient Chinese pictograms in pre-Columbian North America rock writing. If he could get his information peer reviewed, it would raise a lot of serious questions, but he shared that his work was not being taken seriously by the academia.
Ruskamp is also active with the Midwestern Epigraphic Society where he spoke at their 2011 MES symposium. Along with several amateur epigraphic associations, MES evolved out of the work of Barry Fell. Fell is best known for three books which claim that many centuries before Christopher Columbus reached America, Celts, Basques, Phoenicians, Egyptians, and others were visiting North America. Fell also worked in a scholarly vacuum where he published his own society’s journals which are not subject to peer review by professional linguists (6, Fell).
Fell, as with others who refuse to base their findings on solid archaeological and historical evidence, usually depict themselves as being pitted against the establishment of orthodox science. He claimed that professional archaeologists and historians refused to accept his new ideas of pre-Columbian visitors to America, but based on solid archaeological and historical evidence we now know that there was a Norse settlement at the site of L’Anse aux Meadows in northern Newfoundland which is currently the only accepted case of pre-Columbian European contact in North America. (20; Lesser)
Speculation is best done with available evidence. You can really make some interesting breakthroughs when you base the speculations on a solid, evidential foundation especially when more evidence emerges that supports the speculative claim, but doing so without any basis in evidence is more imaginative and does not make good science or academic work.
Barry Fell’s work is the ultimate example of imaginative evidence and bad science. In 1983, the WV Division of Natural Resources published three articles in its “Wonderful West Virginia” promotional magazine claiming that some petroglyphs in remote areas of West Virginia are Christian messages carved in ancient alphabet script called Ogham by Irish monks around 700 AD. Because these allegations are widely accepted uncritically, the Council obtained permission to reproduce the originals , along with skeptical articles published in the “West Virginia Archaeologist.” (17; Ogham Petroglyphs of Southern West Virginia.)
“Barry Fell advanced the idea of ancient Irish visitors in West Virginia: Dr. Barry Fell, who worked without assistance or critique from other recognized experts, on his own felt he could interpret “Ogam” inscriptions even though he had never been to them. He relied on photographs of chalk lined interpretations from some people who had no formal training in linguistics or archaeology. Fell was a noted retired professor emeritus of marine biology from Harvard and was not an ancient language expert as was often claimed.”
Barry Fell had a large and dedicated public following including the Epigraphic Society, of which he had been president. The New England Antiquities Research Association (of which Ida Jane Gallagher was a member) had previously supported such claims that there were “Viking runes” in Oklahoma. (7, Gallagher; 3, Cole; 9, Morison). Along with Ida Gallagher and R.L. Pyle, Barry Fell interpreted inscriptions in West Virginia as a description in Celtic Ogham alphabet yet the only proof they had for their claim of early Irishmen in West Virginia was their feeling that the petroglyphs are a form of ancient Irish script, and that their decipherment was validated by the sunrise at winter solstice striking a sun symbol on the Wyoming County petroglyph (8, Pyle; 7, Gallagher; 6, Fell).
“….their (Barry Fell, Ida Gallagher and R.L. Pyle) decipherment was validated by the sunrise at winter solstice striking a sun symbol on the Wyoming County petroglyph…. Later, it was made known that there was an overhang existing at the Wyoming County site when the designs were carved. This overhang has since broken off and is lying at the foot of the petroglyph. Before the overhang broke off, sunlight could not reach the sunburst design.”
More recently, media outlets have been allowing speculation to tell us that what we’ve learned is all wrong and that academics aren’t to be trusted–ideological propaganda. Jason Colavito has an indexed page of reviews of the recent H2 series America Unearthed.
Scott Wolter, of the America Unearthed series, is also a member/speaker at Midwestern Epigraphic Society. Wolter spoke about the Kensington Rune Stone at the 2009 and 2010 MES symposiums; “At his American Petrographic Services company in St Paul, Minnesota, Wolter performs a wide array of geological testing. …More interesting to MES is his surface aging analysis of the Kensington Tablet in 2001 which led to his 2005 book, “Kensington Rune Stone: Compelling New Evidence” with Richard Nielsen. His latest work, “The Hooked X: Key to the Secret History of North America” will be released in May of this year.”
The Kensington Runestone is a 200-pound slab of greywacke covered in runes on its face and side that supporters claim is evidence that Scandinavian explorers reached the middle of North America in the 14th century although experts identify it as a 19th-century hoax. It was found in 1898 in the largely rural township of Solem, Minnesota, and named after the nearest settlement, Kensington. Runologists and experts in Scandinavian linguistics consider the runestone to be a hoax. The runestone has been analyzed and dismissed repeatedly without altering local opinion of the Runestone’s legitimacy. (21; Wikipedia)
The scientific method is a general set of rules to be used when dealing with problems or unknowns and scientists are always ready to accept new ideas if the evidence is solid and has been subjected to the critique of fellow scholars.
Not unlike Barry Fell’s 1983 sunrise at winter solstice experiment in West Virginia, in 2011 Ruskamp spoke in Arizona about petroglyphs that he found interacted with the sunrise at summer solstice at the Society For Cultural Astronomy in the American Southwest conference; The Hooper Ranch Pueblo Sun Dagger Shrine. : Located above the Little Colorado River in east-central Arizona, a previously unknown natural rock formation allows a pointed shaft of sunlight to illuminate a panel of ancient petroglyphs during the summer months. At the summer solstice, this dagger of light divides a spiral glyph in half, as it links several other images together depicting a story from native folklore about Monster Slayer and his younger brother Child-Born-of-Water. Based on the estimated age and its associated images, this site may have provided the inspiration for the creation of a highly similar sun dagger located upon Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon. Additionally, on top of an overhanging boulder, a drilled hole forms the head of a symbolic stickman petroglyph. In ancient times, this fabricated hole likely held prayer-sticks offered to the Water Clan god, Panaiyoikyasi, as a sandstone figurine of this deity was found buried nearby in a special kiva crypt aligned with the location of this solar shrine.
Also, in 2011, he posted research on Gaven Menzies website: “John H. Ruskamp and John A. Ruskamp Jr. had written a paper completely independently of our research, and were surprised to find others in agreement with their theory. In this study the elements of an ancient petroglyph found in the Northwestern Mojave Desert are compared with two similar Native American glyphs located hundreds of miles apart in Utah. All three of these glyphs are collectively compared with the modern form of the Chinese ideograph for a boat, Zhou. In addition, two other glyphs that resemble an older form of the Zhou ideograph are considered. The report establishes the proper interpretation of all five of these petroglyphs as depictions of a boat: Found: An Ancient Chinese Ideagraph Integrated into Native American Rock Writing.”
West Virginia has had some battles with the use of pseudoscience in the interpretation of some of the area’s petroglyphs as whether or not they are indeed Celtic Ogam. Dr. Barry Fell, who worked without assistance or critique from other recognized experts, on his own felt he could interpret “Ogam” inscriptions even though he had never been to them. He relied on photographs of chalk lined interpretations from some people who had no formal training in linguistics or archaeology. Fell was a noted retired professor emeritus of marine biology from Harvard and was not an ancient language expert as was often claimed. He translated Ogam inscriptions all over America by drawing on other unrelated languages in his interpretations and he had no vowels in them even though he was supposed to. Actual European linguistic experts say that Ogam has only been found in the British Isles. (17)
Later, it was made known that there was an overhang existing at the Wyoming County site when the designs were carved. This overhang has since broken off and is lying at the foot of the petroglyph. Before the overhang broke off, sunlight could not reach the sunburst design (5, Olafson).
Editor and author Jason Colavito investigates the connections between science, pseudoscience, and speculative fiction. His work has appeared on the History Channel and has been cited in “The Atlantic,” and “The Huffington Post.” Colavito explains that there is a hypothetical science involving the study of remains of extraterrestrial civilizations in ” What is Xenoarchaeology“: “Xenoarchaeology can also encompass related fields, including claims regarding Atlantis, lost civilizations, and advanced prehistoric technologies. These areas frequently overlap the ancient astronaut hypothesis and utilize much of the same evidence and reasoning to support controversial claims.” Names for the fringe science relating to extraterrestrials influencing human societies include Paleo-SETI, Paleo-Contact Theory, Ancient Astronaut Theory, or Exoarchaeology. (16; Colavito)
The Theosophical writers of the late nineteenth century began claiming that non-human archaeological remains could be found, especially in the form of megalithic ruins. H.P. Lovecraft would later popularize this theory in his twentieth century horror stories that told of prehistoric extraterrestrial visits that would soon inspire by ancient astronaut theories. The ancient astronaut theory, according to Erich von Daniken, Giorgia A. Tsoukalos, and Zecharia Sitchin, claims that extraterrestrials influenced or directed the prehistoric human achievements such as the Great Pyramid of Egypt, the statues of Easter Island, and Tiwanaku in Bolivia.
James Morgan Pyrse began his career in law, but gave it up for journalism. In adult life he travelled extensively, helping to create a utopian colony in Topolobampo , Mexico, and editing the Topolobampo periodical from his home. He settled in Los Angeles in 1886 and joined the Los Angeles branch of the Theosophical Society in 1887 where his brother John was a member.
In July 1888, the Pyrse brothers arrived in New York City. One year later, members of the Theosophical Society from New York City and Chicago purchased a printing press and type, for the purpose of setting up a publishing company for the Theosophical Society located in the United States. Later, John dropped out of the Theosophical Society and founded the Gnostic Society in 1928. The original headquarters of the Gnostic Society was in John’s home in Los Angeles (919 South Bernal Ave). (20)
“The ‘Red Children of the Sun’,” writes James Morgan Pryse, “do not worship the One God. For them that One God is absolutely impersonal, and all of the Forces emanated from that One God are personal. This is the exact reverse of the Western perception of a personal God and impersonal working forces in nature. The Children of the Sun adore the Plumed Serpent who is the messenger of the Sun. He was the God Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, Cucumatz in Quiche, and in Peru he was called Ameru. From the latter name comes the word America. Amaruca is, literally translated, ‘Land of the Plumed Serpent.’ The priests of the God of Peace, from their chief center in Cordilleras, once ruled both Americas. All the red men who have remained true to the ancient religion are still under their way. One of their strong centers was in Guatemala, and of Gucumatz is the exact equivalent of Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatl language; “quetzal,” the bird of Paradise; “coatl,” serpent–the Serpent veiled in plumes of the pradise-bird!” (18; Hall)
Debra L. Davis of The Woman Astronomer, writes on the topic of archeoastonomy, The Great Year is the term that some ancient civilizations use to describe the slow precession of the equinox through the twelve houses of the ancient zodiac, a period that takes about 24,000 years; 12,000 years ascending into a higher age, and 12,000 years descending into a lower age. These cycles bring about a complete change, both externally and internally. (11, Davis)
Davis writes, “One event that has gained much attention is the supernova of July 5-6,1054 in the constellation Taurus.” The chronicles of medievil China contain a very intriguing account of a “guest star” which appeared near Zeta Tauri in July, 1054 AD. According to a translation by J.J. Duyvendak (1942) the text in the Sung Shih, or Annals of the Sung Dynasty, reads as follows:
“… in the first year of the period Chi-ho, the 5th moon, the Day chi~chi’ ou, a guest star appeared approximately several inches south-east of Tein-Kuan…After more than a year it gradually became invisible.” The precise date according to this account, was July 4th, 1054 AD. (Burnham’s Celestial Handbook, p. 1846.)
Davis believes that other possible records of this event may be found in the rock art of the Anasazi perhaps in the painted pictographs in northern Arizona which show a circle near a crescent since it is believed that crescent shapes were not common in Southwest Indian rock art. The circle is thought to represent the supernova and the moon is in its crescent phase, but until these artifacts can be accurately dated and the data confirmed, doubt will remain and this is the current challenge for anthropologists and astronomers alike to search for more evidence to confirm or refute these suppositions. (11, Davis)
John A. Ruskamp, Jr., speaks at The Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois archaeology study group; 2/22/14.
Some of the slides we looked at with John Ruskamp that related to the history of Chinese writing were fascinating. Oracle bone script is the oldest form of Chinese writing known. The earliest significant, extant corpus of Chinese characters is found on turtle shells and the bones of livestock, chiefly the scapula of oxen, which had been used in divination during the late Shang Dynasty (1766-1050 BC). The bones contain important historical information such as the complete royal genealogy of the Shang Dynasty.
Jason Colavito explains an important fact relating to Chinese history in his expose on Gavin Menzies, The China Syndrome: “Menzies places an uncritical faith in the Chinese records, blissfully unaware that the Chinese imperial sense of history demanded that the records be altered to present China in harmony with imperial ideology. For that purpose, the “official histories” record Britain’s King George III paying tribute to the Manchu emperor, something he never did. Similarly each successive dynasty recast those before it in their own terms….. Consequently, any history recorded in the imperial papers must be taken in context with the ideological inclinations of the Celestial Court. According to many Sinologists, such rewriting of history continues in China today, especially in the realm of prehistory, where China teaches that humanity evolved in China along with the world’s oldest civilizations. Therefore, “discoveries” by Chinese archaeologists, which are not ordinarily subject to international scrutiny, are likely suspect. To rely upon such teachings without verification is roughly akin to watching a movie to learn history.”
In time, I was glad someone brought my original question up–“Where did the Chinese who came to America go?” Ruskamp said his guess was that it had been a Chinese expedition and they went back to China. He added that Native Americans have not been credited with having used writing and he believes he has found individual and dispersed Chinese pictograms integrated with native rock art across North America. His guess is that shortly after the time of the Han Dynasty, the Native people of North America incorporated small seal forms of Chinese script into their rock depictions. He even showed a slide of what he read from the Chinese script to be that of a dog being sacrificed. Examples can be found on his website Epigraphic Research (asiaticechoes.org).
Just two months prior to Ruskamp’s presentation at the Earth Science Club of Northern Illinois, a Hamilton anthropology class in Clinton, New York, was meeting to test fantastical explanations that are often offered to account for archaeological phenomena, “Anthropology Class Investigates Frauds and Fantastic Claims,” and they covered claims such as Ruskamp’s notion that explorers from China “discovered” the Americas before Columbus. Other claims included that a “lost race” from Europe built the great earthen mounds of the American Midwest and Midsouth; and we owe the origins of civilization to people from Atlantis, who taught us how to farm, write, and build monumental architecture(14; Foster).
Nationalistic pseudoarchaeology includes the following (13, Wikipedia):
- The belief, commonly held by European settlers, that the mound builders were a long vanished non-Native American people.
- The Kensington runestone of Minnesota, held to prove Nordic primacy in discovery.
- Expeditions sent by the Ahnerbe to research the existence of a mythical Aryan race.
- The Bosnian Pyramids project, which has projected that natural geological hills in Visoko are ancient pyramids.
- The Hill of Tara in Ireland, excavated by British Israelists who thought that the Irish were part of the Lost Tribes of Israel and that the hill contained the Ark of the Covenant.
- Piltdown man.
- Radical Afrocentric claims of African Hyperdiffusion being responsible for influencing most of the major ancient civilizations of the world in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and particularly the ancient Native Americans such as the Olmec.
Religiously-motivated
- Repeated claims of the discovery of Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat or neighboring mountain ranges.
- Insistence that questionable artefacts such as the Grave Creek Stone, the Los Lunas Decalogue Stone and the Michigan relics represent proof of the presence of a pre-Columbian Semitic culture in America.
- Numerous spurious claims regarding archaeological evidence to support statements in the Book of Mormon that ancient Israelites settled in the Americas during pre-historic times (see Mormon archaeology).
- Various New Age assertions about Atlantis, Lemuria, and ancient root races derived from the writings of authors such as 19th-century theosophist and occultist Helena Blavatsky.
- Mayanism and the 2012 phenomenon.
General pseudoarchaeology
- The work of 19th- and early 20th-century authors such as Ignatius Donnelly, Augustus Le Plongeon, James Churchward, and Arthur Posnansky.
- The work of contemporary authors such as Erich von Däniken, Barry Fell, Zecharia Sitchin, Robert Bauval, Adrian Gilbert, Frank Joseph, Graham Hancock, Colin Wilson, Michael Cremo, Immanuel Velikovsky, Andrew Tomas, and David Hatcher Childress.
- Lost continents such as Atlantis, Mu, or Lemuria, which are all contested by mainstream archaeologists and historians as lacking critical physical evidence and general historical credibility.
- The ancient astronaut theory regarding Mayan ruler Pacal II.
- Speculation regarding pre-Columbian contact between Egypt and the Maya.
- Speculation by paranormal researchers that the so-called “starchild skull”, an abnormal human skull allegedly found in Mexico, was the product of extraterrestrial-human breeding or extraterrestrial genetic engineering, despite DNA evidence debunking such claims.
2015 Update: 2015 references offering professional perspectives on John Ruskamp’s work:
“Talking to the Guy on the Airplane,” p. 626, American Antiquity Vol. 80, No. 3; 2015, Michigan State University Department of Anthropology. Donald H. Holly Jr., associate professor of Anthropology at Eastern Illinois University, opens the with concerns for the general public which has been bombarded with books, TV shows, and the Internet claiming that the archaeological record contains evidence for alien visits to earth in antiquity. This professional perspective is considered to be a primer in pseudoarchaeology today. Angus Quinlan, PhD, RPA, archaeologist and executive director of the Nevada Rock Art Foundation, references Julian Steward in his critique of John Ruskamp’s work noting that if ancient Chinese explorers had visited America then surely some archaeological remains of these visits would have been found, but Ruskamp does not cite any. He also cites several of Ruskamp’s amateur mistakes and points out that Ruskamp’s work ignores various rock art designs placed between his Chinese “sentences” rendering him unable to recognize temporal differences in pictograph designs that he combines to identify them. When studying prehistoric rock art, translation is not the object yet Ruskamp attempts this with his isolated pictograms of boats and trees, etc., to do this to prove that Chinese explorers visited North America.
“What Archaeologists Really Think About Ancient Aliens, Lost Colonies, and Fingerprints of the Gods”, Forbes/Science; 9/3/2015, Kristina Killgrove. Killgrove is the Assistant Professor of Archaeology at the University of West Florida.Along with racism, Killgrove goes on the explain that the primary theme among these popular pseudoarchaeology books is the idea that we can judge other cultures based on the yardstick of our own. Kristina writes, “[Ruskamp’s work]…puts forth the idea that pictograms found in North American rock art are Chinese script characters left by an otherwise archaeologically invisible trip across the Pacific.”
“You Won’t believe This One Amazing Trick a Fringe Historian Accidentally Used to Blow Up the Internet”, Jason Colavito Blog; 7/13/15. Author and editor Jason Colavito is internationally recognized by scholars and scientists for his pioneering work exploring the connections between science, pseudoscience, and speculative fiction. Calling attention to low-quality fringe history sites, Colavito pieces together that the original claim on the web site The Message to Eagle that Ruskamp had written an article about his Chinese characters for Pre-Calumbiana gradually changed. The web site Epoch Times over-emphasized the supposed academic nature of the Ruskamp’s journal, claiming that his article was under peer review because the magazine’s editorial board of scholars is modeled on the operations of well-regarded academic journals.
Colavito exposes that the web site Ancient Origins, which promotes Ruskamps work,blatantly pushes low-quality fringe history content, particularly by promoting their stories on social media. In an expose, former staffer for the Daily Mail, James King wrote, “We were simply given stories written by other publications and essentially told to rewrite them.” Ruskamp’s story seems to have come from perhaps a bit of original reporting added to material borrowed from the Chinese diaspora newspaper Epoch Times, which has a large section devoted to rewriting online fringe history claims—often by the same people who write for Ancient Origins and cross-promote their work to give it legitimacy. April Holloway, for example, writes for Epoch Times’s fringe section and operates Ancient Origins.
Although Richard Gray’s article in The Daily Mail merely claims that Ruskamp’s book and an academic paper is undergoing peer review, it does not specify the publication or its purpose which legitimizes it beyond the facts says Colavito.
Fringe history sites that feature Ruskamp: Early Sites Research Society: “Pre-Columbiana: A Journal of Long Distance Contacts” ; Message to Eagle: “New Controversial Evidence—Ancient Chinese Visited America 2,500 Years Ago,” 5/0/15; Epoch Times: “New Evidence Ancient Chinese Explorers Landed in America Excites Experts, “ by Tara MicIsaac; 8/20/15; Epoch Times: “Scholars Analyze Evidence Ancient Chinese Explored America,” by Tara MicIsaac; 8/13/15; Ancient Origins: “New Evidence Ancient Chinese Explorers Landed in America Excites Experts,” by Tara MicIsaac Epoch Times; 5/19/2015; The Daily Mail: “Did China Discover America? Ancient Chinese Script Carved Into Rocks May Prove Asians Lived in New World 3,300 Years Ago”, by Richard Gray; 7/9/15.
References/Related
Mfairlady Archaeology/Genealogy; Mfairlady Fossil/Science/Green
- Wikipedia, Chinese Character Classification.
- John Roskamp, Epigraphic Research.
- J.R. Cole, “Cult Archaeology and Unscientific Method and Theory” in Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory. Vol. 3. Michael B. Schiffer, editor, New York: Academic Press, Inc; 1980.
- A. Kaupp, “Pre-Columbian Settlers: Fact or Fancy?” Information from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution. Washington, D.C.; 1982.
- S. Olafson, Rock Carving Sites Described. Letter to the Editor Charleston Gazette, March 3.; 1983.
- Barry Fell, “Christian Messages in Old Irish Script Deciphered from Rock Carvings in W. Va.” Wonderful West Virginia Volume 47, No. 1, pp. 12-19; 1983.
- Ida J. Gallagher, “Light Dawns on West Virginia Prehistory.” Wonderful West Virginia Volume 47, No. 1, pp. 7-11; 1983.
- R.L. Pyle, “A Message From the Past.” Wonderful West Virginia Volume 47, No. 1, pp. 3-6.; 1983.
- S.E. Morrison, he European Discovery of America-The Northern Voyages A.D. 500-1600. New York Oxford University Press.; 1971.
- Wikipedia, Archaeostronomy.
- Debra L. Davis, Ancient Astronomies, The Woman Astronomer–Archeoastronomy; 11/12/96.
- Wikis, Barry Fell.
- Wikipedia, Pseudoarcheaology.
- Holly Foster, Anthropology Class Investigates Frauds and Fantastic Claims; 12/9/13.
- Wikipedia; Gaven Menzies.
- Jason Colavito, What is Xenoarchaeology.
- The original Ogam Petroglyph articles; “Ogham Petroglyphs of Southern West Virginia.; 1983.
- Manly P. Hall, “The Secret Teachings of All Ages; 2003.
- Wikipedia, “James Morgan Pryse.”
- W. Hunter Lesser, How Science Works—And How It Doesn’t, The West Virginia Archeologist Vol. 41, Number 1, Spring 1989.
- Wikipedia, Kensington Runestone.
- Jason Colavito, The China Syndrome.
Dear mfairlady:
Your post provides a lot of ancillary information, but it fails to address the most sailent points of my research. Rather, you appear to be attempting to tie my research to the lunatic fringe. So let me make it clear to you that I do not follow the work of Barry Fell, Gavin Menzies, or anyone else for that matter. I too have many problems with truly unscientific and biased reporting.
What you failed to note it your post is that for over 250 years knowledgeable scientific researchers (Humboldt, de Guignes, Vining, Covarrubias, and the like) have been writing about the uniquely Asiatic aspects of Native Americans. For instance, why is it that the Hopi employ the same set of colors for the cardinal directions as do Asians? Have you looked into the work of Zeilik who writes about this “mystery?” I think you will find his thoughts on this topic of value.
But in your posting you fail to mention that senior National Park Service personnel and arguably (per Eno) the foremost authority on ancient Chinese writing in North America have both reviewed my findings and are to this day providing meaningful support for them. (Providing upcoming NPS training sessions are only one example of this mutual endeavor.)
Importantly, and left out of your report, both the NPS and several recognized academic authorities have confirmed that what I have identified are, indeed, very old petroglyphs with forms identical to ancient Chinese scripts. Still, you are right. This truly does rewrite Western history.
But to imply that my work has not been “peer reviewed” is totally wrong. After all, as David N. Keightley, Ph.D., retired- UC Berkeley & MacArthur Foundation Genius Award winner stated: “This is an entirely new academic field!” So who should evaluate it beyond those already involved? If you have any suggestions, please let me know so that I can reach out to them, too. After all, officers of the Society for American Archaeology refer to this research as “compelling,” as does the former Scientific Advisor to the US Congress!
Maybe in the interest of good scientific reporting you would be interested in learning more about the particulars of my research? Perhaps you would even like to visit the sites yourself?
Finally, as I write this note to you I am releasing a new paper detailing two sites containing readable patterns of identifiable ancient Chinese scripts. As before, this paper has been reviewed by independent experts. One of the sites evaluated (translated even) in this new report has 6 ancient scripts and the other 12 symbols, 8 of which are contained in numbered cartouches, delineated as writing. And, yes, these external numbers are also ancient Chinese symbols from very long ago.
John
John,
Your book as reviewed on the ESCONI website (2/13/14): “…builds upon the premises popularized by Menzies and theorizes that in the rock art of North America there is evidence of early Chinese trans-Pacific contact at scattered sites… additional research needs to be conducted…to develop and/or discover methods of dating the rock art itself… Chapters titled ‘Conclusions’ and ‘Identifying the Authors’… leads the readers to the conclusion that the study’s North American petroglyphs are of Chinese origin and that the Chinese visited America, perhaps many times, prior to its ‘rediscovery’ by Columbus…” Joseph D. Kubal
The biggest problem with your work is that it goes beyond your profession. You are no expert on early Chinese script as David N. Keightley has recently shared with us via my correspondence and there are a few names in which he has recommended for you to focus on to concur with your findings.
Your books and presentations at the Midwest Epigraphic Society, not unlike the others who are renown for fringe history and lacking of credentials (Scott Wolter, Gavin Menzies, and Barry Fell), as well as your presentation at the ESCONI Earth “Science” Club mix your amateur opinion on the subject and that is not science—but “fringe.” Fringe history is based on beliefs backed by theories rather than science which is based on facts.
Contradictory and innovative ideas are published all the time. Peer review is the process, not evaluation. Publication does not establish a claim to be true and often peer-reviewed articles take wildly opposing views on the same subject. Ideas that lack exhaustive evidence that is structured into a logical and coherent argument will not be approved by scholarly journals. Best wishes to you.
There have been occasional notices of Chinese and Japanese characters on rocks in the West, and the reasonable explanations are (1) Chinese coolies working on the railroads, agriculture, and running restaurants and laundries in frontier towns could have engraved the petroglyphs, and (2) Japanese interned during World War II engraved Japanese characters near their camps. The Japanese characters are most often near the intern camps. There were thousands of Chinese workers in the West beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, and some of them were literate in Chinese.
A good and careful review, Mary. Only one correction to be made: the Kensington Runestone is likely to be authentic, a memorial to some of a party of Norse seeking to exploit North American luxury furs DURING THE 3 YEARS SCANDINAVIANS WERE CUT OFF FROM THEIR LUCRATIVE RUSSIAN FUR TRADE BY THE GERMAN HANSEATIC LEAGUE, 1360-63. This historical fact provides strong motive for a party of experienced traders to go beyond Vinland for furs, knowing for more than 2 centuries that the American continent is rich in luxury furs (traded to Norway by the Greenland Norse every year). I’m a reputable professional archaeologist who agreed to look into the Kensington stone question, and published a detailed analysis of a variety of data –including this overlooked historical Scandinavian angle– in 2005, “The Kensington Runestone: Approaching a Research Question Holistically”, Waveland Press. Speaking as a scientist, the weight of the data favors the probability that the Kensington stone was engraved in 1362 by Norse, and that they were exploring for furs. They likely did not return (if they survived) because in 1363 the Scandinavian kingdoms united to mount a campaign to drive the Hanseatic soldiers out of the port of Bergen that they had seized, along with the Russian trading route. This campaign succeeded by 1368, so no incentive to go deep into North America anymore. My book is inexpensive, and ought to be read before accepting the popular hoax idea that does not stand up to the circumstances around Kensington in 1898.
Thank you, Alice.
I appreciate all of the work you have done with the Native Americans–something on my heart. Although a Native American’s view of anthropology is probably as biased as the anthropologist’s perception of what is good for Indian communities, anthropologists are becoming more aware of the impact they are having on the economic, social, and personal lives of those they study. Perhaps, in turn, they will become less oriented toward personal research goals that have no relevancy to the group under consideration–as you will see in my recent post “Douglas Owsley Omits Peer-review on Kennewick Man Research.”
I too have appreciated the work of Timothy Pauketat (“Controversies in Archaeology”) as I’ve hiked and paddled and researched the Indian mounds in the Midwest, my stomping grounds. On the basis of his work, we now know that Cahokia rose and fell over a much shorter time period due to improvements in radiometric dating and new methodologies such as identification of domestic remains(see: Kayaking the Apostle Islands: Kennedys, Native Americans, Religion and Myth).
“The misunderstandings of what science can and cannot do, combined with the human need for excitement and mystery often lead to rather dramatic interpretations of archaeological information in ways that will provide that drama.” Alice Kehoe, “Controversies in Archaeology”
That describes Scott Wolter, but I don’t see how you fit into the Runestone of Minnesota. Richard Neilson took the time to rebut Wolter’s Knights Templar theory and a simple prank by Minnesota college grads in 2001 was believable to him until they confessed—which is where he first learns from the pranksters, even though he is a geologist, that mica may help in the dating process…
According to Wikipedia, your interest in pre-Columbian transoceanic contacts led to your involvement on archeological aspects while testing the Kensington Runestone. We need some facts now that drama is out of the way.
Dating inscriptions is very complicated and is never an exact science. Questions need to be answered as to whether there has been artificial aging or if there has been any misguided cleaning—soaking in vinegar and scrubbing with wire.
USA Today, “Two Admit Faking Alleged Viking Inscription,” 11/6/01.
Bad Archaeology, “The Kensington Runstone.”
Jason Colavito, “The Strange Case of the AVM Rune Stone Hoax,” 1/6/15.
First, to clarify: I am the author of the book Controversies in Archaeology, published 2008 by Left Coast Press. This is not one of Tim’s books. And I am the author of The Kensington Runestone: Approaching a Research Question Holistically, published 2005 by Waveland Press. Both of these are reputable textbook publishers in the field of anthropology.
Richard Nielsen, who has a Ph.D. in Materials Science and is a native speaker of Danish, asked me to advise on the archaeological aspects of the Kensington stone, which he and Barry Hanson, a research chemist, wanted to have scanned by SEM. I was happy to remain a consultant with Nielsen, particularly after Scott Wolter went off the deep end and became a TV star. When Nielsen and Hanson looked for a suitable petrographic lab to do the SEM scanning, they picked Wolter because he was reputable –this was 2000!– and knew nothing about the runestone controversy, had never heard of it. As it turned out, his lab’s machine required coating the surface, so he arranged to take the stone to Iowa St. U. where there was an SEM machine that didn’t require coating. The scanning was done there. Wolter gave a reasonable reading of the scanning photos, although he and others had some disagreement on biotite and mica disintegration. I consulted a geochemist from Brown U., Bruno Giletti, whose lab has been working on biotite for years, and Prof. Giletti told me that everything that geologists thought they knew about biotite has to be changed, the Brown U. lab has a new model built on a great deal of data the lab worked on. So the biotite arguments aren’t relevant anymore.
My 2005 book lays out the evidence from the physical analyses of the stone and engravings, the very important field examination and interviews conducted by the noted geologist Newton Winchell in 1909-10, rejected by the Minn. Hist. Soc. in spite of concurrence by two additional respected, experienced geologists, because of alleged errors in the runes and language. The language issue is no longer significant, because the 1898 opinions on “correct”language has been superseded by a century of advances in linguistics and medieval Norse dialects. In addition, I have a chapter on what was happening in Scandinavia around 1360, and this history is crucial to assessing the probability of Norse going inland then from Vinland. Please read my book — it’s inexpensive, and it lays out many facts.
The Kensington stone was unfortunately cleaned with oil about 1940, that’s in my book, too, but Winchell examined it before any of that.
I do work with First Nations, especially the Blackfeet in Montana, and working with their tribal college faculty, published a history, Amskapi Pikuni: The Blackfeet People, SUNY Press 2012. More to your interests, Mary, I have had the privilege of working with the Osage Nation on their interest in Cahokia. Their historians say that they, with the other Dhegiha Siouans (Omaha, Ponca, Quapaw, Kansa), were the lords of Cahokia — it was their state. Tim Pauketat and I have been friends and colleagues for many years now, and you will see he cites some of my ideas in his most recent Cahokia book (not the Cosmos one, the one before). He failed to remember to cite my publications saying “chiefdoms” are archaeological delusions, when he wrote the book by that title, but has apologized to me since about the omission. You can ask him.
If you’d like to see a paper, or a PowerPoint, I prepared on the relations between Cahokia and Mexico, send me your e-mail address (send it to ) and I’ll send it to you. On this subject, I have followed the late Bob Hall.
New review and research information on John Ruskamp’s work has been added to the report.
1. “Talking to the Guy on the Airplane,” p. 626, American Antiquity Vol. 80, No. 3; 2015, Michigan State University Department of Anthropology. Considered a “primer” for pseudoarchaeology and it includes Ruskamp’s work.
2. “What Archaeologists Really Think About Ancient Aliens, Lost Colonies, and Fingerprints of the Gods” by Kristina Killgrove, Forbes/Science; 9/3/2015.
3. “You Won’t believe This One Amazing Trick a Fringe Historian Accidentally Used to Blow Up the Internet”, Jason Colavito Blog; 7/13/15