In the domain of science there is much yet to be discovered
The Professor lifted the casket from its ancient bed with his own hand, exclaiming, ‘Gentleman, this is no fraud'
By the time the final one was unearthed around 1920, the relics numbered around 3,000. It was a remarkable figure – unprecedented by contemporary archeological standards. Nothing of their sort had every been discovered in the burial mounds of the upper-midwest – or, for that matter, North America in general.
Clay was, far and away, the most popular material, sculpted from the banks of the Great Lakes. Copper was next, followed by slate, then stone. In spite of their large number, however, they weren’t entirely ubiquitous. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-percent of the mounts that were dug into contained one. There were tablets, cups, amulets, tools and pipes, nearly all of which bore the inscription “IH/.” What, precisely, the symbol meant, no one could say for sure, but theories suggested tribal markings or some other mystical sign.
The first such artifact was discovered by James Scotford, a Michigan-based sign painter, who set out to dig fence post holes on a cold day in 1890. The first piece was some manner of ancient pottery that generated significant excitement in the archeological community throughout the intervening months. Plenty of self-starters were also drawn to the artifact gold rush, armed with a shovel and praying for their own windfall.
Some who arrived in Michigan got lucky, while others came up empty-handed. One unfortunate digger died, when a hole dug in the sand collapsed around him. In the end, no one came close to discovering as many as Scotford, and more often than not, the painter-turned-excavator did so in front of a crowd who looked on in awe.
Dignitaries who sponsored excavations were among those in the audience, removing artifacts from the ground and signing affidavits attesting the validity of the discovery, once someone else had done the hard work.
“On June 13, 1911,” one began, “We, the undersigned, were present when the above tablet was taken from the mound this day. The tablet was eighteen inches from top of mound in absolutely undisturbed soil, in which there was absolutely no opportunity for fraud.”
M.E. Cornell was present for one such dig, witnessing an impressive Scotford discovery.
"Three caskets have been found pierced by roots of trees growing on the mounds over them. We found one with the cover broken in by the root of a tree, and the casket was filled with sand,” Cornell wrote in a pamphlet. “The root was coiled up in- side the box, but so decayed that it was broken with a touch. Only the decayed stump of the tree and a few rotten roots were left. Professor Wessels, the writer, and the three others were present and took part in the digging. The Professor lifted the casket from its ancient bed with his own hand, exclaiming, ‘Gentleman, this is no fraud.’ ”
The findings were unprecedented in both quantity and quality. Etchings depicted men and women wearing clothing and hats resembling European dress. Others displayed Biblical scenes. In one, a lion was pictured lying down with a lamb, while another showed Moses holding aloft the Ten Commandments. For some, the findings validated the scriptures of the Book of the Mormon.
“In the domain of science there is much yet to be discovered,” wrote church elder, Rudolph Etzenhouser, who proved among the more credulous believers. “No section of it is destined to yield richer results than that of archeology. The most disputed relics of Michigan are destined to be the cause, as well as the source of much information, when their inscriptions are deciphered, which they inevitably shall be. A strange script or scripts in Michigan is not more strange than such discoveries in Crete. The modern-like in Michigan, though of ages past, is not more surprising than similar discoveries in Germany and Crete.”
Across the 30 year span, however, numerous red flags were also discovered with the relics. For starters, a majority were found less than two feet underground, while the etchings were stamped in random and indecipherable patterns. Most tellingly, however, many of the clay objects were easily dissolved in water.
In 1925, a New York Times spread titled “Bogus Relics of the Past Tempt Collectors” highlighted a number of counterfeit artifacts exposed over the years, including the Cardiff Giant and a fake Egyptian Sphinx. The piece also told the story of collector Walter C. Wyman, who visited Scotford at home in Michigan, only to discover the man amongst artifacts “in various states of manufacture.”
Wyman told the paper, “he was not at all embarrassed, and tried to sell me for $100 a stone casket bearing hieroglyphics. I didn’t like to say I knew he was a faker, and he gave me various excuses; but before I left the place, he offered me a casket at the bargain rate of $25.”
Sources:
Mormonism's Encounter with the Michigan Relics https://www.jstor.org/stable/43044266
Tools Leave Marks: Material Analysis of the Scotford-Soper-Savage Michigan Relics https://www.jstor.org/stable/43044267
Bogus Relics of the Past Tempt Collectors https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1925/12/20/104198030.html?pageNumber=185