King Midas Tomb, Gordion, Turkey
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AMERICAS ADENA MOUNDBUILDERSAnd Their Burial TabletsBy Ida Jane
Gallagher.Author, Contact with Ancient AmericaEpigrapher since 1977
and colleague of many advocates of ancient America for over a
quarter century.
Definitions:Epigraph = An inscription, as on a statue or
building.Epigrapher = One who studies epigraphs (usually on
rocks).Colleague = A fellow member of a profession, staff, or
academic faculty; an associate.
Imagine the amazement of early Colonial explorers when they
crossed the Appalachian Mountains and discovered hundreds of
conical mounds and geometric earthworks in the upper Ohio River and
Kanawha River valleys.
Who built these mounds?
Why?The Adena Moundbuilders built their mounds to bury their
honored dead.
The Adena culture occupied valleys along the Ohio River and its
tributaries from about 3000 to 1600 years ago.
Later the Hopewell and Mississippian people also built
mounds.The Adena culture was an ancient American culture that
existed from 3000 to 1600 years ago (ya), in a time known as the
Early Woodland Period.
Additional InformationSource: Wikipedia: Adena CultureThe Adena
culture refers to what were probably a number of related ancient
American societies sharing a burial complex and ceremonial system.
The Adena lived in a variety of locations, including: Ohio,
Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and parts of Pennsylvania and New
York.The Adena Culture was replaced by the Hopewell Tradition,
which had villages from the mouth of the Mississippi to the copper
country of Lake Superior and through the Adena area to Lake
Ontario.
Additional information:Source: Wikipedia: Hopewell traditionThe
Hopewell Tradition The Hopewell tradition (also incorrectly called
the "Hopewell culture") is the term used to describe common aspects
of the Native American culture that flourished along rivers in the
northeastern and mid western United States from 2200 to 1500 years
ago (ya). The Hopewell tradition was not a single culture or
society, but a widely dispersed set of related populations, which
were connected by a common network of trade routes, known as the
Hopewell Exchange System. At its greatest extent, the Hopewell
exchange system ran from the Southeastern United States into the
southeastern Canadian shores of Lake Ontario. Within this area
societies participated in a high degree of exchange with the
highest amount of activity along waterways. The Hopewell exchange
system received materials from all over the United States. Most of
the items traded were exotic materials and were received by people
living in the major trading and manufacturing areas. These people
then converted the materials into products and exported them
through local and regional exchange networks. The objects created
by the Hopewell exchange system spread far and wide and have been
seen in many burials outside the Midwest. The Mississippi
cultureThe world had a terrible catastrophe about 1465 years ago.
The Adena and Hopewell cultures vanished. About 1200 years ago the
Mississippi culture began to develop. The Mississippi culture
existed until the Europeans came to North America.
Additional informationWikipedia: Mississippi Culture
The Mississippian culture was a mound-building ancient American
culture that flourished in what is now the mid western, eastern,
and south eastern United States from approximately 1200 to 500
years ago, varying regionally. The Mississippian way of life began
to develop in the Mississippi River Valley (for which it is named).
Cultures in the tributary Tennessee River Valley may have also
begun to develop Mississippian characteristics at this point.
Almost all dated Mississippian sites predate 1539 (when Hernando de
Soto explored the area).The Adena people were named after the
estate of the Ohio Governor, Worthington.
A mound on his Adena estate was excavated in 1901.
The Adena mound contained distinctive artifacts that identify
the Adena group.This Adena pipe shows a squat male, with goitered
neck, and stylized hair.
He wears ear spools and a loin cloth feathered in back.This
replica of an Adena Shaman with a wolf head dress is shown holding
the Adena pipe.
A shaman is similar to a priest.
The Adena may have migrated from Mexico. The evidence for this
statement is their physical type and their use of similar
decorative designs.
Both groups erected mounds over burial tombs.Other authorities
maintain Adena mounds evolved from burial practice of earlier
native people living in the Midwest or Northeast.Burials of Adena
elite contained: decorative objects, copper bracelets, mica, pipes,
seed pearls, tablets incised with symbols, and tablets with ancient
writing.This is the historic marker for Grave Creek Mound at
Moundsville, West Virginia.
Notice that the mound was originally 69 feet high and 295 in
diameter. The mound was encircled by a moat.
The two log tombs, burials and grave offerings were found in
1838. The Grave Creek Mound is on a plateau above the Ohio River.
Early explorers said that earthen circles, squares, octagons, and
walls accompanied the mounds. Mounds and earthworks extended 10-12
miles along the Ohio River in the Grave Creek Mound vicinity. Their
construction was an enormous project, and workers carried dirt one
bucket at a time to build them.
What motivated them to do this?
This so called Mammoth Mound was located on the Tomlinson farm
in 1838.
Owner Jesse Tomlinson permitted the mound excavation. His
grandson, Abelard Tomlinson, assisted by Abelards brother-in-law,
Thomas Biggs, was in charge of the excavation. Local residents
helped.
They started by digging a tunnel at ground level to the center
of the mound. There they found a log tomb and skeletons buried
beneath the ground level. Then they decided to sink a shaft from
the top.
The men abandoned digging down from the top of the mound fearful
that the shaft would collapse. They probed upward from the lower
tomb until they struck stone and guessed it was an upper tomb. This
proved to be true when they dug a second tunnel 34 feet above
ground level and struck an 18 x 8 foot log tomb filled with rotten
wood, stones, earth, one large and badly decayed skeleton, and many
artifacts.This is a plaster replica of the Grave Creek Tablet,
which was found near the skeleton with other artifacts in the upper
tomb.
The Grave Creek Tablet was considered to be an authentic
artifact by the men participating in the mound excavation
The Grave Creek Tablet was a 1 by 2 inch grayish sandstone
tablet.
A hieroglyphic sign beneath the script resembles a cross with
elongated arms and the profile of a birds head on the end of the
right arm and a dot under the left arm.
Distinguished ethnologist, Henry R. Schoolcraft personally
examined the tablet, which he believed was authentic. He found that
characters on the tablet resembled similar characters in numerous
foreign writing systems. Schoolcraft concluded the alphabet on the
tablet was Celtiberic or Anglo Saxon. [Iberic is an ancient script
of southern Spain.]
The three lines of Southwest Iberic script were finally
translated to read The mound raised-on-high for Tasach. This tile
his queen caused-to-be made.
Meanwhile, the mysterious letters were puzzling, so individuals
and the Smithsonian Institution made copies of the tablet and sent
them abroad to foreign translators. Some of the characters were not
copied accurately, so decipherments and translations varied.
The disparity of early decipherments in different foreign
languages caused some people to question the tablets
authenticity.
These questions were the source of much controversy about the
inscription's meaning and whether the tablet was planted.
The authentic translation of the tablet was published by Dr
Barry Fell in 1975.The script on the tablet is more than 2,100
years old.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONEyewitness Accounts of the Grave Creek
Tablet Excavation Dr. James W. Clemens, a respected physician,
wrote the earliest known account of the discovery of the Grave
Creek Tablet. He was present at the excavation as he had agreed to
write a report on skulls found in the mound for Dr. S. G. Morton,
who was compiling a book about ancient skulls. Clemens reported, In
this vault a large skeleton was found, with a necklace of
perforated shells, two copper bracelets, and a curiously inscribed
or hieroglyphic stone, the characters of which are distinctly
traced in parallel linesThe stone is now in my possession and I
have had an exact facsimile of it taken. Mortons book made no
reference to the inscribed tablet as his work was devoted to
skulls, and this omission bred serious controversy. (See Ephriam
Squier controversy on following page.) Abelard Tomlinson, who was
in charge of the excavation, was accused of fraudulently producing
the Grave Creek Tablet. This was impossible due to the sequence of
events leading to its correct decipherment. Tomlinson recalled, I
was carefully removing the dirt, which was mostly of decayed
timber, when I uncovered the inscribed stone. The inscription being
up, it took my attention. I examined it; found it to be the work of
the ancients; I then placed it with the other relics. Peter B.
Catlett helped with the excavation. He said, I am the one that
found it first. It was not in its original bed when first found, it
was taken out of the stone arch in a wheelbarrow and emptied
outsideAs for anyone placing the inscribed stone there, (planting
it) it could not have been done. Catlett must have seen the Grave
Creek Tablet in the wheelbarrow after Tomlinson removed it from the
debris in the upper vault. James E. Wharton, Wheeling newspaper
editor, stated, In the forenoon they struck the center of the
vaultAmong the dirt was brought out the inscribed stone and picked
up by one of us from the loose dirt. (Catlett?) A fraud was
impossible.
School children Blaine Wilson and his sister found the Blaine
Wilson Tablet beside the stump of a tree near Triplett Creek in
Braxton County, West Virginia, in 1931.
The 4 1/8 x 3 3/16 inch tablet is micaceous sandstone. Its three
rows of Southwest Iberic script are curvilinear rather than
rectilinear like the Grave Creek Tablet. A similar elongated arm
cross is beneath the inscription.
They took the inscribed tablet to their school teacher, who
brought it to the attention of Mrs. Innis C. Davis, director of the
West Virginia Department of Archives where it was stored
The text of the Blaine Wilson Tablet parallels and shares some
of the vocabulary of the Grave Creek Tablet. Its characters are
cursive. Dr. Barry Fell translated the Southwest Iberic funerary
inscription to read: The memorial of Teth. This tile(His) brother
caused to be made.
Consider what these inscriptions imply
Did Iberian scribes reach West Virginia by 2100 ya? Did they
inscribe the tablets or teach Adena scribes their alphabet and
language?.
Consider what these inscriptions imply.
Did Iberian scribes reach West Virginia by 2100 ya?
Did they inscribe the tablets or teach Adena scribes their
alphabet and language?
Robert C. Dunnell found the Ohio County Tablet in 1956 when he
was a teenager.
The tablet measures I by 1 inches.
An elongated cross with a head on the end of the right arm and a
dot beneath the left arm is below the last line of the 16 character
inscription
Dunnell took the tablet to archaeologist Delf Norona who worked
for the Grave Creek Mound Museum.
Noronas original opinion that the Ohio county Tablet was
authentic changed because other archaeologists were calling it a
fake.
Norona said the tablet was planted to legitimize other
finds.
The tablet is lost.
Fortunately, Sam Shaw, editor of the Moundsville Daily Echo
newspaper ,photographed the tablet and interviewed Dunnell and
Norona.
Donal Buchanan, a noted decipherer of Southwest Iberic,
translated the funerary message on the Ohio County tablet.
This was set up for Lydia, wife, Jacob engraved it.
The Morristown Tablet was found near Morristown, Tennessee.
Dr. Paul Cheesman brought it to the attention of epigraphic
scholars in 1981.
Its inscription is comparable to the message on the Grave Creek
Tablet.
Donal Buchanan found that all of the symbols on the Morristown
Tablet could be equated with those on the Grave Creek Tablet, which
led to his conclusion. Conclusion: the inscription must be a
funerary formula.
He suggested that the name Tadach either is not a personal name
or there were two people named Tadach who were buried in different
areas. Did someone made a copy of the Grave Creek Tablet?
Was the Morristown Tablet ancient or modern?
What do you think?
An elongated arm cross with a birds head on the right end and a
dot beneath the left arm is beneath the inscription.
The Genesee Tablet is dense granular rock measuring 2 x 3
inches.
William Johnson found the Genesee Tablet in the Genesee River
bed near Belfast, New York in 1975. High water and erosion often
change the rivers course.
Epigrapher Donald Eckler spotted the tablet in Dana Kleins
collection. Eckler forwarded a photograph of it to Dr. Barry
Fell.
Dr. Fell deciphered the two lines of Iberic script noting that
the tablet is a traders token. He translated the tablet in
Arabic-related Iberian to say:
Confirmation. I have pledged to pay in full.
Was this an early IOU? The Genesee River was part of a water
route used by Amerindian trading parties. The discovery of the
Genesee Tablet on a known trading route suggests that native people
led foreign traders to Americas interior by following the waterways
and the Indian paths that connected them. The St. Lawrence River
and Great Lakes provided access to Americas heartland from the
Atlantic Ocean. The Susquehanna River empties into Chesapeake Bay,
and the Ohio and other tributaries flow into the Mississippi River
that terminates in the Gulf of Mexico. Would this explain how
Iberians reached Adena territory? Did they have boats capable of
crossing the Atlantic Ocean? What trade items would Iberian people
want?
The Genesee River was part of a water route used by Amerindian
trading parties.
The discovery of the Genesee Tablet on a known trading route
suggests that native people led foreign traders to Americas
interior by following the waterways and the Indian paths that
connected them.
The St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes provided access to
Americas heartland from the Atlantic Ocean.
The Susquehanna River empties into Chesapeake Bay, and the Ohio
and other tributaries flow into the Mississippi River that
terminates in the Gulf of Mexico. QUESTIONS
Was it possible for Iberian People to cross the Atlantic Ocean
by 2100 ya?
Why would Iberians come to America?
Did an Iberian scribe introduce Iberic script to Adena
Moundbuilders?
If Adena Tablet script was invented by native people, what was
its source?CONCLUSIONS THE ADENA TALBLE IS GENUINE THE SCRIPT IS
FROM IBERIA SCRIPT IS OLDER THAN 2000 YEARS AGO This is the end
slide.
This is the time for class discussion.
The Gaithskill Tablet is an example of a figural tablet. Hands,
serpents, birds, and sun circles were some of the symbols carved on
tablets. Dating of mound burials can be estimated by the
sophistication of tablet designs.
The turtle tablet (right) represents an Adena cultural
symbol.
The upper tomb burial was dated at about 100 B. C. The grave
goods consisted of 1,700 disk shell beads, 500 marginella shell
beads strung in a necklace source: Florida or West Indes), a
gorget, five copper bracelets (source: Lake Superior copper), mica,
and a small inscribed sandstone tablet called the Grave Creek
Tablet. This curious tablet became the source of great
controversy.
Excavator Peter B. Catlett reported that the skeleton measured
74 when the bones were wired together. He stated, I took the lower
jawbone and put it over my chin, and it did not touch my face, and
I was at that time a man who weighed 181. Some Adena people were
very large. They had round heads that were flattened in back. The
Hopewell moundbuilders had long heads and slender bodies indicating
that they were a different physical type.
Dr. Barry Fell made the first sensible decipherment of the Grave
Creek Tablet in Southwest Iberic. David Diringers 1968 recovery of
ancient Iberic vowel values enabled Fell to make his 1972
translation of the funerary inscription:
Tumulus in honor of Tadach. His wife caused this engraved tile
to be inscribed. (Note: Southwest Iberic reads from right to
left.)
Archaeologists became embroiled in the controversy and many
rejected the Grave Creek Tablet as a fake. They did not accept the
theory that early Iberians had been in Adena territory. Their
argument that the tablet was one of a kind has been disproven.
Burial mounds have been constructed world-wide. One example is
King Midas Tomb. It is similar in construction to Adena mounds. The
Phrygian elite of Turkey were buried in log tombs that were
hilled-over with clay, rocks, and dirt. The legendary King Midas
everything he touched supposedly turned to gold - died about 696 B.
C. Many burial mounds are near his tomb at the confluence of the
Porsuk and Sakarya Rivers. Why would burial mounds be similar in
construction world-wide?
