Here we provide some additional information on the Newark Decalogue Stone, currently on display at the Johnson-Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, OH.
We readily agree with the many non-Mormon experts who have actually conducted an analysis of the stone and it’s accompanying Keystone, Stone Bowl and the related Bat Creek Stone, and have provided strong evidence that these are all part of an ancient culture that knew a form of Hebrew language unknown at the time of their discovery, known today as Monumental or Block-Style Hebrew. This form of Hebrew wasn’t known to exist when these stones were discovered, but were later found in Israel. This forms one of the first difficulties to explain if one believes the stones to be a hoax. It would be like asking someone today to write the Ten Commandments… in Klingon! Since no one knows what Klingon looks like, how would one even begin to make a forgery of it? In order to make a forgery, you have to have something authentic to forge from. There were no authentic Monumental or Block-style Hebrew writings known to exist in 1860’s when these stones were recovered.
When you add this fact to the historical documentation that David Wyrick, the man who discovered the stone in an Indian Burial Mound, never recanted his story, was a well respected surveyor for the county and city, and was unable to make an accurate wooden replica of the stone (he attempted this to safeguard the original stone while allowing the characters to be studied by other professionals and interested parties) which would be orders of magnitude easier than creating it in stone, and that he made many attempts to have the stone verified by competent professionals seem to favor the idea that he did not create the stone or was trying to hoax anyone.
Contrary Beliefs:
While Wyrick did apparently believe in the idea that the Ten Lost Tribes had somehow made it to America, and this stone and others like it could certainly be used to bear this out, this was an idea that permeated the American culture at the time. It was not unique to Wyrick. However, there were also those that were determined to refute any claim of Israelite descent for the Native Americans, believing that to accept such an idea Indians would then necessarily have to be given the same rights and respect given to other European peoples. This would fly in the face of the growing American Manifest Destiny Doctrine wherein it was being touted that the Indians were less evolved people who didn’t deserve the same respect and treatment as their more evolved cousins, therefore they could be classified as ‘ignorant savages’ and denied the right to own land, vote, etc. Thus, there was a powerful motive to ignore, erase or attack any evidence that would suggest European ancestry for the Native Americans.
Scientific Analysis:
Experts today disagree on the authenticity of the stones. Some claim that the language on the stones can’t be authentic, that David Wyrick faked them for some unknown purpose (usually forgers do so for money or fame, Wyrick received neither, but rather was mercilessly attacked for his discovery), and therefore the stones are a hoax. Other professionals have determined to use scientific methodologies in their pursuit of the truth. The ONLY scientific analysis of the stones has been done by Scott Wolter, a self-proclaimed atheist who owns American Petrographic Services in Minnesota and is a Forensic Geologist, meaning that he does forensics type work on rock and minerals, both commercially and for the government. He is a highly respected, no-nonsense kind of person who has no reason to try to advance the authenticity of the stone. Using some of the latest scientific technologies he has completed analysis on several of the stones in question with Hebrew characters inscribed into their surfaces and of the Decalogue Stone he claimed “Geologically, I don’t see any problems here that would make these things obvious hoaxes. The evidence seems clear, there’s no reason not to accept these as genuine, legitimate artifacts.” This, from a professional geologist using scientific methodologies that showed conclusively that the stones could not have been faked during the time-frame of Wyrick.
Within the Church there are a small group of scholars who have been systematically promoting the theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica. There is a complete lack of any evidence for Hebrew-based language or characters anywhere in their preferred geography of Mesoamerica. The Mayan civilization had a written language that covered their buildings, walls, ball courts and to an extent, their entire civilization’s buildings, but experts know that this glyph system of writing originates from the Far East, and has no connection to Hebrew whatsoever. They seem to forget that the Nephite language in the Book of Mormon was specifically mentioned as being primarily Hebrew, but the plates themselves were written in a ‘reformed Egyptian’ language, neither of which has ever been found in Mesoamerica. Not even a potential hoax has been found there! They also seem to ignore that fact that the Nephite authors wrote that the hatred of Lamanites caused them to destroy any evidence of their existence, and they would destroy anything the Nephites left in the way of written language, thus they had to hide the plates and records in the depository of records in the Hill Cumorah. The Lamanites had many years to erase the remaining evidence of their former enemies.
They have used their organizations to launch attacks against any geography theories contrary to their own. It is sad to think that they would attack and undermine the ONLY viable evidences of the Hebrew language mentioned in the Book of Mormon in the Americas solely because these evidences fall outside of their theorized geography. But unfortunately that is exactly what they are doing in order to continue with their promotion that Guatemala is the Promised Land and the Book of Mormon occurred there, which, by the way, has now been shown to have originated within the church by three apostates back in the days of Joseph Smith. For more information on that historical account, please read the book The Lost City of Zarahemla or the blog posts by attorney Jonathan Neville on the subject.
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Forensic geologist Scott Wolter, star of the History2 Channel’s hit series America Unearthed, meets professor Hugh McCullough at the Johnson Humrickhouse Museum in Coshocton, Ohio to conduct an analysis on the Ohio Decalogue stone. The stone, discovered in a Native America burial mound in Newark, Ohio in 1860 by David Wyrick, the town’s …
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