tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post4198857828510840906..comments2024-03-28T10:44:30.518-06:00Comments on American Creation: Native Americans and the Lost Tribes of IsraelBrad Harthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-52331059892434255252008-07-11T21:37:00.000-06:002008-07-11T21:37:00.000-06:00Adair definitely took liberties with how he interp...Adair definitely took liberties with how he interpreted Indian culture. What is more astonishing, though, is the manner in which the Smithsonian has conducted itself when confronted with inscribed stones, cairns, standing stones, and stone-slab chambers scattered throughout the eastern seaboard of the United States that correspond to similar findings located around the northern Mediterranean coast and the British Isles. Many of these megaliths are documented in their own reports that date back to the field work of the 1890's under the direction of Cyrus Thomas. Sal Trento, in his book, <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/search-lost-America-mysteries-stone/dp/0809278529" REL="nofollow">The Search for Lost America</A> (1978), laments that the Smithsonian reaction to these many megaliths as being either the results of natural phenomena, European settlers, or beg off from responding by saying they lack the qualifications to conclude anything further.<BR/><BR/>One of the interesting observations in Trento's book is a photograph shown as <I>Plate 64</I>. Part of the caption describing the photograph reads, "Behind this structure [a stone slab chamber located in South Royalton, VT], near the farm of the Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, are several small standing stones. Script-like markings have been found in abundance in the surrounding fields."Ray Sollerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07950061062767093373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-6202015016789515252008-07-11T14:01:00.000-06:002008-07-11T14:01:00.000-06:00Ray:I love James Adair's writings. Ethan Smith qu...Ray:<BR/><BR/>I love James Adair's writings. Ethan Smith quotes him a lot in his book, "View of the Hebrews." What I troubles me about Adair is that he is very selective in his research. For example, he states that several Indian tribes seem more asian in appearance and even culture yet he dismisses this completely. On the flip side, he will take even the smallest fragment of evidence leading to the Indians being identified with the Jews and he runs with it. Though I enjoy Adair I also have to admit that I find him to be an extremely biased source.Brad Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17669677047039491864noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-80923074747479090872008-07-11T13:23:00.000-06:002008-07-11T13:23:00.000-06:00James Adair's History of the American Indians (pub...James Adair's <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/History-American-Indians-James-Adair/dp/0817313931" REL="nofollow">History of the American Indians</A> (published 1775 in London) is still recognized as one of the best accounts of southeastern Indian culture recorded during the 18th century. An original edition can be seen <A HREF="http://olivercowdery.com/texts/1775Adr1.htm" REL="nofollow">here</A>.<BR/><BR/>According to the description of Adair's book, republished in 1930: <BR/><BR/>James Adair set out not only to write all he knew about the physical qualities, dress, and temper of the Indians, but also to prove his theory that the Indians were the lineal descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel. "This descent," Adair writes, "I shall endeavor to prove from their religious rites, civil, and martial customs, their marriages, funeral ceremonies, manners, language, traditions, and a variety of particulars."<BR/><BR/>Devoting the first half of his book to proving this theory, he provides no less than twenty-three "arguments" that will astonish and fascinate the reader. In their common belief in Jehovah (the Indian Yohewah), Adair says, "They pay no religious worship to sticks, or stones, after the manner of the old eastern pagans; neither do they worship any kind of images whatsoever." He cites their common ideas of theocracy and the "ministration of angels." Knowledgeable in the rudiments of Hebrew, he says, "The Indian language and dialects appear to have the very idiom and genius of the Hebrew. Their words and sentences are expressive, concise, emphatical, sonorous, and bold --- and often, both in letters and signification, synonymous with the Hebrew language." Other arguments include the counting of time, prophets and high priest, festivals, fast, laws of uncleanness, marriage, divorce, burial of the dead, choice of names, punishments, cities of refuge, purification and ceremonies preparatory for war.<BR/><BR/>Equally thrilling and informative is the second half of the book that is devoted to vivid, individual accounts of the various Indian nations, followed by a general account of North American Indians. [end description]Ray Sollerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07950061062767093373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-85732462601055176062008-07-11T07:57:00.000-06:002008-07-11T07:57:00.000-06:00One of the major causes of interest regarding the ...One of the major causes of interest regarding the origins of the native American Indians was the presence of ancient mounds that spotted the countryside. In contrast to the many settlers on the frontier who were interested in digging up buried treasure, Thomas Jefferson looked at the mounds as an object of scientific inquiry. His personal account of excavating a mound is recorded in his book, <I>Notes on the State of Virginia</I>, Query XI - Aborigines. According to a favorite book of mine, <I>Mound Builders of Ancient America</I>, by Robert Silverberg, Jefferson "anticipated the techniques of modern field archaeology by at least a century."<BR/><BR/>One of the most interesting chapters in the book is Chapter 5 - <I>The Deflation of the Myth</I>. The chapter deals with the career of John Wesley Powell, and his role as first Director of the Smithsonian Institution's Bureau of Ethnology. Powell was born in Mount Morris, New York, near Palmyra, New York, which was the birthplace of Mormonism. Powell's father was a Wesleyan preacher, and, according to Silverberg, among his "father's many difficulties was keeping his parishioners from succumbing to the new faith." This circumstance may have provided Powell with an incentive to counter the Book of Mormon claim that originally the American Indians were emigrants from the "old world," but there was a secondary factor that stimulated Powell in his archaeological investigations to show that the Indians were an indigenous people. It was called the <I>Monroe Doctrine</I>, because as long as the native Indians were an indigenous people then no foreign power could ever claim to be their sovereign protector. Here's a clear early example of how politics at the federal level provided the overriding stimulus behind an scientific investigation.Ray Sollerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07950061062767093373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1237087217187172116.post-18836537002664947542008-07-11T06:24:00.000-06:002008-07-11T06:24:00.000-06:00One of those questions that keeps popping up is wh...One of those questions that keeps popping up is whether Columbus was Jewish in the sense that he was a Marrano. A Marrano was a Jew who converted to Christianity, but secretly stayed true to Jewish religious custom. Here's a fair minded article on the question, <A HREF="http://www.khouse.org/articles/1996/109/" REL="nofollow">Was Columbus Jewish?</A>, by Chuck Missler.Ray Sollerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07950061062767093373noreply@blogger.com