Cultural Appropriation and Indigenous Earthworks
For Indigenous Americans, the violent consequences of European colonization hold a well-known dark place in history over a 500 year period. While most of the violence has subsided, cultural appropriation and suppression remain. One form they take are ongoing efforts to rewrite, reframe, belittle or erase Indigenous history and cultural expression.
Indigenous earthworks are some of the grandest, most beautiful and sophisticated expressions of art, science and cosmology to be found anywhere in in the world, Indigenous or otherwise. Tragically most were scraped away by bulldozers and plows, and as recently as 2024 the great Newark Octagon was used as a golf course. Meanwhile, fabulist efforts to attribute these works to builders other than Native Americans have been a continuing menace. One of the earliest menacing theories was that the sophisticated geometry and large scope of Ohio's earthworks must have been a product of the Lost Tribes of Israel. From there, more mythology emerged.
The Newark Holy Stones. In 1860, it was claimed that stones carved with Hebrew characters were discovered among Native American archaeological artifacts at the Newark Earthworks. These were offered as "proof" of the presence of members of the Lost Tribes of Israel in ancient America, confirming a belief many held at that time. The stones' authenticity was quickly dismissed at the time, but the artifacts have recaptured interest in some religious quarters. Stepping forward to thoroughly debunk claims of any Hebrew orgin for the stones were Archaeologist Brad Lepper and Jeff Gill, who jointly created an excellent in-depth examination published in 2000. Lepper also co-authored another excellent and more recent analysis with Jennifer Bush and Reba Kocher.
The links below are shared not because they have any credibility but because we cannot stop injury to Indigenous culture unless we know what kinds of attacks are being made.
Indigenous earthworks are some of the grandest, most beautiful and sophisticated expressions of art, science and cosmology to be found anywhere in in the world, Indigenous or otherwise. Tragically most were scraped away by bulldozers and plows, and as recently as 2024 the great Newark Octagon was used as a golf course. Meanwhile, fabulist efforts to attribute these works to builders other than Native Americans have been a continuing menace. One of the earliest menacing theories was that the sophisticated geometry and large scope of Ohio's earthworks must have been a product of the Lost Tribes of Israel. From there, more mythology emerged.
The Newark Holy Stones. In 1860, it was claimed that stones carved with Hebrew characters were discovered among Native American archaeological artifacts at the Newark Earthworks. These were offered as "proof" of the presence of members of the Lost Tribes of Israel in ancient America, confirming a belief many held at that time. The stones' authenticity was quickly dismissed at the time, but the artifacts have recaptured interest in some religious quarters. Stepping forward to thoroughly debunk claims of any Hebrew orgin for the stones were Archaeologist Brad Lepper and Jeff Gill, who jointly created an excellent in-depth examination published in 2000. Lepper also co-authored another excellent and more recent analysis with Jennifer Bush and Reba Kocher.
The links below are shared not because they have any credibility but because we cannot stop injury to Indigenous culture unless we know what kinds of attacks are being made.
- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has had a history of reshaping Native American history to fit their faith's mythology. Today, some factions in the LDS church -- not the official leadership -- speculate that the Newark Earthworks are themselves described in the Book of Mormon.
- Widely discredited by archaeologists are claims that lost ancient civilizations or Lost Tribes helped build earthworks instead of Native people. As absurd as these theories are, they gained some traction from media exposure by people such as Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson and Joe Rogan.
- White supremacists have made various wild claims too, including a narrative that Europeans sailed to America centuries before Columbus and built Hopewell-era earthworks before "savages" wiped them out.