Andy White Anthropology
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Images of the "Relics of Mu"

2/10/2016

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Jack Churchward, grandson of famous Mu proponent James Churchward, kindly sent me some good-quality images of the "relics of Mu" that he discussed in the video I referred to in this post. These may be available elsewhere online, but I wanted to make them available here in any case. I thank Jack Churchward for giving me permission to publish them.

The "relics of Mu" apparently all hail from India.  India was also the source of the Dorchester Pot, another classic OOP-Art.  If I had to guess I would also implicate India as the possible origin of the "bell found in coal" that is hawked by Young Earth Creationists as evidence of a 6000-year-old Earth.

Here are the the photographs of the "relics of Mu:"
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3D Model of the Hilt of the California Sword

2/9/2016

6 Comments

 
I've uploaded a processed and simplified 3D model of the hilt of the California sword (Sword 3) to Sketchfab. I cut the model off where the blade meets the guard so I could calculate the volume of just the hilt. Processing the model down to a size that I could upload (less than 50 MB) resulted in some loss of detail and probably the introduction of some minor "errors" (I was in a hurry and haven't yet had time to do a close comparison of the model with the original). But overall the model looks pretty good.

Models of the Italian eBay (Sword 4) and Design Toscano (Sword 5) swords will be coming soon.  

I've started a separate Fake Hercules Swords page (under construction) to organize everything.

California Sword Hilt by aawhite on Sketchfab

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A Test 3D Model of a Kirk Corner Notched Point

2/8/2016

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Okay . . . I'm making some headway. Some of my 3D model creation issues are beginning to yield to good old-fashioned trial-and-error, and I've uploaded a test model to Sketchfab.  The original is a Kirk Point from Allendale County, South Carolina.  I didn't do full color capture on it, but I'll try one of those next.  Take a look at the model and see what you think.

Kirk 5947 (Allendale SC) by aawhite on Sketchfab

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Oahspe: When Matings with Angels Don't Produce Giants

2/8/2016

19 Comments

 
As I mentioned in yesterday's post about the "ancient relic of Mu" (a modern copper alloy pot from India), I have just come across Oahspe (pronounced O as in o'clock, AH as in father, SPE as in speak) for the first time. I'm not sure how I never heard of this before, but I'm finding it fascinating. For those of you ignorant of Oahspe, it is an 1882 book of spiritual revelations reportedly produced by John Ballou Newbrough (1828–1891) through automatic writing. The title page contains this description:
"A New Bible in the Words of Jehovih and His Angel Ambassadors. A Sacred History of the Dominions of the Higher and Lower Heavens on the Earth for the Past Twenty-Four Thousand Years together with a Synopsis of the Cosmogony of the Universe; the Creation of Planets; the Creation of Man; the Unseen Worlds; the Labor and Glory of Gods and Goddesses in the Etherean Heavens; with the New Commandments of Jehovih to Man of the Present Day."
Here it is on Google Books.

Several things interest me about Oahspe.  

First, it contains a tale of human racial history and dispersal from a "lost continent" in the Pacific. I'm interested in how the ideas in Oahspe articulate with political and scientific thinking in late 1800's America. 

Second, it's one of several nineteenth century American religious developments based on received revelations. Unlike the Book of Mormon (1830) and the prophecies of Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) Ellen G. White (experienced from 1844-1863), however, the writings in Oahspe did not develop a large following (I don't know how many Faithists there are today, but certainly many fewer than there are Mormons or Seventh-Day Adventists).

Third, I'm interested in the person and the process. Newbrough was born near where I grew up (Wikipedia says Mohicanville, Ohio, while I've seen other sources online specify Wooster, Ohio, and Springfield, Ohio) and apparently used a typewriter for his "automatic writing." And there are apparently connections between his dental practice and his spirituality.

Anyway, the first thing I did was look for giants in Oahspe.  They're pretty much absent from the Book of Mormon. In SDA and Young Earth Creationist traditions, humans closer to creation were "bigger, better, and smarter" than the degenerated humans of today. What does Oahspe have to say?
Here are the passages from "First Book of the First Lords" (Chapters 1-3) that describe the various interbreedings among animal, human, and spiritual beings:
PicturePlates 3 and 4 from Oahspe. Asu is depicted in the top. From left to right on the bottom are I'hin, I'huan, and Yak.
​"CHAPTER I.
​1. In the beginning God created the heavens of the earth; and the Lord made man upright. And man was naked and not ashamed; neither knew man the sin of incest, but he dwelt as the beasts of the field.

2. And the Lord brought the angels of heaven to man; by his side took they on forms like unto man, having all the organs and attributes of mortals, for it was the time of the earth for such things to be.

3. And it came to pass that a new race was born on the earth, and these were called I'hins, because they were begotten of both heaven and earth. Hence it became a saying: The earth conceived of the Lord.

4. And the name of the first race was Asu (Adam), because they were of the earth only; and the name of the second race was I'hin (Abel), because they were capable of being taught spiritual things.

5. And the Lord said: Of all that live on the face of the earth, or in the waters thereof, or in the air above, that breathes the breath of life, man only have I delivered unto knowledge of his Creator.

6. And the Lord spake unto the I'hin, through his angels spake he to them, saying: Go hide thy nakedness, for it is the commandment of God.

7. And The I'hins were afraid, and they clothed themselves, and were no longer naked before the Lord.

8. And the Lord commanded the angels to give up their forms, and to be no more seen as mortals. And it was done. And the Lord said unto them: Because ye brought forth life, which is in flesh and blood, ye shall minister unto man for six generations on the face of the earth. And it was so.

9. And that man may continue to walk upright, ye shall teach him the law of incest, for man of himself cannot attain to know this.

10. Neither shall ye permit the I'hins to dwell with Asu (Adam), lest his seed go down in darkness.

11. And man was thus inspired of the Lord, and he walked upright, and prospered on the earth.

12. But after a season man became conceited in his own judgment, and he disobeyed the commandments of God.

13. And he strayed out of the garden of paradise and began to dwell with the asu'ans (Adams), and there was born into the world a new race called Druk (Cain), and they had not the light of the Father in them, neither could they be inspired with shame, nor of heavenly things.

14. And the I'hins were grateful to the Lord, and they gave sacrifice in burnt offerings. And they said unto the Druks: Go ye and sacrifice unto the Lord, and he will prosper you. But the Druks understood not; and they fell upon the Lord's chosen, and slew them, right and left, taking their possessions.

15. And the Lord said unto the Druks: Because ye have slain your brethren ye shall depart out of the place of God; and that ye may be known to the ends of the earth I put my mark upon you.

16. And the mark of the Lord put upon the Druks was the shadow of blood, which, being interpreted, is WAR.

17. And the Lord God said: By this sign shall the tribes of Druk and their descendents be known unto the end of the world.

18. And woman, being more helpless than man, cried out with fear, saying: O Lord, how shall I bring forth unto thee, and not unto the sons of death?

19. And the Lord said: Because thou hast brought forth in pain, and yet called on my name, behold I will be unto thee as a shield and protector. For I will also put a mark upon the I'hins, my chosen, so thou shalt know them when they come unto thee.

20. And the Lord commanded the male I'hins, old and young, to be circumcised, that woman might not be deceived by the druks. And the I'hins circumcised one another, old and young; for it was the testimony of the Lord unto woman that seed of their seed was born to everlasting life.

21. And the druks (Cain) went away into the wilderness, and dwelt with the asu'ans and with one another.

22. God said: A boundary line will I make betwixt the tribes of druks and the I'hins; and this is the line that I the Lord God make betwixt them:

23. The I'hins shall labor and clothe themselves, and I will abide with them; but the druks shall wander in the wilderness, neither laboring nor clothing themselves.

24. And it was so. 

CHAPTER II.

1. The time of the habitation of Asu was eight thousand years; and they survived two thousand years after the time of the birth of the I'hins, which is to say: Asu dwelt on the earth six thousand years, and then conceived of the chosen of God; and after that survived yet two thousand years.

2. And Asu (Adam) disappeared off the face of the earth.

3. And there remained on the earth the sacred people, the I'hins; and the carnivorous people, the druks.

4. The I'hins were white and yellow, but the druks were brown and black; the I'hins were small and slender, but the druks were tall and stout.

5. Now, because the druks had not previously obeyed the Lord, but went and dwelt with the asu'ans, there was a half-breed race born on the earth, called Yak, signifying ground people; and they burrowed in the ground like beasts of the forest. And the Yaks did not walk wholly upright, but also went on all fours.

6. God said: Because the Yaks cannot be taught the crime of incest, behold they shall not dwell forever on the earth. So also shall it be with the druks, save wherein they cohabit with the I'hins, whose seed is born unto everlasting life. But with the druks, and their heirs that spring from the Yaks, there shall be an end, both in this world and the next.

7. And the arms of the Yaks were long, and their backs were stooped and curved. And the Lord said: Because they are the fruit of incest, and not capable of speech, nor of eternal life in heaven, the I'hins shall make servants of them.

8. And that they may not tempt my chosen to bring forth fruit unto destruction, they shall be neutralized in my sight. And the angels of God taught the I'hins to make eunuchs of the Yaks; of the males and females made the I'hins eunuchs of the Yaks, and took them for servants.

9. And the Lord said: The Yaks shall serve the I'hins, and build and sow and reap for them. And it was so.
 . . .

CHAPTER III.
. . .
23. And again the Lord brought the I'hins together in lodges and cities, and he said unto them: Henceforth ye shall live upon the earth as an example of righteousness. And your brethren who have mingled with the tribes of darkness shall no longer molest you, but be your defenders and protectors.

24. And there began to be a new tribe on the earth; and they were called I'huans, because they were half-breeds, betwixt the druks and I'hins. The I'huans were red like copper; and they were taller and stronger than any other people in all the world. And the Lord commanded the I'huans, saying:

25. Protect ye the I'hins, the little people, white and yellow; call them THE SACRED PEOPLE. For ye are of them, and ye are also of the Lord your God. And it was so."

That's a whole lot of inter-breeding going on.  I made a chart so I could keep it straight:
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It appears to me that you can arrange these "races" described in Oahspe on a continuum from "spiritual/angelic" to "animal."  The "sacred beings" that are the products of matings between angels and Asu (apparently some kind of non-spiritual biped) are the I'hin.  The I'hin are rather small, light-skinned people.

In the Oahspe version of prehistory, it's the crossing of spiritual and animal beings that produces "true" humans that are apparently rather small.  This contrasts sharply with the Nephilim-centric view of the past wherein such matings produced corrupt, giant, evil beings.  

When humans (I'hin) go against instructions and mate with the non-human hominds (Asu), they produce something called a druk (druk is equated with "giant" only once that I see in Oahspe -- The Lord's First Book, chapter 1, verse 29). Druks are not fully human. Yaks, the products of matings between druks and the animal Asu, are even worse off. Matings between the not-fully-human druks and the I'hin produce the tall, strong, red-skinned, "half-breed" I'huan, which Faithists apparently take as Native Americans.

I've stumbled across several online attempts to reconcile the racial scheme of Oahspe with the fossil record (druks as Neanderthals, I'hin as Homo floriensis, Asu as Ardipithecus ramidus, etc.). The timing of Oahspe is particularly interesting in that regard. It was written decades after publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) but just prior to the discovery and/or recognition of human fossil remains in Indonesia and Europe in the late 1880's and 1890's. The idea of a sunken continent in the Pacific seemed plausible at the time, and was proposed as a way to account for the geographic distribution of plants and animals as well as the lack of a human fossil record.
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Modern Objects as Ancient Evidence: The Example of the Relic of Mu

2/7/2016

12 Comments

 
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I don't know much (yet) about the origin and history of ideas about Mu and other "lost continents" in the Pacific.  I went a little way down the rabbit hole last night, reading a bit online and watching YouTube videos between the time when I got the kids to bed and when I couldn't keep my eyes open. It's fascinating stuff. I owe a thanks to Jack Churchward, grandson of famous Mu proponent James Churchward (1851-1936), for prodding my interest. You can find Jack Churchward's website about Mu here.

To me, the most interesting aspect of the "Mu" stories is how they were/are used to explain human diversity. This is something I'll have to pick apart historically, but it appears that Mu/Lemuria/Pan advocates (including today's Faithist followers of Oahspe) connect population dispersals from a lost continent in the Pacific to the characteristics and geographic distribution of modern human "races." It surprised me to learn that the polygenist ideas of Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919), famous racist anthropologist and inspiration to Nazis everywhere, were tied to the hypothesized existence of Lemuria. If that's not an interesting historical tie between science and pseudoscience, I don't know what is.

For today, however, I just wanted to point you to a short video by Jack Churchward discussing the "relic of Mu" that appeared in his grandfather's (1931) book The Lost Continent of Mu.  The "relic" is a bronze vessel that was said to be 12,500 years old and, therefore, evidence of an advanced civilization pre-dating. The video explains that the vessel dates the 17th-18th century and was manufactured in India.  

There are some important parallels between the case of the "relic of Mu" and the debacle of the "Roman sword from Nova Scotia" through which we are still slogging (Woo Alert: J. Hutton Pulitzer's 200-page document on the sword is reportedly coming very soon). In both cases, we have: (1) an object that is familiar enough to be recognizable but unfamiliar enough to seem strange and foreign; (2) an object with no credible provenience; (3) a tautological tie between the object and its explanation (the vessel is evidence of Mu and Mu provides the reason why the vessel should exist); (4) a retreat to the cry of "conspiracy" when the object is shown to be something other than what it is claimed.
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Follow-Up on a "Holocene Mastodon" from Devil's Den, Florida

2/6/2016

6 Comments

 
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I'm still catching up on a backlog of blog-related emails and comments that accumulated during those heady weeks of #Swordgate. I've never been great at promptly returning emails, and going to the mattresses for Swordgate made the problem worse. I apologize if I haven't gotten back to you yet. I hope to answer everything eventually.

Almost a year ago, I wrote this post about some purportedly late radiocarbon dates for mastodons and mammoths that are being used as "evidence" for the accuracy of the Book of Mormon (BOM). The BOM (Ether:16-19) describes elephants in the New World at what would have been about 2500 BC.  The current scientific consensus, however, is that mastodons and mammoths did not survive in the Eastern Woodlands past about 9500 BC. While Mormon scholars continue to cling to a small suite of Holocene radiocarbon dates to argue for much later survivals, it's pretty clear that those anomalously young dates are probably attributable to either contamination, context/association problems, or both. I provided a table of five radiocarbon dates that seem to be embraced by Mormons not because they are good science, but because they remain the "best fit" to the Jaredite time period.  No-one else takes those dates seriously.  They're probably mistakes. 

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Radiocarbon dates put forward as evidence of late survival of mammoths and mastodons in eastern North America.
When I wrote the original post, I was unable to track down the primary sources for the Devil's Den mastodon. Dr. Eric Butler, a biologist at Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, kindly found a copy of Martin and Webb's (1974) report and took a look at it. He provided a synopsis in a recent email.  I'll summarize two main points:

Mastodon Remains.  In a long list of fauna from Devil's Den, there is a single entry for Proboscideans: "2 vertebrae, a last cervical vertebrae and an anterior thoracic" from juvenile mastodons.

​Dating and Associations. The age estimate of 7000-8000 BP pertains to an entire fossil assemblage, not just the mastodon remains. While it is not exactly clear how this age estimate was produced (this description sources an unpublished research paper by H. K. Brooks that purportedly references radiocarbon dates, but no specifics are provided), it seems that the young age is not generally accepted by paleontologists in Florida and elsewhere. An age of 7000-8000 BP for the entire Devil's Den assemblage would mean that horses (Equus), saber-toothed cats (Smilodon), giant ground sloths (Megalonyx), Florida spectacled bears (Tremarctos floridanus), and dire wolves (Canis dirus) were running around in Florida at about 6700-5700 BC. There is no other evidence, at archaeological sites or elsewhere, for those species surviving into the Middle Archaic period in Florida or anywhere else.

The long and short of it is that it appears there's good reason to view the late dates of Devil's Den fossil assemblage with significant skepticism.  If it's good evidence for a late survival of mastodon, it's good evidence for a late survival of an entire "Pleistocene" fauna that has no precedent elsewhere.  A simpler explanation is that the age estimate for the assemblage is not accurate. As Butler suggested in his email to me, this assemblage would seem to be a prime candidate for re-dating using modern AMS methods. I wrote the following in my original post:
"Continuing to uncritically employ a handful of young radiocarbon dates from the early decades of radiocarbon dating as support for the claim of elephants at 2500 BC is intellectually dishonest.  Last time I checked, AMS dates were about $600 each (I also seem to recall that the price has recently dropped).  If Mormons want to continue to use radiocarbon dating to evaluate the historical accuracy of the Book of Ether, I suggest that they have those “late surviving” mastodons re-dated.  If they agree to pay for it, I would be happy to help attempt to locate the remains wherever they are curated and try to secure permission to have samples dated.  It would be a nice way to resolve the ambiguity.  We can publish the results.  If there really were mastodons tromping around in the woodlands of Archaic eastern North America, I would like to know about it and so would a lot of other people.  It's a win-win."
That offer still stands. If you're serious about resolving the issue of late-surviving Proboscideans, let's make it happen and re-date this material using modern methods and standards.

One final note to show you how these things fit together: Dr. John Sorenson, an advocate of late mammoth/mastodon survivals and one of the primary defenders of the historicity of the BOM, is a prominent advocate for pre-Columbian transoceanic contact in the Ancient Artifact Preservation Society, the hyperdiffusionist organization backing the "100 percent confirmed Roman sword from Nova Scotia" that turned out to be a piece of modern brass tourist kitsch.  Maybe we should do a blood residue analysis on the sword and see if it was used to kill mastodons. Finally . . . it all makes sense! 

Martin, R. A., and S. D. Webb. 1974.  Late Pleistocene Mammals from the Devil's Den Fauna, Levy County.  In Webb, S.D. (editor): Pleistocene Mammals of Florida, pp. 114-145.  Gainesville: University Presses of Florida.
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The Kirk Project: The Nipper Creek Cache

2/5/2016

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Don't worry -- I'm not planning on writing about every Kirk point I look at. I've gained some new readers with the whole "Roman sword" debacle, and I hope to not lose all of them as I transition back into writing more about real archaeology and anthropology. Neither the real science nor the stupid ever stops, but I'll try to mix it up somewhat.
I wanted to write a quick post about a small (n = 6) assemblage of Kirk points from the Nipper Creek site (38-RD-18) in Richland County, South Carolina.  The six points were part of a cache that was exposed during a 1986 archaeological field school directed by Albert Goodyear and Ruth Wetmore. (For those unfamiliar with the archaeological use of the term, a "cache" is a group of objects that were hidden or stored for future use.)  The six points were found within a small horizontal area (about 264 square cm, a little over a quarter of a square foot) and within about 5-10 cm vertically.  It is likely that the points were originally placed in a pit (no outline of a pit was discerned) or on a common surface.

Goodyear et al. described the Nipper Creek cache in a short 2004 paper in Current Research in the Pleistocene (see reference below).  I took the opportunity to take a quick color photo of the points as I was scanning them so I could have a visual record cross-referencing the alphabetic designations used in the Goodyear et al. paper with the numeric designations on the bags and the unique ID numbers assigned to the points in my database. 
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Kirk points in the Nipper Creek cache. All except E were made from metavolcanic stone from North Carolina. Point E was made from Ridge and Valley chert, probably obtained in eastern Tennessee.
One really useful thing about an assemblage like the Nipper Creek cache is that it gives us a "snapshot" view of tools from a narrow window of time. Because these six tools all entered the archaeological record together, transferred from a "dynamic" human behavioral context to a "static" archaeological context in a single act, they can potentially tell us something about synchronic variability in Kirk Points that "broad time" surface assemblages cannot. At least some of the variability in Kirk has to be related to change through time -- how do we pin that down? With the aid of stratified deposits and discrete features that provide context.  "Narrow time" deposits like the Nipper Creek cache are potentially of great utility in interpreting the variability that will be present in a "broad time" assemblage of Kirks from across the Eastern Woodlands.

Goodyear, Albert C., William Radisch, Ruth Wetmore, and V. Ann Tippitt.  2004.  A Kirk Corner-Notched Point Cache from the Nipper Creek Site (38RD18), South Carolina.  Current Research in the Pleistocene 21:42-44.

Update (2/11/2016): 3D model of Biface 3 (5965) completed.
​Update (2/12/2016): 3D model of Biface 2 (5966) completed.
Update (2/15/2016): 3D model of Biface 5 (5964) completed.
Update (2/16/2016): 3D model of Biface 4 (5963) completed.
​Update (2/18/2016): 3D model of Biface 1 (5967) completed.
Update (2/19/2016): 3D model of Biface 6 (5968) completed.
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The Kirk Project

2/4/2016

23 Comments

 
PictureDistribution of Kirk Corner Notched cluster projectile points (adapted from Justice 1987).
Last Thanksgiving break, I wrote this post about the Early Archaic corner-notched point horizon in the Eastern Woodlands, discussing some of the things we know and pondering some of the questions we can't currently answer. As a refresher, the “Kirk Horizon” (dating to about 8,800-6,600 BC) is marked by a distribution of Kirk Corner Notched points that extends across a huge area, from the lower Great Lakes to the Florida Keys. Its existence has been noted for over four decades (i.e., at least since James Tuck’s 1974 paper “Early Archaic Horizons in Eastern North America”).  

Although many authors have remarked on the striking similarity of Kirk Corner Notched projectile points from across the east, as far as I know there has never been a concerted effort to assemble a dataset of sufficient detail and spatial scope to allow us to characterize and analyze the kinds, amounts, and spatial components of variability among these points. Given how widespread Kirk is, that's a big job.

I assembled a relatively large dataset of Kirk points from the Midwest as part of my 
dissertation work, and have used that information in a couple of publications (e.g., this one and this one).  I've now started the process of adding to that dataset, beginning with information from Kirk points in large collection from Allendale County, South Carolina, that was donated to SCIAA in the 1990's.  I'm working my way through the Kirk Cluster points in that collection, adding them to my existing database and producing 3D digital models. 

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A 3D model of a Kirk point from Allendale County, South Carolina. You can see the smooth facet in the middle of the blade - that's created by the hole left by the little gripper doo-dad I'm using to hold the point for scanning. Holding the points in the middle exposes all the edges which are important for measurements. The smooth spot is annoying, however.
Second, I need to work up a battery of replicable measurements that I can take on the 3D models that will capture aspects of functional and/or stylistic variation. That's going to require learning new software (I'm currently looking at MeshLab, a free product) and doing some thinking about what makes sense.  Using 3D models gives you the opportunity to do things you can't do with calipers, such as examine size/shape of a cross-section positioned anywhere on the point, accurately calculate volume and surface area of portions of the point (just the haft portion, for example), quantify arcs and curves, etc. Figuring out what information I want to extract and how I can extract it will be an iterative process. 
PictureSpatial distribution of Kirk sample by county as it currently sits in my database (889 points total).
The Eastern Woodlands is big. It took me years of intermittent work with both private and institutional collections to assemble my Kirk dataset from the Midwest.  It's going to take me a while to build a dataset of similar size in the South Carolina and the adjacent Atlantic Coast states.  As you can see from the map, I have no data from the deep south or the Northeast.  

If you're like me and are interested in questions about Kirk (including where it comes from and what it can tell us about the Early Archaic societies of the Eastern Woodlands), I ask you to think about the idea of producing the largest-ever Kirk dataset ever assembled. How similar are Kirks, really, across this large area? How does variability within Kirk break down according to space? Can we identify regional differences in "stylistic" variation?  Are there discontinuities or is variability clinal? What about regional differences in the scales of raw material transport? Is morphometric variability isomorphic with lithic raw materials? Can we identify regional variation in "functional" attributes such as resharpening patterns, haft size, blade configuration, etc.?  Just from looking about the first 30-40 Kirk points I've examined from South Carolina, I'm guessing there might be a higher incidence of beveling (all left hand beveling so far) here than in the Midwest.

Anyway, this post isn't supposed to be high pressure. I won't necessarily be able to devote a great deal of time to this on any given day. I'm just letting you know that if you're interested in Kirk and want to think big, I'm right there with you. Let me know if you want to participate in an effort to create a massive Kirk dataset that we can use to address all kind of potentially interesting questions about early Holocene hunter-gatherers in the Eastern Woodlands. Please pass it on to anyone you think might be interested.


Update (2/12/2016): Guidelines for contributing data to the Kirk Project.
23 Comments

Pornography, Pizza, and the Manufacture of "Hidden History"

2/3/2016

32 Comments

 
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If you were starting to worry that the drama over #Swordgate would diminish once the sword was shown to be a modern creation, you will be relieved to know that we're apparently still moving full speed toward some kind of culminating train wreck. I have some real information to pass on about the Fake Hercules Swords, but this story jumps the line. Cue the music.

On Monday I wrote about a recent letter from Kevin Burns (executive producer of The Curse of Oak Island) to Frank Magazine. In the letter, Burns claims that the Nova Scotia sword was purchased in part to "discredit" J. Hutton Pulitzer. In my opinion, the alleged ploy seems to have worked: Pulitzer committed fully to the sword and still maintains it is an authentic Roman artifact despite several independent lines of evidence (e.g., metallurgical analysis, comparative analysis, etc.) that quite clearly show it is nothing of the sort.

Pulitzer's response to Burns is pretty epic as far as these sorts of things go. I recommend that you read it carefully for yourself. Here are some highlights:

Pornography and Pizza: Pulitzer alleges that Burns "pulled out all the stops" to convince Pulitzer to reveal his secret research on Oak Island, writing that Burns was

"[p]lying us with porn from his series “The Girls Next Door” and “Kendra” with DVS of the deleted flesh on flesh and fresh shower scenes. We feasted on pizza as Burns promised us our own series and huge profits, if we could just help him with Curse of Oak Island."​
A Plot to Deceive: Pulitzer alleges that Burns and the Laginas plotted to cover up the real story of the sword, implying (I think) that they also considered the sword to be authentic.  Pulitzer writes that
​
"They knew full well they had to deal with this or be exposed. They had over a year to devise a way to deal with this issue.
. . .  B
oth Rick and Marty Lagina knew there was history at stake and we talked about this numerous times."
​Forthcoming Proof: Pulitzer has promised to provide recordings of his conversations with Burns regarding the sword:​ 
"That back and forth dialog went on in emails and calls and some especially enlightening calls from Kevin Burns to me, where we specifically talked about the Sword, what he though of it, how the Lagina’s wanted him top pitch in helping them buy it and many other insightful AND RECORDED THINGS (yep, going to treat you to a very, very enlightening recording now the gates have been opened)."
The Suppression is Ongoing: Pulitzer alleges that Burns used his influence to squash Pulitzer's appearance on Coast To Coast AM, originally scheduled to air following last night's season finale of The Curse of Oak Island:
"So Mr. Burns, yes you have some power and you called George Noory of Coast to Coast AM and squashed our guest appearance for this evening. You have that kind of control when in fact Mr. Noory appears regularly on Ancient Aliens, and you have control over Rick and Marty and the Curse of Oak Island, but what you do not have control over is the truth about history and the truth will always win."
All this over a modern brass sword?

Well, no, not really.  Of course there's more to it than a simple dispute over interpretation of an object. To me, this is a struggle about the power to monetize fake stories about the past.  The only winners in that game are the people making the money -- nobody else gets anything of value out of it and, in fact, I feel the whole endeavor of manufacturing and feeding nonsense to the public has the potential to do a significant degree of harm. I'm not rooting for anyone in this fight.  As Jason Colavito wrote on Monday (and see this post from today) "this is more of a King Kong vs. Godzilla thing where you really hope they just take each other out and go away."

​Amen. 
32 Comments

The Type F Swords Were Never Real Swords: Here’s Why (by Eric Wisbith)

2/1/2016

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This is a guest blog post contributed by Eric Wisbith.  Eric has a BA in History (with a minor in Military History) from Slippery Rock University.  He has recreated 18th century sabers and other edged weapons to better understand the combat application of those weapons in a American tactical environment.  He is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps with service in Iraq.

While we wait for J. Hutton Pulitzer to rummage through his local flea market and present us with another “100% confirmed” Roman artifact to prove is a modern toy or a tool or whatever, I’ve been asked by the host to weigh in on understanding the origins of the possible first generation of the Fake Hercules Swords, the Type F. By now, we collectively, as well as recognized experts, have conclusively proven the “swords” are not actual Roman artifacts. Although we have determined what it isn’t, we are still curious about what it was before it became a kitschy trinket sold in the street stalls of Italy, because there is a curious major change in design between the Type F and all the others-the inclusion of what appear to be truncated fullers on the blade of the probable earliest models of the FHS family. Eliminating objects as possible candidates for the “Mother Of All Fake Hercules Swords” (MOAFHS), allows us to focus our efforts in ever narrower types of objects and time frames, with the result of eventually refuting definitively the Pulitzer narrative by identifying the genesis of the Nova Scotia sword.

Because the Type F exhibits some elements of actual sword design (though, tellingly, not Roman sword design) many people have concluded the MOAFHS was possibly a real sword at some point. However, a more specialist eye cast on the features leads me to the conclusion that at no point was the MOAFHS a real sword, thereby eliminating a whole category of objects we need to look at. Knowledge of historical European sword design elements, their function, the history of European swordmaking and craftsmanship, personal experience in examining and minutely handling 18th, 19th, and 20th century swords, and experimental archaeology in reconstructing swords of the period with fire, anvil and hammer all played a role in this assessment, that the designer of the MOAFHS wanted to visually create a swordlike appearance, but did not understand actual sword sword design or function, as you will see.

First, you need to know your terminology, as I’m going to toss out a lot of technical terms-a basic guide to sword nomenclature can be found here.

Now let’s look at the California sword and begin.
Picture
The California sword.
We have a straight, double fullered (stopped), two edged blade with a prominent midrib, no ricasso, cast as an integral unit with the anthropomorphic hilt in a bronze/brass alloy. What does this tell us? First, it is not Roman. Roman blades were iron and mild steel, with no fullers, forged, not cast, separately from a non anthropomorphic hilt in bone or wood, and then constructed, as here, or here, or seen here:​
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Illustration from Saliola and Caprini- “Pugio-Gladius Brevius Est-History and Technology of the Roman Battle Dagger”, pg. 47 (English edition).
OK, so it’s not Roman, but is it a real sword blade from some later sword? Its got fullers, right? No, it isn’t. Fullers, ricasso, single or double cutting edges, cross section, all these elements, while also decorative, are primarily functional elements of blade design, that inform a practiced eye on the purpose a sword was made for, (war or display), the type of sword it could conceivably come from, and the potential geographic location and time frame it was made in, and even by whom, an actual swordsmith or not. In short, sword blade elements, singly and in combination, are diagnostic.

Let's start with the fullers, then. What is a fuller for? Simply, to lighten a sword while preserving structural strength, to balance a sword by moving its center of gravity, and to be decorative. Short swords designed for thrusting do not require them, which is why the Roman gladius doesn’t have them. Longer swords designed to inflict damage by cutting do, as seen in Germanic swords (the spatha, Frankish, Gothic, Anglo-Saxon, Norse, etc.), but those swords have single fullers, so no matches there. Medieval swords follow those same basic elements, since they are refinements on a cultural European consensus on what swords look like and do. Double fullers do not appear until the 17th century.  Double fullers, in addition, are incredibly difficult to make-look up hand forging, pattern welding and tempering a sword and shaping a single fuller, and you will understand why that design element remained static for centuries, and why smiths were considered practically magicians. This is particularly fascinating. 

Double fullers don’t really show up in European blades until the end of the 17th century, and only in very small numbers of high end broadswords created by superior craftsmen in the “capitals” of the European swordmaking craft, Toledo, Spain and Solingen, Germany. Sword technology and skill were rapidly moving into new forms-the state of the art was becoming increasingly complex. Owning these weapons was like owning a high end sports car or designer clothes or a famous work of art -- the smith even signed his work. They were expensive as hell status symbols showcasing the wealth and status of the owner, just as swords throughout the ages have, as this late 17th century basket hilted broadsword with a Solingen blade shows-but also a completely functional deadly weapon quite capable of killing.
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Double fullers show up almost exclusively on broadswords, because it's a BROADSWORD that has room for them.
Notice, however, the fullers don’t look like our Type F. They are much shallower, narrow, and they gradually terminate in leaf shaped points before they reach the guard. (like all good swords, this bad boy has a ricasso) This means that if our creator had used a sword like this to build from, he would have had to strip it, and cut an entirely new tang, eliminating the ricasso, in order to bring the fullers into contact with the guard, and that's just not really likely.These are functional and decorative, because the smith, as taught by his master in an unbroken line going back centuries, an expert of his craft traditions, knows you only have to remove a small amount of metal to create a huge effect in the way a sword handles while keeping its strength-its subtle, whereas our Type F fullers are huge, crude, and if put on a real steel blade, would have weakened the performance of the sword beyond practical use. The majority of the weight of the sword would be on the edges, not the centerline, unbalancing the weapon, making it unwieldy and unstable. This can be seen clearly in the cross section of the blade of the California sword:
Picture
”Are you not entertained? ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!?!”
This sword shows no characteristics of fullers in actual European swords, or of forging, nor of symmetry- even an uncalibrated eye can see the midrib is lopsided,and the left side blade edge noticeably smaller than the right. It’s just sloppy craftsmanship, indicative of being cast, not forged, by a person unfamiliar with fabricating a real sword, displaying only superficial visual elements, exactly what one would expect to see in a non functional cheap tourist trinket, unless our swordsmith was blind, drunk and utterly incompetent, that is.

​The lack of a ricasso, or potentially only a vestigial one-(it's difficult in the cast to tell what is blade and what is hilt components)  again is a “100%, smoking gun” sign that we are not dealing with a real sword. Here is Andy’s scan of the California sword:
Picture
”Ricasso? Hercules don’t need no ricasso!”
A ricasso is the unsharpened section of the blade near the hilt and usually within the guards in front of the quillons. One purpose of the ricasso was to allow a user to curl a finger over a quillon, allowing for better point control. Often times, longer swords would have an extended ricasso, allowing the gripping of an entire hand onto the blade past the cross guard for more leverage. (see below) It also thickens the metal that transitions into the tang, adding structural strength, a bit more longitudinal rigidity, and prevents damage to the scabbard throat. Essentially, a ricasso is an almost standard feature on all European swords from the Renaissance on, and a lack of one combined with the presence of double fullers means this isn’t a real blade, now, then, or ever.
Picture
18th century Scottish claymore hilt, showing double fullers and ricasso. The hearts say “I’m sensitive, but I can decapitate you.”
Are there any exceptions to this rule? Yes, some sabers are double fullered and lack a ricasso, but sabers are not swords, technically. (a saber is curved and single edged, and the fullers are typically above the centerline with a triangular cross section, while a sword is straight, double edged, and has a symmetrical cross section, with fullers along the centerline) so a saber isn’t our blade. Sabers, incidentally, are not native European military material culture, being introduced in the 17th century as heavy  mounted troops abandoned lance and plate armor for pistols and cutting weapons in a new type of light cavalry, the Hungarian-Polish style hussar. Saber is derived from the Hungarian verb szab- "to cut."
Picture
European hussar saber, early 19th century-a superficially close match to the California Type F, but the cross section and blade width are not a match. This has a single edged cross section, broadly triangular, not the double edged of our Type F. Sabers are narrower than the width of our 4 cm Type F blades, averaging about 2.7 centimeters consistently for the entire 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. Note that the midrib begins to flare as it transitions into the tang. A double fullered specimen of this type is also relatively uncommon, thus eliminating its possibility as a potential “mother blade”
Picture
A more typical double fuller arrangement on a 1690 English saber
As we transition from the second half of the 19th century into the early 20th, the likely period for our MOAFHS to be created, a few things are happening that influence its design and cement the likelihood of it being ab origine a piece of tourist ware, not a real sword. First, swords are becoming smaller, more delicate, more symbol than weapon. Firepower had finally rendered swords useless on a battlefield, after 2,000 years. Blades are no longer double fullered, at least in a meaningful way, because flat blades are now fashionable and display decoration better.   Width is down to 2 cm or less. They are now called “dress” swords. Look at this German officer with his little toy sword, a world away from the combat blade of just a century before. 
​

Sabers are maintaining some utility but also increasingly a vestigial remnant of a bygone era. Military edged weapons are industrialized, mass produced, not handcrafted. Swordsmiths are increasingly marginalized into producing Romantic Victorian era decorative pieces-pseudo weapons, with increasingly elaborate and useless decorative motifs, including anthropomorphic hilts, classical figures and blades that couldn’t cut fruit. These are not swords, they are objets d’art. With the disappearance of real swords from everyday life, people forgot what real swords were supposed to look like. The late 19th and early 20th also witnessed a simultaneous explosion of interest in the classical world and archaeology as a science takes a few baby steps away from treasure hunting and tomb raiding (of which Andy is more qualified to write about)-resulting in a market around the tourist trail of Roman sites for upper middle class Europeans, with a nodding acquaintance of classics but none of actual artifacts or just a desire for a cheap souvenir. Emperor Napoleon III commissions digs at Alesia, The Roman Museum at Mainz begins to assemble collections, the British Empire looks to the Roman one as a model, and Italy cashes in with tourism. The FHS fills a niche in downmarket tourist ware, created by a person who had never held a real sword in his life, and manufactured by some Italian blacksmith or metalworker who was slamming out metal in his backyard, in a 19th century analogue to these metal workers in India today, who for all we know are casting Design Toscano swords.
Picture
The FHS line, in the end, looks just like what it is: cheap junk. The casting is poor, certainly not up to the standard of the high end figurative dagger/sword market of the time, Hercules even in his best iteration in the Type F is sloppy, not graceful or artistic, the blade just as bad-lopsided, clunky, ponderous and awkward. Hercules himself is posing in a non typical way, as if they repurposed an Atlas from a telemon and slapped a lion skin on him. Maybe the sword was a Frankenstein mashup of a decorative elements and an imagined blade bashed together out of scrap iron in some Naples slum for the tourist trade, or another theory forthcoming, but I can say with conviction, never was the MOAFHS a real blade, nor was the hilt a real sword grip, and together, it screams to me of a poorly conceived and executed artistic evocation of sword design, not a crude recasting of a real weapon's steel blade and hilt in brass. It mashes together a midrib (actually seen on early Roman blades) with double fullers seen on much later weapons, but omits a ricasso, all incorporated into a "blade" that mimics the width of a Roman gladius. To put it bluntly, it's’ a bastard hybrid, too crude, too badly designed, too useless to have originated in a real military blade. A full blade like that would handle like garbage-unbalanced, too heavy, structurally weak. The design elements, while visually evocative of real swords, are combined in ways no real swords do. None of it fits right. It just looks all wrong. What amazes me the most about this hunk of crap is that Pulitzer actually thought it would fool anyone with a functional frontal lobe, literacy and an internet connection.
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