First published in Ancient American magazine and later in Nexus magazine. by Ross Hamilton Noted Native American author and professor of law emeritus, Vine Deloria, writes in a personal communication: It’s probably better that so few of the ruins and remains were tied in with the Smithsonian becau…
Holocaust of Giants: The Great Smithsonian Cover-up - Ancient America .wpb_animate_when_almost_visible { opacity: 1; } About ARTICLES Contributor’s Guide Events Gallery Contact Holocaust of Giants: The Great Smithsonian Cover-up Holocaust of Giants: The Great Smithsonian Cover-up Post author By Ancient America Categories | Bones, DNA, Giants, Native Americans Post date | August 5, 2014 First published in Ancient American magazine and later in Nexus magazine. by Ross Hamilton Noted Native American author and professor of law emeritus, Vine Deloria, writes in a personal communication: It’s probably better that so few of the ruins and remains were tied in with the Smithsonian because they give good reason to believe the ending of the Indiana Jones movie—a great warehouse where the real secrets of earth history are buried. Modern day archaeology and anthropology have nearly sealed the door on our imaginations, broadly interpreting the North American past as devoid of anything unusual in the way of great cultures characterized by a people of unusual demeanor. The great interloper of ancient burial grounds, the nineteenth century Smithsonian Institution, created a one-way portal, through which uncounted bones have been spirited. This door and the contents of its vault are virtually sealed off to any but government officials. Among these bones may lay answers not even sought by these officials concerning the deep past. The first hint we had about the possible existence of an actual race of tall, strong, and intellectually sophisticated people, was in researching old township and county records. Many of these were quoting from old diaries and letters that were combined, for posterity, in the 1800s from diaries going back to the 1700s. Says Vine in this understanding: Some of these old county and regional history books contain real gems because the people were not subjected to a rigid indoctrination about evolution and were astonished about what they found and honestly reported it. The title pages of the early county and pioneer history books often included phrases like “CAREFULLY WRITTEN AND COMPILED” and “LEST WE FORGET.” Some time before archaeology came to subscribe the general public to its view of prehistory—generations prior to Darwin’s troublesome theory—the pioneers thought that some of the earthworks were as ancient as could be concurrent with human habitation in America. Some among the early settlers exercised their pens assured that the earthworks were not built by the direct ancestry of the native people living in the historical period, but rather were constructed in a more remote era encompassing a different social order. They compared the “Mound Builders,” with the “Indians,” clearly discerning the former as belonging to an earlier time—possessing a different fate or destiny from the latter. Evidence for the occupation of this region before the appearance of the red man and the white race is to be found in almost every part of the county, as well as through the northwest generally. In removing the gravel bluffs, which are numerous and deep, for the construction and repair of roads, and in excavating cellars, hundreds of human skeletons, some of them of giant form, have been found. A citizen of Marion County estimates that there were about as many human skeletons in the knolls of Marion County as there are white inhabitants at present! The History of Marion County, Ohio (complied from past accounts, published in 1883) Mastodonic remains are occasionally unearthed, and, from time to time, discoveries of the remains of Indian settlements are indicated by the appearance of gigantic skeletons, with the high cheek bones, powerful jaws and massive frames peculiar of the red man, who left these as the only record with which to form a clew to the history of past ages. The History of Brown County, Ohio (complied from past accounts, published in 1883) Group of Mounds in Brown County, Ohio. She said also that three skeletons were found at the mouth of the Paw Paw Creek many years later, while Nim (Nimrod) Satterfield was justice of the peace. Jim Dean and some men were digging for a bridge foundation and found these bones at the lower end of the old buffalo wallow. She thought it was Dr. Kidwell, of Fairmont, who examined them and said they were very old, perhaps thousands of years old. She said that when the skeletons were exposed to the weather for a few days, their bones turned black and began to crumble, that Squire Satterfield had them buried in the Joliffe graveyard (Rivesville). All these skeletons, she said, were measured, and found to be about eight feet long. Now and Long Ago-A History of the Marion County Area by Glen Lough (1969) (This citation on West Virginia courtesy Dave Cain.) Another of many examples, this one, collected by James Mooney (1861-1921), tells of the visit of very tall people from the west: James Wafford, of the western Cherokee, who was born in Georgia in 1806, says that his grandmother, who must have been born about the middle of the last century, told him that she had heard from the old people that long before her time a party of giants had once come to visit the Cherokee. They were nearly twice as tall as common men, and had their eyes set slanting in their heads, so that the Cherokee called them Tsunil´ kalu´, “the Slant-eyed people,” because they looked like the giant hunter Tsul´ kalu´. They said that these giants lived far away in the direction in which the sun goes down. The Cherokee received them as friends, and they stayed some time, and then returned to their home in the west… Dancing Figures Found on a Copper Plate in Union County, Illinois. This kind of recorded tradition did not start with Mooney, rather beginning early in American history. During the Colonial and post-Colonial era, the information seekers were keen on gathering as much knowledge of the forgotten past as feasible through native sources. Some of it was woven into romantic tales including verse, but the main of it went into records, which, like the accumulation of earth and debris over ancient village sites, became buried in the musty stacks of old libraries—considered to have no real “substance” in the emerging field of the white man’s science. Of the very early history of the region which now embraces Lake County but little can be written. The Mound Builders had occupied it and passed away, leaving no written language and but little even as tradition… These mounds were quite numerous… Excavations…have revealed the crumbling bones of a mighty race. Samuel Miller, who has resided in the county since 1835, is authority for the statement that one skeleton which he assisted in unearthing was a trifle more than eight feet in length, the skull being correspondingly large, while many other skeletons measured at least seven feet… Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Lake County Edited by Newton Bateman, LL.D. and Paul Selby, A.M. (1902) From the outset of North American archaeology, no federally sponsored concern has researched and collected evidence specifically emphasizing the existence of unusually tall Native Americans in prehistoric, and even in historic times. There are reasons for this oversight, though in hindsight it has placed limits on our overview of prehistory. Because there were only occasional people of large stature born among the light-skinned, European races, numbers of giants were far from anticipated in America. Scientists in Europe, in case-by-case studies, declared their giants to have been victims of pituitary disorder. Another reason was that when the private citizenry in the U.S. unearthed the bones of very tall and strongly constructed people, and when these disinterments were recorded, rarely was any comparison made with sites of similar contents. It was still a sort of wilderness in many rural areas right until the middle 1800s. In this, each discovery was sort of “unique”—only to end up in the stacks of old township libraries to be complied later as curiosities—if they survived at all. The following account originated around the year 1800: There were mounds situated in the eastern part of the village of Conneaut and an extensive burying-ground near the Presbyterian church, which appear to have had no connection with the burying-places of the Indians. Among the human bones found in the mounds were some belonging to men of gigantic structure. Some of the skulls were of sufficient capacity to admit the head of an ordinary man, and jaw bones that might have been fitted on over the face with equal facility; the other bones were proportionately large. The burying-ground referred to contained about four acres, and with the exception of a slight angle in conformity with the natural contour of the ground was in the form of an oblong square. It appeared to have been accurately surveyed into lots running from north to south, and exhibited all the order and propriety of arrangement deemed necessary to constitute Christian burial… Historical Collections of Ohio in Two Volumes by Henry Howe, LL.D. (1888) Although not regarded by the government as reliable, the oral traditions of the native people in the eastern U.S. aver of the existence of possibly two races of giants, one supplanting the other by violent means. Here we have the first inkling of some very remote prehistory preserved, through the tradition of the Chippewa, Sandusky, and Tawa tribes, (members of the Algonquin language group), the existence of giant, bearded men. In this connection I would say that Mr. Jonathan Brooks, now living in town, stated to me, that his father, Benjamin Brooks, who lived with the Indians fourteen years, and was well-acquainted with their language and traditions, told him and others that it was a tradition of the Indians that the first tribe occupying this whole country, was a black-bearded race, very large in size, and subsequently a red bearded race or tribe came and killed or drove off all the black beards, as they called them. The Firelands Pioneer (1858) Offsetting the carefully recorded diaries of the rural folk, there were popular writers who creatively developed the more contemporary histories and folk legends, leaving to cursory treatment the deeper accounts of North American antiquities. These authors, while having captured the essence of the public perception of the noble native tradition, were not reconciled to the antique body of legend. The pens of James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) relate virtually nothing of the tall ones. Native Americans, as we know, were discouraged from writing, although some, such as David Cusick, circumvented the bias using Christian names. Fortunately, early missionary concerns gathered oral tradition from the tribal elders concerning men of giant stature. But even the most informative or entertaining accounts could not instill enough respect for the native people to put an end to the further destruction of the sacred sites. The attitude of the white race in general toward the red race was an abomination, totally lacking in mercy and compassion. Many of the Native American skulls were compared with European skulls, but selectively so as to depict the current native populace as being of inferior intelligence. Almost without resistance, the black seeds of racial bias were forming in the uncorrupted soil of prehistoric interpretation. Take for example the words of an important government official and popular writer, Henry Schoolcraft (1793-1864): The Indian has a low, bushy brow, beneath which a dull, sleepy, half-closed eye seems to mark the ferocious passions that are dormant within. The acute angles of the eyes seldom present the obliquity so common in the Malays and the Mongolians. The color of the eye is almost uniformly a tint between black and grey; but even in young persons it seldom has the brightness, or expresses the vivacity, so common in the more civilized races. Bureau of Indian Affairs (1852) Schoolcraft, who himself married a half-Indian woman, was apparently predisposed to labeling the native people in general as inferior. This kind of ridiculous prejudice underscored the tone for the unbridled continuation of the earthwork debacle. The result of this is accurately reflected in how archaeology was organized more than one hundred years ago, and may be summed up in the policy of Joseph Henry, first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Says Henry in 1846: “The collection of data should precede theorizing…” Unfortunately, the collection of data seemed to have no end, and any subsequent theorizing was (and is) in a state of transience. The Smithsonian, playing a sort of leading role in the massive undertaking attempting to cast light on the inscrutable prehistory of the United States, inadvertently collected far too many relics to ever analyze in a comprehensive sense. Estimates of the number of moundworks in Ohio alone—at the end of the Colonial period—topped ten thousand. Today, less than one-twentieth of these exist, and, moreover, they exist in a reconstructed form. No quarter of special status was given to any earthwork, no matter how sacred or strategic to tribal lands. It was a holocaust of an unprecedented nature, for it undermined the very morale of the native people who understood the peace of their ancestors to be ruined. Differing only in the professionalism somewhat absent from the previous seventy years of ghoulish quests, Henry’s mandate dictated emphasis on the creation of an inclusive system of excavation, recording, and description. Any analysis that followed had to be based upon this criterion. But competent analysis of anomalies rarely (if ever) came from the Smithsonian and other institutions formally engaged in the practice of exhumation. Given this understanding, it is no wonder that the Smithsonian is believed by knowledgeable people to be actively stymieing research that would produce a more enlightened view of American prehistory. There is, however, some compensation for this oversight in that the Smithsonian, like the Peabody, and the Carnegie shortly thereafter, faithfully upheld Henry’s mandate to detail, as was feasible, their mound “explorations.” However, the present-day inaccessibility of the bones and objects these people removed for future study is a reflection and symptom of the proposed “oversight.” One thing that pleased us in this research effort was the fact that there were many skeletons of gigantic frame discovered and reported by the Smithsonian, boosting the validity and value of the old township diaries, as well as the native legends. Some of these are presented below. A Brief History of the Museum The Smithsonian Institution, easily the world’s largest museum complex, began from the generous gift of James Smithson, an English scientist, in 1829. Believed born a bastard (especially in the eyes of his later detractors), Smithson was a “diligent young student,” receiving a Master of Arts from Pembroke College, Oxford, in 1786. He became a distinguished scientist. The gentle man passed away in 1829, bequeathing his fortune to nephew James Henry Hungerford with the stipulation that if this man died without an heir, the remainder of the fortune would go to the United States. It seems he felt that the United States was the future of Britain. Perhaps Smithson saw the “New World” as fertile, worthy, intellectual territory. Hungerford died in 1835. Although there was some controversy in the interim, the finding of the Smithsonian, based upon the more than a half million-dollar gift, took place officially in 1846. His legacy to the American people was, in his own words, “for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Since that time, the museum’s collections have increased considerably, with problems in the cataloging and location of stored finds developing due to changing standards of administrations over the last 150 years. Analogous to the Vatican with its antique cache of confiscated, problematic treasures, the booty of the Holy See may pale in comparison to the Smithsonian’s boatload of diffuse evidence. Pity of it is that Smithson’s request has gone into a different mode of interpretation. Instead of diffusing knowledge, it has unwittingly become confused with the problem of sprawling storage. Powell and Thomas Grave a, a stone sepulcher, 2½ feet wide, 8 feet long, and 2 feet deep, was formed by placing steatite slabs on edge at the sides and ends, and others across the top. The bottom consisted simply of earth hardened by fire. It contained the remains of a single skeleton, lying on its back, with the head east. The frame was heavy and about seven feet long. The head rested on a thin copper plate ornamented with impressed figures… 12th Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution 1890-1891 (published in 1894) (Cyrus Thomas’ investigations of Etowah) Plat of the Etowah Group, Bartow County, Georgia. Grave A (found in the largest mound of the group) contained a seven-foot skeleton having a heavy frame. In 1882, after some thirty-six years of growth and sound management, Smithsonian executive John Wesley Powell (of Grand Canyon exploration fame 1869-1872), hired Cyrus Thomas. Powell wanted this man to head up the fieldwork for the Smithsonian’s newly created Bureau of Ethnology, specifically the Eastern Mound Division. Thomas was a minister and an entomologist whose broadened interests included archaeology. He was, inotherwords, a bible-advocating, insect-adept archaeologist who believed in the mystery of a lost race at the time of his being recruited. Powell, who was much in sympathy with the plight of Native Americans, having lived among them for a length of time, believed that there was no lost or mysterious race of mound builders. He desired to credit the downtrodden native people with the worthy and gentle arts associated with the ancient mound building societies. Subsequently, and in light of other politic considerations marking the era, Powell sought to enact these personal convictions through the instrumentality of Thomas. In spite of his personal beliefs, Thomas was not outspokenly resistant to accepting the position. Besides, Congress was allocating solid funding for this proposed ramble through the ancient landscape. There was apparently an important decision made at this time concerning the facilitation of an enveloping theory—so necessary to create order where chaos loomed. Before discharging a book, one logically creates an outline to guide one’s thoughts. This was to become a hierarchical arrangement that would decide the angle of vision for the categorizing of the finds that would be made. On one hand, the belief that others discovered North America before Columbus (such as Phoenician, Egyptian, Hebraic, Greek, Roman, Celt, Scandinavian, or even Asian mariners) was explored. On the other hand, the idea of the continent having been isolated from outside influences was put on the table. It was perhaps because of Powell’s deference to the native kinship that the latter idea—i.e., screening out any extra-continental visitors—was adopted. Needless to say, this was an extraordinary assumption, and one that has affected decision-making right until the present day. On the positive side it viably linked the living factions of the Native American people with the more ancient mound building folk, and shortly thereafter was responsible for the faintly successful preservation of what remained of the mound builder’s legacy. From this it may be understood how aspects of Powell’s work, such as analysis of the social order of the mound builders, was not a priority. Powell’s decision regarding isolation was in reality a two-edged sword. While it was a meaningful step that fostered a meager though important harmonic between the federal government and the native peo… truncated (31,957 more characters in archive)