Is there a difference between “walls of stone” and “stone walls”? Is there a difference between stacked stone and hewn stone?

Stone Altars, not Altars of Stone

After Nephi and his people were driven into the wilderness and found a place to settle, Nephi continued to instruct and serve his people. “And I did teach my people to build buildings, and to work in all manner of wood, and of iron, and of copper, and of brass, and of steel, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious ores, which were in great abundance. And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after the manner of the temple of Solomon save it were not built of many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land, wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon’s temple. But the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon; and the workmanship thereof was exceedingly fine.” 2 Nephi 5:15-16

Moroni prepares his people to defend the cause of the Christians

Below is the only scripture in the Book of Mormon that mentions walls of stone, or anything about stone. The building materials of the Nephites were earth and wood, and at times of no trees they used some cement, which is not stone! See my blog here: https://www.bofm.blog/nephite-building-materials-wood-dirt-cement/

“Yea, he had been strengthening the armies of the Nephites, and erecting small forts, or places of resort; throwing up banks of earth round about to enclose his armies, and also building walls of stone to encircle them about, round about their cities and the borders of their lands; yea, all round about the land.” Alma 48:8

What makes most sense to you? Did the Nephites cut stone walls, or stack stone walls? Would the Nephites create magnificent stone carvings, and ornate designed walls for pleasure or beauty, or communicating, or would the Nephites build simple walls for protection and survival? We report you decide as our friend Wayne May would say.

Stonehenge in North America (See Below)

Like Stonehenge in England, America’s Stonehenge was built by ancient people well versed in astronomy and stone construction. Jaredites? Nephites?

The Nephite Temple would probably be built on the highest point of the Nephite settlement. It would be facing directly east symbolic of the Savior’s coming. If it was to be built similar to Solomon’s, the altars of the temple were made of stacked stone, not hewn stone. “The word in Exodus 20:25 which is translated as ‘tool’ is the Hebrew חרב which most literally means ‘sword’. There explains that a sword is designed to shorten life, while an altar is designed to lengthen life by being used to achieve atonement. It makes sense, therefore, that one should not be used in the formation of the other.” Rashi, Medieval French Rabbi.

The outside of the temple may have been finished with a mortar cement made of limestone which was prevalent in the Promised Land. “Lime mortar is a type of mortar composed of lime and an aggregate such as sand, mixed with water. It is one of the oldest known types of mortar, dating back to the 4th century BC and widely used in Ancient Rome and Greece.” Lucas, A. 2003 Ancient Egyptian Materials and Industries. After processing, products derived from limestone have the unique ability to return quickly to their original chemical form.

“An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me… in all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar…” Exodus 20:24 – 26

“There is a temple mound situated above the Ohio River near Cincinnati. “Fragments of burnt limestone may still be seen on the top. The mound is a rectangle two hundred and twenty-five feet long by one hundred and twenty feet broad, and seven feet high.” In contrast to the hewn stone buildings and altars of Mexico, the Ohio mound has the right dimensions to have accommodated a timber and burnt lime plaster (“cement”) building of the size and proportions of Solomon’s Temple.” J. P. Maclean, The Mound Builders – Archaeology of Butler County, Ohio, 1904, pp. 222-223.

“Few realize that some of the oldest, largest and most complex structures of ancient archaeology were built of earth, clay, and stone right here in America, in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. From 6,000 years ago until quite recently, North America was home to some of the most highly advanced and well organized civilizations in the world – complete with cities, roads, and commerce.” Dr. Roger Kennedy, former director of the Smithsonian’s American History Museum

Hugh Nibley Said…

“What most impressed me last summer on my first and only expedition to Central America was the complete lack of definite information about anything. Never was so little known about so much… It is just a fact of life that no one knows much at all about these oft-photographed and much-talked-about ruins…

Counterparts to the great ritual complexes of Central America once dotted the entire eastern United States, the most notable being the Hopewell culture centering in Ohio and spreading out for hundreds of miles along the entire length of the Mississippi River. These are now believed to be definitely related to corresponding centers in Mesoamerica…

The Book of Mormon is a history of a related primitive church, and one may well ask what kind of remains the Nephites would leave us from their more virtuous days. A closer approximation to the Book of Mormon picture of Nephite culture is seen in the earth and palisade structures of the Hopewell and Adena culture areas than in the later stately piles of stone in Mesoamerica.

C. Northcote Parkinson has demonstrated with withering insight how throughout history really ornate, tasteless, and pompous building programs have tended to come as the aftermath of civilization. After the vital powers are spent, then is the time for the super-buildings, the piling of stone upon stone for monuments of staggering mass and proportion. It was after the disciples of the early church decided to give up waiting for the Messiah and to go out for satisfaction here and now that the Christians of the fourth century took to staging festivals and erecting monuments in the grand manner, covering the whole Near East with structures of theatrical magnificence and questionable taste.

How unlike the building program of the Church today which can barely erect enough of our very functional, almost plain chapels to keep abreast of the growing needs of the Latter-day Saints. Though such piles as the great pyramid-temple of Chichén Itzá yield to few buildings in the world in beauty of proportion and grandeur of conception, there is something disturbing about most of these overpowering ruins. Writers describing them through the years have ever confessed to feelings of sadness and oppression as they contemplate the moldy magnificence—the futility of it all: “They have all gone away from the house on the hill,” and today we don’t even know who they were
.
The great monuments do not represent what the Nephites stood for; rather, they stand for what their descendants, “mixed with the blood of their brethren,” descended to. But seen in the newer and wider perspective of comparative religious studies, they suggest to us not only the vanity of mankind and the futility of man’s unaided efforts, but also something nobler; the constant search of men to recapture a time when the powers of heaven were truly at the disposal of a righteous people.” Ancient Temples: What Do They Signify? By Hugh Nibley September 1972

Now let’s consider the following information about the incredible stacked stone walls of North America. They were built for protection, hiding, concealment of records, and other practical things. Why don’t we find in North America a grand pyramid, or a gorgeous temple of hewn stone, or a palace of stone, built up to worship some evil king or dictator? The Nephites were disciples of God who lived simply without aggrandizement or pride. They built earthworks for burial, temple worship, or representation of a special  mountain or animal. They built works that represented the heavens where  the Great Spirit dwelt. They held sacred the moon, sun, and stars as a spiritual way of worship. Remember the Nephites had the true Gospel of Jesus Christ as we do today. Remember also they lost the blessing of this Gospel. Let us learn from their mistakes.

Stonehenge of North America Salem, NH

What is America’s Stonehenge?

Built by a Native American Culture or a migrant European population? No one knows for sure. A maze of man-made chambers, walls and ceremonial meeting places, at over 4,000 years old America’s Stonehenge is most likely the oldest man-made construction in the United States.

Like Stonehenge in England, America’s Stonehenge was built by ancient people well versed in astronomy and stone construction. It has been determined that the site is an accurate astronomical calendar. It was, and still can be, used to determine specific solar and lunar events of the year.

Various inscriptions have been found throughout the site including Ogham, Phoenician and Iberian Punic Script. Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard University did extensive work on the inscriptions found at the site. They are detailed in his book America B.C.” source: https://www.stonehengeusa.com/

Scattered throughout the woods and fields of New England lie the remains of an ancient civilization. These remnants are enigmatic stone structures that predate European settlement. Standing stone circles, hundreds of impressive and elaborate stone chambers, massive balanced stones, over one million stone cairns, stone animal effigies, solstice and equinox markers and many other unexplained structures litter the landscape. Historical texts, colonial reports, carbon dating, astro-archeological research and Native American oral traditions all support this contention.

The Adena, Hopewell and Mississippian mound building cultures built earthen mounds, pyramids and geometric enclosures that showed an extremely high degree of engineering and mathematical skill. Shell and midden mounds were built from Florida to Maine. Mystery stone walls and forts were built throughout the midwestern states. In the Southwest the Anasazi and Hopi built star cities on the ground that are a perfect reflection of all the major stars in the Orion system. While all this construction and more was happening in ancient America, we are told that in New England there was nothing occurring of note other than scattered native tribes involved in a fairly primitive lifestyle. Archeologists continue to claim that stone chambers are root cellars, elaborate cairns, sometimes up to 9 feet high and conical or in the case of the 25 foot high 200 foot long, Hopkinton, MA cairn, are farmer’s clearing piles and dolmens and balanced rocks are glacial erratics.

The Historical Blackout

It is as if a large circle is drawn around New England which represents a complete absence of pre- colonial construction. This is the conventional wisdom proposed by the Archaeological community, however the evidence does not seem to support this notion. Let us look at several enigmatic stone sites in New England and what they tell us about its mysterious past. America’s Stonehenge in Salem, New Hampshire is probably the most elaborate and controversial site in New England. It has been described by Dr. Edward J. Kealy, professor of History at Holy Cross University as “potentially the most important stone complex in the Northern Hemisphere”. Featured on the History Channel and other programs, this 30 acre complex is a mixture of stone chambers, stone solstice and equinox markers, cairns, chimneys, fireplaces and stone drains. The two largest stones here weigh 45 and 70 tons. The site has been carbon dated to at least 2000 B.C. by scientists at Geochron Labs of Cambridge, Mass after dating 13 different test pits. That dates it’s construction half a millenia before the final construction phase of Stonehenge, and like Stonehenge it possesses many precise astronomical alignments. Stone markers throughout the site provide over 200 alignments with the sun, moon and 45 different stars which have been verified by independent researchers. One alignment wall allows a person to observe the southern most standstill of the moon on its 18.61 year metonic cycle. A period of 18.61 is required to carry the moon to all of its possible positions in respect to the sun. This event is marked at Mystery Hill as the moon passes above the winter solstice stone and then aligns with the terminal of this wall.

Gungywamp

In a letter dated November 30, 1654 by John Pynchon (founder of Springfield, Mass.) lends strong support to the idea that many stone structures existed here before the colonists arrived. Here is a portion of his letter. “Honored Sir, Understanding you are now at New Haven and supposing there will be opportunity from Hartford for conveyance thither, I make bold to scribble a few lines to you… Sir, I hear a report of a stonewall and strong fort (chamber) within it, made all of stone, which is newly discovered at or near Pequet (presently known as the Gungywamp Range), I should be glad to know the truth of it from your self, here being many strange reports about it”. Gungywamp in Groton Conn. is another site that has been thoroughly researched and has generated equally perplexing questions.  Also featured recently on the History Channel in the special “Who really discovered America”. The complex has stone chambers, precolonial walls, a bird petroglyph, a double concentric ring of 21 large quarried stones and has been carbon dated to 600 A.D. Nearby there are several large standing stones that have been carefully positioned along astronomical site lines. The main chamber has a stone lined shaft that was designed precisely to permit the Equinoctial sunset to fully penetrate the chambers dark interior only on the spring equinox. The high density of the granite in the stones magnifies the intensity of the sunlight entering the chamber. Archeo-astronomers have determined that New England is replete with stone chambers. There are some 105 astronomically aligned chambers in Massachusetts,  51 in New Hampshire, 41 in Vermont, 62 in Connecticut, 12 in Rhode Island and 4 in Maine. Suffice it to say, it is obvious that the alignments found at Gungywamp and America’s Stonehenge are not random. Orthodox archaeologists routinely claim that the chambers are colonial root cellars. At the Pound Ridge Historical Museum in New York exists a faded letter dated July 1742. It is from a priest writing back to a local farmer who had just discovered a stone chamber near his property in the woods. The priest instructed the man to stay away from the chamber because it was the work of the devil and was a place where the devil enters this world. Why would this admonishment take place if it was a colonial root cellar as modern archaeologists insist? These stone chamber sites often have large standing stones, stone animal effigy mounds, wells, cairns and wall complexes associated with them.

Mystery in Vermont

James Mavor and Byron Dix led a seven year investigation into stone sites in New England with much of the focus on two sites in Vermont they named Calendar 1 and Calendar 2. Mavor received a masters degree in naval architecture from MIT, taught marine engineering at the U.S. Naval academy and taught mechanical engineering at Northeastern University. As a research specialist in applied physics he was the lead designer of the famous deep sea submersible “Alvin”. Dix was a brilliant optical designer and an expert in archeo-astronomy, surveying, precise measuring and was eminently qualified for the research they undertook measuring the movements of heavenly bodies.  Their results were eye opening. The Calendar Two stone chamber was built with the exact 2 to 1 ratio found at many worldwide sacred sites, it’s roof is constructed with nine 14 foot long expertly joined roof stones that weigh over 3 tons apiece. But even more sophisticated, the size of the doorway entrance is such that it’s limits mark the declination angles 18.3 and 28.6 of the moons major and minor standstills, thus providing a means of accurately predicting eclipses. This form of ecliptic prediction requires advanced astronomical, mathematical and engineering knowledge. Down the road at Vermont’s Calendar One site 8 stone chambers, 14 standing stones, 5 cairn groupings and many other stone structures were meticulously and painstakingly excavated, mapped, and studied. There turns out to be 32 astronomical alignments from one single location at the complex. These two Vermont sites are 14 miles apart but they exist on a perfect north/south alignment accurate to within 200 feet. Mavor and Dix concluded, based on their research that the sites were at least several thousand years old .

Carbon dates and astounding feats

The stone chambers of New England like all the precolonial stonework are dry laid. When you examine any of these chambers you will see that they were not easy to construct, their design is quite complex. The walls are built using a technique called corbelling. This sophisticated architectural design is used to support arches, parapets and floors. In this case corbelling is used in the walls which are made up of piles of stones arched inward to support the ceiling lintel stones. At the New Salem Mass. chamber, the roof is one stone slab which is 10 ft. x 5 ft, several feet thick and weighs over fifteen thousand pounds. Forgetting about the mathematics and geometry of solar orientations for a moment, the organization, engineering and force required to construct some of these chambers is very impressive. In Upton, Mass. there is an enormous stone chamber which was built completely underground and carved into the side of a hill. A 4 ½ foot high 14 foot long tunnel leads into a 12 foot diameter 11 foot high chamber. The irregular stones were meticulously fitted and many roof stones are ovals weighing over ten thousand pounds apiece.This chamber also possesses many precise astronomical alignments with a focus on the Pleiades. Charcoal remains in a stone chamber in Putney, Vermont have been carbon dated to 492 A.D. by Geochron labs.

In 1951, Yale archaeologist Frank Glynn studied the massive stone turtle mound in Andover, Mass. The stone mound has two chambers in it and Glynn found charcoal and human bone remains in them that were carbon dated to 2000 B.C. Glynn also found tools and artifacts that he dated to 3000 B.C. Lastly, in 1981 a team of Harvard archaeologists studied and dated an ancient stone wall at the Flagg Swamp rock shelter in Westborough, Mass. to 2700 B.C. This site was later destroyed to make a cloverleaf for the I-495 interstate highway. Putting aside carbon dating evidence for a minute, are we to believe that colonists built these elaborate and time consuming structures and had the means and desire to orient them to predict eclipses and mark equinoxes and solstices?

The stone walls of New England, to the moon and back

Let us now examine the stone walls of New England. Again conventional wisdom states that every stone wall you see was built sometime in the last 400 years. This seems like a reasonable claim at first glance, colonials definitely built walls for property boundaries and agricultural uses. Timber eventually became scarce in the colonies and fencing was needed as land was farmed and livestock raised. We are told that the majority of the walls were built in a 75 year window between the revolutionary and civil wars. How many walls did and does New England actually have? An 1872 U.S. Department of Agriculture report estimated there were over 240,000 miles of stone walls east of the Hudson river right after the civil war. This very conservative estimate was done using incomplete data and didn’t  account for other areas in the northeast that possess large amounts of stone walls. The actual figure is well over 500,000 miles, many researchers estimate. That is a stone wall that circles the earth 20 times or all the way to the moon and back. Reflect on that staggering reality for a minute. Does it seem likely that a colonial population struggling for survival, involved in several all encompassing wars and working difficult and unforgiving land could have accomplished this feat? The average colonial home burned between 20 and 40 hand cut cords of wood yearly.  Processing this amount of wood, among other overwhelming tasks, in a harsh environment with long and difficult winters left little time for activities like wall building which had very little utility. Take the town of Hawley, Mass., an isolated community in the rugged highlands of Western MA, which has an area of 30.9 square miles. First settled in 1770 it has over one thousand miles of stone walls. However, it’s population at the time in question was 539 in 1790, 1089 in 1820 and back down to 600 in 1879. Could this meager population be responsible for such an impressive feat? To build all the walls of New England would have been the most costly and labor intensive undertaking in colonial history. An enormous venture but with little mention in the historical texts other than the assumption that it was done. The total sheer tonnage of New England’s stone walls represents an amount greater than all the worlds pyramids, stone temples, stone complexes and ancient stone structures combined.

Walls without colonial purpose

An indication of the antiquity of many walls is their seemingly irrational construction and placement. If the only purpose of walls was for agricultural uses such as livestock containment and boundary markers then a massive amount fall into some unknown realm. There are stone walls 12 feet high with 20 foot bases, walls that undulate wildly, tying into glacial erratics, beginning and ending without seeming purpose and defining no boundary. There are walls that are balanced with exact precision and have holes throughout their entire length, walls that have precise geometric shapes such as squares, triangles and rectangles embedded in them. There are walls that have the exact same odd building techniques used from Martha’s Vineyard to Pennsylvania and all around New England. There are walls that enclose huge swamps, climbing up 30 foot cliffs, using precariously perched stones weighing 5 and 10 thousand pounds apiece, boulder walls with stones built off the ground weighing 50 thousand pounds and more. We find walls that consist of quartz that geologists determined had to be brought from miles away because the area in question possessed none, stones actually quarried and used in construction when there is ample stone in close proximity, if the purpose was to clear land or build boundaries. There are walls that end abruptly with serpent and effigy heads, walls that have massive amounts of stone cairns and effigy mounds right next to them that have exactly the same weathering and construction techniques. There are walls over mountains that were never settled or farmed, walls that head straight up such extreme slopes that your lungs burn just to walk them. Many, many walls that use stones weighing tons in total inaccessible areas that could not have been done with the benefit of beasts of burden. Finally, an inordinate amount of walls are located on a path that leads to the setting sun on the solstices. In the northeast the angle of that path is approximately 123 degrees southeast for the winter solstice sunrise and 303 degrees northwest for the summer solstice sunset. Standing along this line, one would see the sun rising on the southeast horizon on the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice and six months later, if you turned around 180 degrees, you would see the sun setting at that point on the horizon, on the longest day of the year, the summer solstice

Underneath the Hudson

The following news item is an example of under reporting that takes place when new information arises that doesn’t fit the existing paradigm. On December 18, 2002 the New York Times reported the following. “Scientists mapping the bottom of the Hudson River with sonar say that they have found nearly every single ship that ever foundered in the river over the last 400 years or more. The surveys have also turned up more mysterious structures, including a series of submerged walls more than 900 feet long that scientists say are clearly of human construction. They say the walls are probably 3000 years old because that was the last time the river’s water levels were low enough to have allowed construction on dry land. “I think there are going to be really significant findings”, said Warren Riess, a research associate professor of history and marine science at the University of Maine”. Or maybe there won’t be because no one will hear about this story again. This is how the information filter works, maybe something might rarely slip by once but never twice. Someone who posted a comment online after the article sums up my sentiments, “The heck with the ships, who was building 900 ft. long stone walls in the Northeast North America in 1000 B.C. or earlier”. Shouldn’t this report rewrite the history books, instead of getting scant attention and then disappearing?” YES Jaredites and Nephites did it!

The records don’t lie

Vieira stone mason, researcher, freelance writer continues, “If many stone walls already existed in the New World when colonists arrived then there must have been documented evidence. This is most certainly the case and many of the reports are matter of fact, as if this were fairly well known and taken for granted. Let’s look at a few of the reports describing Indian “stone fences” and stone walls. The colonists attributed the stone work to Native Americans because they were the culture present at the time but Native American oral tradition does not include stone wall building.  Henry Baker, History of Montville, CT. 1896 p 31. “Owanecco…. afterwards gave them each (two Englishmen who rescued him from drowning) One hundred acres of land, which transaction was afterwards confirmed by the General Court, and ordered to be surveyed and laid out “about a mile or two west northerly of the Ancient Indian Fence”.  Stonington, CT Deeds 1664-1714. Book 2; Part 3; 2-79: “and from thence were run north northeast northerly 288 rod where we marked a small walnut tree and marked seven notches on it a little within the Indian fence at Qualquetoye. The above written act of surveyors was entered Jan. 4th 1680.  Ancestors and descendant of Johnathan Abell, P.11 (Rehoboth, MA) The 26th of the 12th month 1651, it was  agreed that Robert Abell and Richart Bullock should burn the commons round about, from the Indian Fence.  The Smithsonian also documented one of the ancient stone wall complexes found in New Hampshire. Here is part of E. G. Squire’s report. Smithsonian Contribution to Knowledge, Vol 2 1851; p 145-146. “when the first settlers discovered the fort, there were oak trees of large size standing within the stone walls. Within the enclosure and in the mound and vicinity were found innumerable ornaments, such as crystals cut into shapes of diamonds, squares, pyramids, etc…” This site had stone blocking mounds and horseshoe shaped stone walls, both Mississippian mound building features but done with stone and not earth.  There are numerous accounts in the historical texts of chambers, cairns and other enigmatic creations existing before the colonists arrived. Thomas Jefferson, Yale President Ezra Stiles, Cotton Mather, Roger Williams and countless others described the different structures they saw and theorized about who the builders might be.  There is certainly a mystery here and the closer you look, the stranger it gets.”

Source: https://barbaradelong.com/special-projects/secrets-of-the-stones/search-for-the-mysterious-stone-builders-of-new-england-2/Jim Vieira I am a stone mason, researcher, freelance writer and member of the Northeast Antiquities Research Association. I can be reached at [email protected].

References

Byron E. Dix, James W. Mavor, Manitou: The Sacred Landscape of New England’s Native Civilization, Inner Traditions International, 1989.

Francis Hutching, Earth Magic, William Morrow and Co. 1977. pp. 151-159

Philip Imbrogno, Marianne Horrigan, Celtic Mysteries: Windows To Another Dimension In America’s Northeast, Llyewllyn Publications. 2000. pp. 10-14, 92-93

Byron E. Dix, James W. Mavor, Heliolithic Ritual Sites In New England, Northeast Antiquities Research Association Journal, Volume 42 #2 Winter 2008. pp. 2-20

Robert Ellis Cahill, New England’s Ancient Mysteries, Old Saltbox Publishing, 1993. pp. 27-30, 37-43

Gregory L. Little, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Native American Mounds And Earthworks, Eagle Wing Books, Inc. 2009. pp. 2-9

Louis H. Everts, History of The Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, Volume 2, 1879.

Tom Draheim “A Look at Andover Turtle Mound”, Andover Guide Spring 2007.

Six Mysterious Stone Structures of New England

Upton, Massachusetts
Stone Chamber

Everyone knows that stone walls cover the New England landscape like honeycombs. But far fewer people know about the region’s hundreds of mysterious stone structures.
In the 1930s, someone estimated that New England had 250,000 miles of stone walls. In the following decades came inventories of the region’s stone structures, which some believed to be ancient.

Some of those ancient stone structures are oriented to the stars and planets. They also stand near megaliths, cairns or dolmens. A few have what are probably stone beds or sacrificial altars.

Speculation now runs rampant about the origins of the mysterious stone structures. Did medieval Irish monks, American Indians or Vikings build them? Or did the English colonists just built them as root cellars?

Most noteworthy, just three Northeast counties account for the majority of stone structures in North America: Putnam County, N.Y.; New London County, Conn.; and Windsor County, Vt.

Massachusetts has the densest concentration of beehive-shaped stone chambers like those built by Culdee monks in Ireland. The state has 105 sites containing stone structures.

Connecticut also has quite a few at 62, New Hampshire has 51 and Vermont has 41. Tiny Rhode Island has only 12 stone structures, but still more than Maine, which has only four.

Some speculate that perhaps ancient voyagers frequently traveled the Merrimack, the Thames and the Connecticut rivers. They then built their stone structures along those routes. More Here: http://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/6-mysterious-stone-structures-new-england/

More Stone Wall Information

• E. G. Squier, Antiquities of the State of New York, Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. II, 1851; p. 145-6: “There are . . . some remains in the State of New Hampshire, which, whatever their origin, are entitled to notice. The subjoined plan of one of these is from a sketch made in 1822 by Jacob B. Moore, Esq., late Librarian of the Historical Society of New York, who has also furnished the accompanying description.

  ‘According to your request, I send the inclosed sketch and memoranda of an ancient fortification, supposed to have been the work of the Penacook Indians, a once powerful tribe, whose chief seat was in the neighborhood of Concord, New Hampshire. . . . Under the name of Penacooks, were probably included all the Indians inhabiting the valley of the Merrimack, from the great falls at the Amoskeag to the Winnepiseogee Lake, and the great carrying-place on the Pemiqewasset. That they were one and the same tribe, is rendered probable from the exact similarity of relics, which have been found at different places, and from the general resemblance of the remains of ancient fortifications, which have been traced near the lower falls of the Winnepiseogee, in Franklin and Sanbornton, and on the table-land known as the Sugar-Ball Plain in Concord. . . . The accompanying sketch was taken in pencil, on a visit to the spot, in company with the Hon. James Clark and several friends in the month of September, 1822. The remains are on the west side of the Winnepiseogee, near the head of Little Bay, in Sanbornton, New Hampshire. The traces of the walls were at that time easily discerned, although most of the stones had been removed to the mill-dam near at hand, on the river. On approaching the site, we called upon a gentleman (James Gibson) who had lived for many years near the spot, and of whom we learnt the following particulars: He had lived in Sanbornton fifty-two years, and had known the fort some time previous to settling in the place. When he came to the town to reside, the walls were two or three feet high, though in some places they had fallen down, and the whole had evidently much diminished in height, since the first erection. They were about three feet in thickness, constructed of stones outwardly, and filled in with clay, shells, gravel, etc., and such as men in a savage state would be supposed to use for such a purpose. They were placed together with much order and regularity, and when of their primitive height, the walls must have been very strong–at least, sufficiently strong for all the purposes of defence against an enemy to whom the use of firearms was unknown. . . . When the first settlers discovered the fort, there were oak trees of large size standing within the walls. Within the inclosure, and in the mound and vicinity, were found innumerable Indian ornaments, such as crystals cut into rude shapes of diamonds, squares, pyramids, etc., with ornamental pipes of stone and clay–coarse pottery ornamented with various figures–arrowheads, hatchets of stone, and other common implements of peace and war. The small [adjacent] island in the bay appears to have been a burial-place, from the great quantity of bones and other remains disclosed by the plough, when settlements were commenced by the whites. Before the island was cultivated, there were several large excavations resembling cellars or wells discovered, for what purpose constructed or used, can of course be only conjectured. . . . After writing thus far, I addressed a note to the Hon. James Clark, of Franklin, New Hampshire, with inquiries as to the present state of these ruins. Mr. Clark was kind enough at once to make a special visit to the site of the ruins, in company with Mr. Bradford, son of one of the settlers. The following is an extract from his reply:
  The remains of the walls are in part plainly to be traced; but the ground since our former examination has been several years ploughed and cultivated, so as to now give a very indistinct view of what they were in our previous visit, when the foundation of the whole could be distinctly traced. No mounds or passage-ways can now be traced. . . . The stones used in these walls were obtained on the ground, and were of such size as one man could lift; they were laid as well as our good walls for fences in the north, and very regular; they were about three feet in thickness and breast high when first discovered. The stones have been used to fill in the dam now adjoining. There were no embankments in the interior. The distance between the outer and inner wall was about sixty feet; the distance from the north to the south wall was about 250 feet, and from the west wall to the river about 220 feet. There were two other walls extending south to Little Bay. . . . The remains of a fortification, apparently of similar construction to that above described, were some years since to be seen on the bluffs east of the Merrimack River, in Concord, on what was formerly known as Sugar-Ball Plain. The walls could readily be traced for some distance, though crumbled nearly to the ground, and overgrown with large trees.’ ”

The sketch referenced above can be viewed below.  The green arrow indicates a cairn, while the three red arrows point to the blocking mounds opposite the entrances, a common theme in Mississippian architecture, although usually constructed of earth.  The horseshoe design is a common Native religious architectural practice as well.  It should be noted that some of the walls (both in the horseshoe and the portion south of it) are parallel, common features in Native wall complexes.
Source: http://nativestones.com/walls.htm

Documentation of Native stone walls

As reported in late 2002 in the NY Times, high-resolution sonar surveys of the Hudson river revealed ancient stone walls: “The surveys have also turned up more mysterious structures, including a series of submerged walls more than 900 feet long that scientists say are clearly of human construction. They say the walls are probably 3,000 years old because that was the last time the river’s water levels were low enough to have allowed construction on dry land.” Note this is a conservative age estimate, at least one of the researchers believes a 7,000-year-old age is more likely. Scattered accounts of Native stone walls (a.k.a. “fences”) occur in early records, several of which are reproduced below:

• Carl Bridenbaugh, editor, The Letters of John Pynchon; Vol. 1, 1984; John Pynchon (founder of Springfield, Massachusetts), in a letter to John Winthrop Jr. (then at New Haven, Connecticut), dated Nov. 30, 1654:
  “Sir I heare a report of a stonewall and strong fort in it, made all of Stone, which is newly discovered at or neere Pequot, I should be glad to know the truth of it fro yourselfe, here being many strange reports about it.”

• Queen’s “Fort” (a.k.a. Quaipan’s Fort) in Exeter, RI is a massive stone construction of Native American origin, listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980.  The contention that it was a fort makes no sense, it is a religious complex.

  Source: http://nativestones.com/walls.htm

I have received a lot of feedback in the comments section on my recent blog here titled, “WHY DO MANY CHURCH HISTORIANS INSIST THAT THE FINAL BATTLE OF THE NEPHITES AND LAMANITES DIDN’T HAPPEN AT THE ONE AND ONLY HILL CUMORAH?” There is a good discussion with friends of the Mesoamerican Theory and the Heartland Theory that I think is informative and you will enjoy reading at a latter time.

I believe it is important to understand both sides of the issue as we search for truth. From the earliest age until I was well into my 40’s I always thought the Hill Cumorah was in Mexico somewhere. With much reading and studying and prayer on my own, after hearing a message from Rod Meldrum, and through much prayer, I now believe strongly there is only one Cumorah in upstate New York.

Elder Todd Christofferson says, “It is commonly understood in the Church that a statement made by one leader on a single occasion often represents a personal, though well-considered, opinion, not meant to be official or binding for the whole Church.’ ”This quote saying “made by one leader” above is absolutely true, but it does not account for the hundreds of leaders who speak about North American geography. Do you who trust and believe Joseph Smith, believe his words when he said to Emma that he was “wandering over the Plains of the Nephites?” Do you trust the fact that Joseph was camped on the Mississippi River near a small landing near the town of Atlas, Illinois? Do you indeed believe Joseph wrote said letter of June 4, 1834, as shown in the Joseph Smith papers? Was Joseph telling Emma the truth? Did he have any reason to be making something up here? Do you really think that Joseph was traveling on the very plains that the Nephites had once walked on, some 2,000 years ago? If he were not, why would Joseph say he was walking on those very plains of the Nephites? Was he really roving over the Nephite mounds and was it indeed a proof of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon? Joseph was speaking to his wife, and he would have no reason to make something up or lie to her, would he? Did Zion’s Camp travelers really see physical mounds? Did Joseph really say this, “proof of [the Book of Mormon’s] divine authenticity?” Yes, and yes.

Here is the Source of this Amazing letter to Emma
JS, Letter, [Pike Co., IL], to Emma Smith, Kirtland Township, Geauga Co., OH, 4 June 1834. Retained copy, [between ca. June and ca. Oct. 1839], in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 56–59; handwriting of James Mulholland; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.

So, Joseph spoke a FACT, not a FEELING. Joseph spoke the truth and I believe Joseph, and I know that Joseph knows that the plains of the Nephites in the Book of Mormon are in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. Today not one of the maps representing all the various geography of the Book of Mormon believe in the Hemispheric Model anymore. Not even the Mesoamericans or the Heartlanders believe the Hemispheric Model (Map Left) anymore because the vast distance in miles make it impossible to say all of North America is where the Nephites lived, and the Lamanites lived in South America. Also, if the Nephites really lived somewhere as I know they did, why do we need a CES fantasy map (Left side of picture below)  pretending we don’t know where they lived? If the Mesoamerican theorists really believe their theory, they would continue to use a real map of Central America, wouldn’t they?

My friend Jonathan Neville said, “For decades, LDS scholars have labored to establish and defend a Mesoamerican setting for the Book of Mormon because they believed they were vindicating what Joseph Smith wrote (or approved) in three articles published in the Times and Seasons on 15 September and 1 October 1842. The discovery that it was someone other than Joseph Smith, Wilford Woodruff, or John Taylor who wrote the articles, led to the further discovery that Benjamin Winchester wrote the articles linking the Book of Mormon to Central America, and that William Smith edited and published them. These discoveries raise serious questions about the original premise for both hemispheric and Mesoamerican theories of Book of Mormon geography. Although now discredited, these Times and Seasons articles have influenced generations of Latter-day Saints—members, scholars, and leaders—and have been frequently cited by those who advocate a Mesoamerican setting.” Moroni’s America Page 317

Joseph Fielding Smith said about the theory of Book of Mormon Geography in Mesoamerica; “Because of this theory some members of the Church have become confused and greatly disturbed in their faith in the Book of Mormon.” Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, Edited by Bruce McConkie, Vol. 3 [1999] 232–243.

“The Prophet Joseph Smith here declares that “this land” shall be the place of the New Jerusalem and adds that it is to be “established on this continent.” Here the prophet links “this continent” with the “very spot of land” for the New Jerusalem indicating that it was not a hemispherical setting of which he was thinking. Joseph knew where the New Jerusalem was to be built, what “continent” and what “spot of land” that was prophesied of in the Book of Mormon, and they are all within the confines of North America and the United States.” Prophesies and Promises by Rod Meldrum and Bruce Porter

Dr. Kevin Price said, “For years I looked to Mesoamerica to find the scientific evidence for Book of Mormon Geography and it was a big nothing burger for over 30 years. The ruins they look to in Mesoamerica area were constructed hundred of years after the Nephites were destroyed, the ruins are not Israelite in structure but solid Hindu, the DNA of the Maya is Asian. The remains of human bone powder covering large areas have been found around the Hill Cumorah in New York as confirmed by Cornell University, the metals from the battles were carried off long ago and Parley Pratt said his father, who was a blacksmith found all the scrap metal he needed around Hill Cumorah. More importantly, however, we do not find Adam-ondi-Ahman, New Jerusalem, the restored gospel, the Land of Liberty, nor the Promised Land in Mesoamerica. The Church headquarters is not found in Mesoamerica. Why did Thomas Stuart Ferguson leave the church after exploring for Book of Mormon evidence in Mesoamerica for decades and after spending hundreds of thousands of members money in Mesoamerica. To me, Meso is like eating cotton candy, it looks beautiful (Pagans have been very good at building temples, but they used them for Human blood sacrifices, and used stairs and ornately carved stone altars forbidden by God), but take a bite of the cotton candy and there is NOTHING there. The good news is many members are abandoning Meso and coming back to North America. Every member I talk to tells me they never believed in Meso and was waiting for the evidence to be found in North America. As we find more evidence, increasing numbers of members are coming to the truth. The avalanche of truth is near and it is exciting.” Kevin Price PhD, University of Kansas

The purpose of my information below is to share with you significant archaeological evidence for the ancient Hopewell and Adena Culture nearby the Hill Cumorah. There is evidence of fortifications, pottery, copper, weapons, palisades, forts, mass burials, mounds, tools and other artifacts all around this area. I believe the Hopewell culture matches up with the Nephite culture extraordinarily well. The Hopewell originated in 600 BC at the panhandle of Florida from Crystal River to Pensacola, Florida. History documents this. The Hopewell then traveled north into Georgia and Tennessee. There is evidence of a huge society of the Hopewell from Missouri to Illinois to Indiana and then to Ohio which was the dominant historical area of this people. History shows the end of the Hopewell civilization around the year 400 AD. Historians say the Hopewell just disappeared and historians have no idea what happened. I feel I have a good idea. The final battle at Cumorah was 385 AD. This is some of the best evidence of a possible link to the Hopewell and the Nephites.

My friend who is a very loving Christian and Preacher named Richard D. Moats is an Avocational Archaeologist, who has lived in Ohio his entire life and jokes with me and says, “I know the people of Ohio as Hebrews and you know them as Nephites. We have found the same people.” Doesn’t it really make sense that there has to be traces of Hebrew where Lehi and Nephi lived? Search for yourself. Many signs show Hebrew influence in North America and especially in Ohio. It’s sad that many professionals say all the artifacts are a hoax. They have to say that for over 20 various items that have been discovered. See my blog here and here:

After reading the material from only these two sources, you will come away with amazing enthusiasm that ancient people lived in North America during the same time period as the Nephites and the Jaredites. Those that lived from about 1,500 BC to 200 BC in North America near the Great Lakes were historically called the Adena culture, and those who historically are called the Hopewell Culture lived all over North America, with Ohio as their center culture from 600 BC to 400 AD. See my blog here.

If you really want to see and know about the many thousands of proofs about civilization, wars, artifacts, and battles, I will share more information than you need, to tell your Mesoamerican friends, there are indeed thousands of evidences that the final battles of the Book of Mormon happened near Hill Cumorah in New York.

To access these two sources I will speak about, visit the links below:

THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK BY ARTHUR C. PARKER, ARCHEOLOGIST

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF NEW YORK BY WILLIAM RITCHIE

RESOURCE #1

THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK BY ARTHUR C. PARKER, ARCHEOLOGIST

New York State Museum JOHN M. CLARKE, Director

List of Sites Page 654 Ontario County, NY (Time Period 100 BC to 1700 AD)

1 Village and palisaded hilltop stronghold on Boughton hill 1 1/ 4 miles south of the village of Victor. This famous site is on the farms of M. E. McMahon, W. B. Moore and W. J. Greene. It occupies the top of Boughton hill and lies along the 800 feet contour line, which is 250 feet above the village of Victor. The hill points northward and is bounded on the eastern, western and northern sides by precipitous slopes that drop to the valleys of two brooks, both of which flow into the Mud creek. The westmost brook is known as White brook and takes its beginning in a spring on the side of a hill. This site is that of the Gandagora which was destroyed by DeNonville in 1687. It was visited by Greenhalgh in 1677 who said it resembled Onondaga. Before its destruction the Jesuits had established in this village, a mission which they called St Jacques, so that there are fairly adequate contemporaneous accounts of the village and its occupants. The site was excavated by Frederick Houghton for the Buffalo Society of Natural Sciences. His excavations are described in volume 10, number 2, of the bulletin of the society.

2 Fort and stronghold site known as Fort hill 11/2 miles west of Boughton hill in an air line. This corresponds with DeNonville’s account of the ” picket fort at the top of a little mountain, scarped on all sides.” Some fifty years ago traces of the earthwork or palisaded bases were to be seen, but this wall has now been destroyed by cultivation.

3 Burial place I mile from Boughton hill on the John Bunce farm ‘his is directly south and on the east side of the Bloomfield road near the county line. This site was excavated by Frederick Houghton who found more than fifty pits containing human remains and many objects of European manufacture intermixed with articles of native lake.

4 Village site on the farms of Jesse and George Marsh, and a burial site on Ira DeLong and David Thompson’s farms. This site is near the northeast corner of East Bloomfield and on lot 13. It is about one-fourth of a mile east of Mud creek and on the eastern slope of brook running into it. Without doubt it is the site of the Jesuit mission of St Michel, which was occupied mostly by the captive Neuter and Huron converts after the destruction of their nations, in historical accounts the site is known as Gandougarae.

5 Burial place near this village on the farm of Ira DeLong, excavated by Frederick Houghton.

6 Burial place also connected with the Gandougarae site on le farm of George Marsh, which has been excavated by Heman Coates, Fred Hamlin, William L. Bryant and Frederick Houghton.  Mr. Houghton has described the site on page 42 of his monograph in the ” Seneca nation, from 1655 to 1687.”

7 Village and burial site on lot 35, East Bloomfield, on the Henry Fox farm. It is on the bank of Mud creek and most of the graves are found in the heavy red clay.

8 Village site on the Appleton farm on the eastern bank of Fish creek, at the forks of the road 2 miles northeast of Holcomb station. The village tract covers a considerable area of land and European objects have been found.

9 Village and burial site on the Beale farm, lot 7, East Bloomfield. This is on the south side of Cherry street one-half of a mile west of the road from Victor to Holcomb and just south of the Victor Township line. It is 1 1/ 2 miles south of Boughton hill and occupies an irregular knoll surrounded on three sides by small streams. Mr Houghton estimates the area as 15 acres. The usual material found on sites of the early historic period are present. Burials were located by Houghton on a knoll on the western edge of the village. They were- deep in the clay and sand and sometimes as many as six bodies were found in the burial pits. Houghton records thirty-four graves and describes the site on page 239 of the ” Seneca Bulletin.”

10 Extensive village site on the Augusta Warren farm, lot 75, West Bloomfield, near the railroad station. The site occupies the rolling land along the eastern site of Honeoye creek. Between the site which lies on the hill some 50 feet above the creek and the stream itself are wide flats some 200 to 300 feet from the base of the hill. The site seems to have been occupied for an extended period and has two cemeteries. More than twenty entire pottery vessels were found in the burials, together with many articles of shell, bone, stone and wood.

11 Village and burial site at Factory Hollow on lot 64, West Bloomfield. The site occupies the abrupt terrace above the Honeoye outlet and above the eastern slope. The hill is very steep ; a village i burial site lay upon its top 100 feet above the valley. The burials were found along the western edge of the hill a little distance from the main village site. Here more than one hundred graves have been opened but very few objects of European occupation have been found except brass kettles. The village site proper occupied the wider portion of the hill at the southern end and all along the edge of the numerous refuse deposits that contained many bone implements, notched and serrated potsherds, and other discarded and broken material. Locally the place is known as the ” Shattock site ” and the hill as ” Fort hill.” The period is the beginning of European contact.

12 On his map of the Seneca country, Gen. J. S. Clark placed an Indian village almost in the center of the town of East Bloomfield. Mr Hildburgh reported a cemetery there.

13 Village site reported by Fred H. Hamlin on lot 16, East Bloomfield, on the Nead farm.

14 Village site on the Andrews farm at the north angle of the road northwest of Bristol.

15 Just southeast of this in the upper portion of the valley of Mud creek is a river site on the Sears farm.

16 Site on the Jackson farm in the northeast corner of Bristol township, just south of the Richmond Mills road and southwest of Bristol hill.

17 Village and hilltop stronghold on the George Reed farm near the western boundary of Richmond township and on the southeast side of the Hemlock lake outlet. This site is on a sand hill that lies between two small streams running into the outlet; on the north side is a high slate bank running down into the brook. A pathway down the upper slope of this bank leads to a fine spring which probably supplied water for the village. The opposite ravine is less deep but separates the tract of land from the gradual sloping hillside beyond. Throughout the site, especially the lower portion facing the valley, many pits have been found from which excavators have taken numerous objects of flint and bone. The hillside refuse deposit are especially rich, but no object of European origin has yet been discovered. The site seems in every way a precolonial Seneca village; the type of the potsherds discovered are similar to those found on the sites of the colonial period throughout the region. The State Museum has a collection of some one thousand specimens taken from the site by Alva H. Reed. For detailed description

18 Burial site on lot 25 on the John C. Briggs farm west of the site of Honeoye, in the town of Richmond. About twenty skeletons have been found in a gravel pit. A small village site is just to the northeast.

19 Burial site on lot 23 in Richmond, on the Blackner farm, reported by Albert Van Buren.

20 Honeoye, at the foot of Honeoye lake one-half of a mile east of the outlet and south of Mill creek, was burned in 1779 (Sullivan, p. 130). There were recent articles on Phelp’s flat near the old Indian castle at the foot of the lake (Turner, P. & G., p. 199, 203). Clark placed the village on his map west of the outlet, but there are two older sites there, one village and one cemetery.

21 A small cemetery was 3 miles south of Canandaigua, west of the lake.

22 Randall reported a small cemetery 3 miles west of Canandaigua on a flattened ridge.

23 A mile east of Canandaigua was an oval work on a hillside overlooking the lake, with one gateway and half the wall remaining. The turnpike road from Canandaigua to Geneva passed through it. An early cemetery also (Squier, p. 55, pi. 6, no. 2). This appears in figure 66. Schoolcraft placed it on Fort Hill a mile north of Canandaigua and 1000 feet around (Schoolcraft, Report, p. 109).

24 Mr Hildburgh located a village and cemetery on Arsenal hill one-half of a mile west of Canandaigua, lot 32.

25 Village or camp at the north end of the lake near the outlet and camps along that stream.

26 There was an early site on the east side of the lake a little south of this.

27 On the west shore, just south of Canandaigua, was another early site with caches. A small burial site (21) is nearby (Clark).

28 Graves have been found near the courthouse and a cemetery just west of the village.

29 Ossuary containing eighteen skeletons was found in the park at the outlet. Mrs F. F. Thompson has erected a marker to these ” unknown graves. ”

30 Relics have been reported from Squaw island, at the foot of Canandaigua lake.

31 A grave of burned clay was opened on the east side of Canandaigua lake in July 1893. It was 4 miles south of Canandaigua and one-half of a mile east of Gage’s landing. ” Many early relics were found in the vicinity.”

32 Village site on Darwin McClure’s farm, lot 20, Hopewell, 3 miles southeast of Canandaigua, one-half of a mile north of the turnpike. A recent cemetery is not far away, and modern relics have been found. The site is probably that of one of the Onaghee villages.

33 Burial site on the Albert Rose farm I mile north of Machester. Several graves have been opened and relics believed by Mr Follett to be of ” mound-builder origin ” have been found. Mr Follett describes a native copper axe from this site and says it is of an unusual type.

34 A small village was west of Manchester Center, on the south bank of Canandaigua outlet, nearly 21/2 miles northwest of the village west of Clifton. Earthenware and articles of stone occur. It was probably a fishing camp.

35 A large fortified town was in the town of Phelps, on the south side of the bluff facing Canandaigua outlet. A wall has been described there. No recent articles have been found; all are of stone or clay. The .site is northwest of the village of Phelps.

36 Five miles northwest of Geneva, in Phelps, was a stockade on Fort hill. This was not far from a hill on which was an earthwork. It was a long parallelogram through which the road ran, on one side of which the post holes remained. There were caches and early relics (Squier, p. 87, 88, pi. 13, no. 2).

37 Large village site just northeast of Naples, and lying between Naples and Old creek. The occupation is Algonkian. No bone articles are found. D. D. Luther has collected a large number of implements from this and adjacent sites.

38 Burial site in Naples village. Iroquoian. Pipes have been found.

39 Small village site with burials on the west side of Honeoye lake on the California ranch. Four skeletons were exhumed here during highway excavations.

40 Earthwork 3 1/2 miles northwest of Geneva, east of the Castle road. It was 800 feet long and an early site on high ground (Squier, p. 55, pi. 7, no. 1). There are graves in the southern part.

41 Among the pine barrens on Mr Swift’s farm 3 miles north of Geneva is a small site, with early relics, reported by Dr W. G. Hinsdale.,

42 In Geneva, on the old DeZeng place, west of Main street, were many early relics and also camps near the south end of Main street on the south side of Glass Factory bay.

43 Kashong, on Kashong creek, 7 miles south of Geneva, was burned in 1779, but the recent site is hardly well defined. A recent cemetery was opened near the lake in 1889.

44 Village and burial site on Wilson creek, lot 32, Seneca.

45 A small cemetery was opened near Melvin hill in 1896. The heads of skeletons were to the west.

46 There is a scattered site with early relics on the farm of John Laws on the county line north of the Waterloo road.

47 George S. Conover reported a group of recent sites on Burrell creek, which are here placed under one number. The creek is very crooked and the lots are not in regular order.

48 There was an orchard and a small cemetery on lot 36, Seneca, east of the creek on the Rupert farm. Fireplaces have been found.

49 A mile east of this and south of the creek was a recent village and cemetery on the old Wheadon farm, on lot 12.

50 A recent cemetery without relics and with longitudinal burial was on the Rippey farm, lot 9, south of the creek.

51 A trail from the southeast came to the center of the old Brother farm on which there was a village. It followed the highway north- westerly.

52 Site west of Flint on Flint creek. Stone age material. Reported by H. C. Follett.

53 Canaenda was removed to lot 32 on Burrell creek where there, was a large cemetery mostly on N. A. Read’s farm about 25 rods southwest of the creek. On that farm and east of the creek was one of the principal sites of the town.

54 On lot 31, west of the creek, was another recent cemetery.

55 Lodge sites and a cemetery were on the Hazlet farm, lot west of Burrell creek.

56 Burial mound, recent, at Clifton Springs ; explored by J. Sanborn.

57 Early village site just south of Clifton Springs, nearly a mil south of the Canandaigua outlet. It occupied a little over 2 acres. Explorations by J. W. Sanborn in 1889 revealed fireplaces very numerous and close together. It seems to have been long inhabited and was of early date. There are fragments of decorated pottery fine celts and arrowheads. Articles of bone have been found, none of shell. Reported by Irving W. Coates.

58 Early village, reported by Mr Coates, is 1 l / 2 miles west of one at Clifton Springs. The relics are similar to those found the site above mentioned excepting that no bone articles have been found. It was a small village, but the few fireplaces are large and deep. The site is a mile south of the Canandaigua outlet one-fourth of a mile west of Fall brook.

59 Skeletons have been exhumed and relics found at Littleville, a hamlet on the creek south of Shortsville. Some of the latter indicate early visitors, and several trails converged at the ford there.

60 Three-fourths of a mile south of Chapinville, near the creek, was a workshop. Flint chips, unfinished weapons and fine stone articles were once frequent there. Some other reputed Indian sites which he had not personally examined, Mr Coates did not describe.

61 Small village site reported by J. H. V. Clarke.

62 Village of Kanadesaga, situated just west of the city of Geneva. This was one of the important Seneca towns burned by General Sullivan in the punitive raid of 1779. Squier, who visited the site in 1840, said that the palisade traces were distinct, due to the fact that the Indians in ceding the lands stipulated that this, their famous town site, should not be used for cultivated ground. Their plea was, ” Here sleep our fathers, and they can not rest well if they hear the plow of the white man above them.” When Sullivan destroyed the village it consisted of fifty houses with adjacent fields of corn and large orchards. The raiders destroyed the corn, hay and other stored food and cut down the orchards. In robbing the houses they found many trinkets, pelts and other things of value. Near the village was a mound in which the body of a giant Seneca was reputed by tradition to be buried. In the center of the village was a stockade built by Sir William Johnson. Morgan and Squier have written in an interesting manner concerning Ga-nunda-sa-ga and the records of Sullivan’s expedition give a contemporary description of it. The Rev. Samuel Kirkland spent some time here and had an interesting adventure. It was here that the great
Gaiyengwahtoh or Disappearing Smoke lived.

63 Village site and stockade site 2 miles southwest of Geneva.

64 Small village site a mile east of Littleville, and southwest of Manchester, on the southern portion of lot 25. Here have been found many beautiful specimens of chalcedony points. Mr Follett says that here in a lump of hard clay found 3 feet below the surface were found five ancient looking and crude chert points.

65 Camp site, evidently an extensive and permanent one, is situated just one-fourth of a mile north of

64. There is a fine spring here known as ” The Indian spring.” Relics of many sorts are found in the adjacent fields, but mostly on the Follett farm. There are places where the arrow and spear points are crude and primitive; other places where there is plain evidence of European contact, as Mr Follett points out in the instance of the finding of a copper spoon with a bullet hole through the bowl.

66 Village and camp sites at the head of Honeoye lake on the farm of Delevan Alger. Bolo stones or grooved weights have been found here, according to Mr Follett, who also reports several perforated disks of sandstone. Mr Dewey has two specimens of these from this site.

67 Village and camp sites on the east side of Honeoye lake, where hammer stones and notched points have been found.

This is the end of information about Ontario County, in THE ARCHEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF NEW YORK BY ARTHUR C. PARKER. There are hundreds of other pages of additional counties in New York as well. It’s amazing information.

Aboriginal Monuments of New York by E.G. Squier 1849 (Book) Faithful reprint of the original 1849 book Aboriginal Monuments of New York by E. G. Squire.  This book is the forerunner to the updated Antiquities of the State of New York which was released two years later in 1851.  It is larger format with larger type that makes it easier reading. Purchase Now

RESOURCE #2

THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF NEW YORK STATE BY WILLIAM A. RITCHIE

Antiquities of the State of New York by E.G. Squier 1851 (Book) Purchase Now

Above: THE MOUND-BUILDERS BY HENRY CLYDE SHETRONE Director and Archeologist, The Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society. COPYRIGHT; 1930, BY  D. APPLETON AND COMPANY https://archive.org/details/moundbuildersrec00shet/page/240

Ancient Burial Sites of New York

The following article is from JosephKnew.com

E-G-Squire Antiquities of New York
In earlier articles we have discussed the skillful and precise construction of great cities, large temple mounds and military defenses. The information in these articles has come from a variety of sources, including personal visits to the sites. Some of the best information on the ancient civilizations of North America has been provided by Ephraim George Squier (1821 – 1888). Along with his research and publishing partner Edwin Hamilton Davis (1811 – 1888), he unknowingly provided us with great insight into the lives, religions, cities and social networks of the people of the Book of Mormon.

In his book, Antiquities of the State of New York, Squier chronicles something much different than is found in his previous publications, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley and Aboriginal Monuments of the State of New York. Instead of descriptions of beautifully aligned cities, or carefully laid out military forts, he reports of works “constructed in haste for temporary purposes”. He details evidence of “indiscriminate massacres” and “bone-pits”.

Connections to the Book of Mormon
Joseph Knew Mormon Media Network Final Battle near Buffalo NYIn the Book of Mormon, in the 6th chapter of Mormon, the Nephites gather to the land Cumorah for the final battles with the Lamanites. If, as we have proposed in a previous article, the land Cumorah was in upstate New York near the Hill Cumorah, Rochester, and Buffalo, then the following passage from Squier’s chapter Ancient Work near Buffalo takes on significant meaning.

“Tradition fixes upon this spot as the scene of the final and most bloody conflict between the Iroquois and the ‘Gah-kwas’ or Erie — a tradition which has been supposed to derive some sanction from the number of fragments of decayed human bones which are scattered over the area.” (Antiquities of the State of New York, E. G. Squire, M. A., 1851, page 74)

Tens of Thousands Killed
“And Lamah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Gilgal had fallen with his ten thousand; and Limhah had fallen with his ten thousand; and Jeneum had fallen with his ten thousand; and Cumenihah, and Moronihah, and Antionum, and Shiblom, and Shem, and Josh, had fallen with their ten thousand each.” (Mormon 6:14)

The number of people slaughtered at Cumorah seems incomprehensible. Many non-believers cite these passages as evidence of Joseph Smith’s great imagination. Surely there would be evidence today of such large numbers of dead people. While excavating along the banks of the Erie Canal the following was recorded:

“In excavating the canal through the bank bordering the flats, perhaps thirty rods south of the fort, another burial-place was disclosed, evidently more ancient, for the bones crumbled to pieces almost immediately upon exposure to the air, and the deposits were far more numerous than in that near the river. The number of skeletons are represented to have been countless, and the dead had been buried in a sitting posture.” (Antiquities of the State of New York, E. G. Squier, M. A., 1851, page 144)

“One of these pits discovered some years ago, in the town of Cambria, Niagara County, was estimated to contain the bones of several thousand individuals.” (Ibid, page 99)

Squier uncovered evidence of savage warfare, which left “bone-heaps” and “bone-pits” throughout the Finger Lakes region of New York (Cumorahland).

“Besides the various earth-works, there are a number of other interesting objects of antiquarian interest in this county. Among them may be mentioned the ‘bone-pits’ or deposits of human bones. One is found near the village of Brownsville, on Black River. It is described as a pit, ten or twelve feet square, by perhaps four feet deep, in which are promiscuously heaped together a large number of human skeletons.” (Ibid, page 29 – italics in the original)

“Near the town of Fulton, on the west side of Oswego River, is an eminence called ‘Bone Hill’ in which have been found great numbers of human bones promiscuously heaped together. They are much decayed. Intermixed with them were discovered a number of flint arrow-heads.” (Ibid, page 31 – italics in the original)

In Genesee County the ruins of a large enclosure were discovered.

“It was called the ‘Bone Fort’ from the circumstance that the early settlers found within it a mound, six feet in height by thirty at the base, which was entirely made up of human bones slightly covered with earth. A few fragments of these bones, scattered over the surface, alone mark the site of the aboriginal sepulcher. The popular opinion concerning this accumulation is, that it contained the bones of the slain, thus heaped together after some severe battle.”

“There have also been discovered some heaps of small stones; which have been supposed to be the missiles of the ancient occupants of the hill, thus got together to be used in case of attack.” (Ibid, pages 66 and 69)

Joseph-Knew-Mormon-Media-Network-Ancient-burial-sites-in-

VIctor-New-York
The “bone-pits” found in New York differ in one important way from burial grounds in the Mississippi Valley. Unlike those in Mississippi, the Cumorahland pits and mounds appear to be created in great haste. A mound near Greene Township, NY, near the Chenango River was discovered and excavated.

“Great numbers of human bones were found ; and beneath them, at a greater depth, others were found which had evidently been burned. No conjecture could be formed of the number of bodies deposited here. The skeletons were found lying without order, and so much decayed as to crumble on exposure. At one point in the mound a large number, perhaps two hundred, arrowheads were discovered, collected in a heap. They were of the usual form, and of yellow or black flint.” (ibid, pages 47 and 48)

The End of Two Great Nations
The Book of Mormon tells of two great battles of genocide that took place in Cumorahland, the Jaredites and centuries later the Nephites. Could the two layers of burials described above be evidence of the end of these great civilizations?

In a previous article, we discussed the bones, arrowheads, and weapons that continue to be found in the Finger Lakes region of New York. There are many contemporary firsthand accounts of massive graves throughout the area known as Cumorahland. Students of the Book of Mormon looking for evidence of the great battles of the Jaredites and the Nephites can look in the Land of Many Waters in Upstate New York.

Copyright © 2015 by Energy Media Works LLC

We thank our friends at JosephKnew.com

Where are the bones and steel?
“In short, a bone is a living, self-maintaining, self-repairing organ—not an inert, cement-like substance that would tend to passively disintegrate with the passage of time.bone is quite resistant to degradation but will eventually be broken down by physical breaking, decalcification, and dissolution. The rate at which bone is degraded, however, is highly dependent on its surrounding environment. When soil is present, its destruction is influenced by both abiotic (water, temperature, soil type, and pH) and biotic (fauna and flora) agents.” Ken Saladin, Textbook author, human anatomy and physiology.

How long for a sword to decompose: “It mostly depends on where it’s been stored. Wood, leather and iron materials don’t do well with moisture. If left in the rain or in a moist humid place, after a few months The sword will be completely worthless. Is long as it’s kept in a dry relatively clean location away from scavengers, years. Most iron swords are found under the dirt or mud where they fell during battle, and are completely useless by the time they are found. The metal would survive intact the longest, and if the location is wet it’s best for to be either underground or underwater completely. Trust is a byproduct of oxidation, and water speeds up the process. Underwater the oxygen available is limited to whatever is suspended in water, so counterintuitively it’s better to be at the bottom of the lake then laying in a puddle.” Greg Pavelka, Biomedical Technician

Bone Heaps on the Genesee River

“My flats were cleared before I saw them; and it was the opinion of the oldest Indians that were at Genishau, at the time that I first went there, that all the flats on the Genesee river were improved before any of the Indian tribes ever saw them. I well remember that soon after I went to Little Beard’s Town, the banks of Fall-Brook were washed off, which left a large number of human bones uncovered. The Indians then said that those were not the bones of Indians, because they had never heard of any of their dead being buried there; but that they were the bones of a race of men who a great many moons before, cleared that land and lived on the flats”.  A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison Author: James E. Seaver 1823 Chapter VII page 61

“About three hundred acres of my land, when I first saw it, was open flats, lying on the Genesee River, which it is supposed was cleared by a race of inhabitants who preceded the first Indian settlements in this part of the country. The Indians are confident that many parts of this country were settled and for a number of years occupied by people of whom their fathers never had any tradition, as they never had seen them. Whence those people originated, and whither they went, I have never heard one of our oldest and wisest Indians pretend to guess. When I first came to Genishau, the bank of Fall Brook had just slid off and exposed a large number of human bones, which the Indians said were buried there long before their fathers ever saw the place; and that they did not know what kind of people they were. It however was and is believed by our people, that they were not Indians.” A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Mary Jemison Author: James E. Seaver 1823 Chapter IX 

See Mary Jameson (Gardeau) on the Genesee River below.

More Information From:

To satisfy the critic who believes the archaeological record of Western New York is complete, with no anomalies, we offer the fact that large bones, i.e. GIANTS were discovered there, which leaves a gapping hole in the status quo:

Some skeletons, almost entire have been exhumed, many of giant size, not less than seven to eight feet in length. (O. Turner, Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of Western New York, p. 35)

Human bones of gigantic proportions were discovered in such a state of preservation as to be accurately described and measured. The cavities of the skulls were large enough in their dimensions to receive the entire head of a man of modern times, and could be put on one’s head with as much ease as a hat or cap. (Harvery Rice, Pioneers of the Western Reserve, p. 303)

Erie County has yielded a vast store of ancient monuments, including many giant skeletons, spear points, war hatchets, and other weapons that seem too large for an average sized man to wield. Bones of “giant size” have been uncovered. (C. H. Johnson, History of Erie County, p. 124)

In 1922 “on the Rose farm, one half mile from Mormon Hill” a number of large skeletons, stone implements, copper ornaments, a copper axe of unusual type, and other articles were found. At this historic spot were found “many of unusual physique, tall, long-limbed, finely formed skulls, teeth finely shaped.” (Fred Haughton, Seneca Nation, p. 48)

Brine lists “large skulls” among the skeletons he examined. (Lindsay Brine, American Indians, – Their Ancient Earthworks, p. 97)

In the position of the skeletons, there was none of the signs of ordinary Indian burial; but evidences that the bodies were thrown in promiscuously, and at the same time. The conjecture might well be indulged that it had been the theatre of a sanguinary battle, terminating in favor of the assailants, and a general massacre, A thigh bone of unusual length, was preserved for a considerable period by a physician of Lockport, and excited much curiosity. (Turner, p. 27)

Were there giants in the Book of Mormon, if so, where?

Jaredites in the Land Northward:

And the brother of Jared being a LARGE and mighty man…(Ether 1:34)

And they were LARGE and mighty men as to the strength of men. (Ether 15:26)

Zarahemlaites in the Land Southward:

And they came down again that they might pitch battle against the Nephites. And they were led by a man whose name was Coriantumr; and he was a descendant of Zarahemla; and he was a dissenter from among the Nephites; and he was a LARGE and a mighty man. (Helaman 1:15)