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Did You Know that Heartland Mormons are Planning on Excavating a Hopewell Site in Iowa?

11/5/2016

18 Comments

 
We have reached the point in semester where those of us involved in the educational parts of academia -- faculty and students alike -- are starting to feel the strain: you can see it in the body language, the class attendance, and in my Facebook feed peppered with complaints from colleagues about plagiarism and requests for extra credit.

For me, the grind of the "fringe" material we're dealing with in Forbidden Archaeology is contributing to the fatigue. I've been immersed in this stuff since August. The silliness, lies, and willful ignorance are wearing on me.

The feeling of fatigue crystallized as I listened to this presentation by Alex Koritz, a so-called "Heartland Mormon" who believes that events described in the Book of Mormon unfolded in eastern North America. I played a short chunk of the video (from about 9:00-20:00) in class as part of our discussion of claims about the "missing copper" of the Great Lakes, and asked the students to try to identify and evaluate Koritz's claims and figure out his orientation on the fly. I listened to the remainder of Koritz's presentation over the course of a few days during my walks to and from campus. Between what Koritz says and the questions from the audience, it's really a depressing brew of so many of the concepts we've dealt with this semester (claims about giant skeletons, re-dating the Sphinx, "Mound Builders," government and academic conspiracies, misrepresentation of Native American oral traditions, misconceptions about what archaeologists think and do, misuse of genetic data, etc.). It is sad.

One of the most distressing things that I heard from Koritz was that the Heartland Mormons apparently plan to excavate an archaeological site in Iowa. During the question/answer session, Koritz mentions that Wayne May, editor of Ancient American Magazine, is "overseeing" an excavation of a Hopewell site (about 1:12:30):

"Even in the Midwest there are still Hopewell digs going on. We were back in Illinois recently . . . um . . . if you know Wayne May, he's actually overseeing one on the Mississippi River."
What?

Fetishizing fake artifacts and making fantastic maps is one thing, but excavating a site?

[Update (11/13/2016): I think that an excavation has already taken place.]

This webpage, dated January 2015, describes the purchase of property and the intent to excavate a Hopewell site that the Heartland Mormons claim may be the sacred city of Zarahemla:

"For the past several  years Ancient American Magazine publisher Wayne May has been exploring the possibilities of what could be one of the most significant archaeological finds in history, the Zarahemla temple site of the Nephites of the Book of Mormon!  Before this can be positively established, archaeological work must be done to verify that this was anciently a Hopewell Mound Builder Civilization site along with having evidence of a temple structure."

The site shows aerial photographs of the property across the river from Nauvoo, Illinois, where May et al. claim there is evidence of a rectangular "temple structure" and provides a figure that purports to show the locations of buried walls as determined using ground-penetrating radar (GPR):
Picture
I can't fully evaluate the GPR work without seeing a formal report, of course, but I can tell you that I'm extremely skeptical of the accuracy of the information in that image. GPR works by pulsing radar waves into the ground and detecting the reflections that occur when the waves encounter a material with different electromagnetic properties. By measuring the strength and travel time of the reflected pulses, it's possible to collect information about subsurface deposits.  But those data are not simple. GPR data do not come in maps such as those shown above: such maps are produced from careful processing and analysis of dense datasets. GPR cannot, by itself, tell you the kinds of materials that are buried or give you precise depths. The resolution of GPR varies with antenna size -- the greater depth penetration required, the lower the frequency of antenna that must be used and the lower resolution that you'll receive. I don't know what kind of hardware, software, and methods were used to produce this illustration of a buried rectangular structure, but I will tell you that GPR did not identify the material as wood and did not provide those direct depth figures.  

Who produced this drawing?  The website address on the image is not functional. I found a single page for a company called H3 Tec here. There is additional information about H3 Tec's claim of a technology for long-range detection of precious metals scattered around the web (e.g., here, here).

Shooting radar waves into the ground and drawing maps are non-invasive activities: you can do that all you want without permanently affecting the archaeology. But apparently this GPR study is just a prelude to an actual excavation. The webpage says the following:

"I would like to invite you to join with other fellow "Heartlanders" to help us raise the funds for the purpose of conducting the archaeological studies and dig.  The dig will be conducted by non-Mormon semi-retired archaeologist, Dr. John Melancon, who is also one of the few American archaeologists fully certified to conduct digs in Israel because of his training in Hebrew archaeology."    
So who is this famous archaeologist who, with your generous support and Wayne May's guidance, is going to uncover the temple at Zarahemla?

Melancon apparently runs a company called Underground Discovery & Exploration. From that website, we learn that: 

"Dr. John Melancon is a world renown archaeologist that maintains a semiprivate museum in HENDERSON TX. Dr. John Melancon is notably the worlds foremost authority on Spanish and Knights of the Golden Circle Society treasure maps, symbols and signs.

As an archaeologist, Dr. John Melancon desires to preserve the integrity of history. Treasure hunters seek out the knowledge Dr. Melancon has amassed over the past 35 years of the secret Civil War society, KGC."
Picture
As you can see from the screenshot, the posts on the Underground Discovery & Exploration website are not about archaeology. The focus is on treasure hunting.

I was unable to find much about actual archaeology that Melancon has done. I found several announcements for presentations he has given to church groups (e.g., this one, this one, and this one). He has a listing on "Worldwide Who's Who," an "international branding and networking organization" that charges membership fees. I did find several others things of interest, however, including this 2013 newspaper story about a treasure-hunting controversy in New Mexico involving Melancon.  He apparently started and ended this blog with a single post in 2014. His LinkedIn page states that he has been Senior Vice President of a Bible museum in Branson, Missouri, since 2015, with responsibilities that include:

"Curating and displaying artifacts, procurement of artifacts, archaeology overseas and in America. Translation of some inscriptions and oversight of the archaeological portion of the museum. Assisting in operation of the balance of the the museum."

[Update (3/14/2017): Dr. Bobby Sparks, President of the Bible History Museum in Branson, Missouri, informed me via a comment below that Melancron "was associated with the project early on, but due to circumstances, he is no longer identified with the project"].

This page from 2011 crows about the treasure hunting expedition that Melancon will be leading to Black Mesa (perhaps the same one later described in the newspaper article above?). The language will sound hauntingly familiar to those of you who have followed this blog closely: 

"As one well known treasure hunter said, “How did you get permission on one of the biggest treasure sights in the world?” Simple. We are Expedition Resources: an unbeatable team, experience, technology, and a solid track record. What are you waiting for? Call us today to be a part of the greatest team, greatest treasure hunt, and greatest expedition! MAKE HISTORY!!!"

That's a bold statement. Can Melancon claim an A-Team van and a costume to compete with those fielded by the TreasureForce? 

Whatever kind of van he might have, it's not at all clear to me that Melancon has the expertise to excavate a Middle Woodland site in the Eastern Woodlands. I cannot comment of the actual archaeological excavation he's done before (I would love to see an example), but I will tell you that doing "Hebrew archaeology" in the Middle East is different from doing Hopewell archaeology in the Midwest. The techniques are different, the deposits are different, the cultural materials are different, and the research questions are different.  And once shovels go in the ground, you can't put things back.

So what's the plan here? What's the goal? What's going to happen if human remains are encountered? How are the deposits that are exposed going to be documented? What's going to happen to the cultural materials after they come out of the ground?  Can my archaeological friends in Iowa tell me anything about what's going on?

I'm all for public interest in archaeology, but I'm not for the sacrifice of a legitimate archaeological site for the purposes of fantasy.
18 Comments
Wes Copas
11/5/2016 10:22:58 am

Such wanton waste of precious information... I guess the one hope is that the buyers of the "treasure" will not bite... There also seems to be a large element of pay to dig involved. Perhaps there is a neighbor to this property with a drone and a good camera.

Reply
Jim
11/5/2016 10:23:52 am

Don't let it bring you down. Where a real archaeology dig would reward you with historical facts and and artifacts, this particular "dig" or investigation seems to be the exact opposite. The deeper you dig and the more evidence you uncover, the more disturbing and sordid this whole area of investigation becomes. On the bright side you can soon leave all this behind you if you so choose.

Reply
keith saxe
11/5/2016 02:14:17 pm

Just go with he flow.
Good stuff has been found by fringe guys.
Shovels in the ground paid for by fringe means are still shovels in the ground.
With modern video recording things can be recorded.
For better or for worse.

Reply
Mike Morgan
11/5/2016 09:05:35 pm

Keith: "Good stuff has been found by fringe guys."

Would you be so kind as to provide some examples of the names of the "fringe guys" and identify the "good stuff" each found?

Reply
DPBROKAW
11/6/2016 01:04:30 pm

"for better or for worse"
If you consider allowing undisciplined/qualified/skilled persons with excavating equipment and an agenda "OK", then I can only deduce you are one of those poor people who believe everything on tv and the internet must be true, because your not allowed to lie on either?

When people go into an actual historical site and start "digging" they invariably do much more damage than good. I'm sure however, that this "dig site" will turn out to be more fringe nonsense as there are laws about disturbing actual historical, or even possible historical sites.

It is disheartening to hear people with your attitude however.

Reply
Lance Foster
11/5/2016 04:12:30 pm

I've referred this to the state archaeologist of Iowa to see what's really going on.

PS. I am a four-field anthro myself too; been out of grad school since the late 90s, when my M.A. required a four field approach.

Reply
Graham
11/6/2016 05:25:13 pm

Good luck with the request. I find the whole idea disturbing.

Reply
Clint Knapp
11/9/2016 10:25:05 pm

A native of southeast Iowa (though not currently residing), myself, I can only shake my head and hope the proper authorities look into this.

I couldn't get the site to load to take a look at the whole "plan" or try to identify the location itself (the main site itself gives an "under maintenance" message), but I don't know of any confirmed Hopewell sites in Lee County (directly across the river from Nauvoo). In fact, the only Hopewell site I can find in Iowa itself is the Toolesboro Mound Group, but that's further north near Wapello.

Of course, a group need not be Hopewell to have had a settlement or mounds in the area, but I'm rather certain they aren't Nephite. It is, however, par for the course for the Mormon community in the area (and at large) to attempt to usurp any Native structures in and around the tri-state area of Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri as holding religious significance to the Book of Mormon.

First I've ever heard of an actual plan for a dig, though. Normally they seem content to pontificate and go on tours of sites like Effigy and Cahokia looking around and spouting Mormon "history" as fact.

I will, however, posit that they won't find anything at all even if this dig does happen. Chances are that they're looking at molehills and making mounds of them. Especially along the banks of the Mississippi you can find any number of dirt-covered outcroppings of flint and limestone that could be mistaken for artificially constructed mounds if one really wanted to see it as such.

Reply
Mike Morgan
11/11/2016 11:34:34 pm

Clint,

From a former Cedar Rapidian, here is an image outlining the parcel itself @ https://beacon.schneidercorp.com/Application.aspx?AppID=177&LayerID=2207&PageTypeID=4&PageID=3381&KeyValue=012318042000090

For a better view of it and surrounding area, Type the address "2490 280TH ST., MONTROSE, IA" in Google Earth. https://www.google.com/maps/place/2490+280th+St,+Montrose,+IA+52639/@40.550319,-91.4370227,480m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x87e726af46363253:0xdeacc6315fb1b5fd!8m2!3d40.550319!4d-91.434834

I do not see anything resembling mounds or earthworks, but ....

Reply
Andy White
11/13/2016 07:33:37 am

FYI, I've posted an update here.

http://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/ground-penetrating-radar-and-the-fringe-another-example

Reply
Bobby Sparks
3/13/2017 08:47:26 pm

John Malancon is not associated with any Bible museum in Branson, MO.

Reply
Andy White
3/14/2017 06:17:45 am

From his LinkedIn page:

"Senior Vice President
Company Name: Bible Museum
Dates Employed: May 2015 – Present Employment Duration1 yr 11 mos
Location: Branson, Missouri

Curating and displaying artifacts, procurement of artifacts, archaeology overseas and in America. Translation of some inscriptions and oversight of the archaeological portion of the museum. Assisting in operation of the balance of the the museum."

Reply
Bobby Sparks
3/14/2017 08:04:52 am

John was associated with the project early on, but due to circumstances, he is no longer identified with the project. He needs to change his Linkedin page. The project is still in the development stage.
Thanks.

Andy White
3/14/2017 08:27:55 am

Thank you. I'll add an update to the post when I get a moment.

beth
3/23/2017 02:02:51 pm

I have been interested in this for some time now. Was very skeptical of Wayne Mays research but I am very excited to see what he unearths at this Hopewell site. I believe that Mr May is not in this to treasure hunt. He is a man who to me appears to love history and find the truth. As for destroying bodies, or remains that are found, I would say he would never do that! Are you familiar with the mummies found in northern Kentucky around 1775? A Mr. Ash and others burned the mummies they pulled from the catacomb. I wish more people were actually interested in the unearthing of the history of the native peoples of north america and just want to know truth. It seems that acadamia and others want to stifle it, as it pushes back on their idea that anything pre columbus has to be fraud. It would be hard to refute if they actually unearthed a structure at the site. That would be awesome!

Reply
Mike Morgan
3/23/2017 10:48:47 pm

Beth,

The "dig" is done, in fact, it was over long before this blog post, happened in May of 2015.

You can read more in Andy's two other updating blog posts of 11/13/2016 and 11/19/2016.

http://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/ground-penetrating-radar-and-the-fringe-another-example

http://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/photos-from-the-zarahemla-temple-excavation

If still interested, you can find more pictures and videos of the "excavation" at the "Hidden in the Heartland" Facebook page. The concerning posts start on May 6, 2015, so it will take you several minutes to scroll through to find them.

It is rather telling that shortly after this blog post, May, Meldrum, and company, began removing their information about this "Zarahemla temple site" from their website dedicated to it and now the website has been completely taken down, http://www.bookofmormonevidence.org/ because .... (Spoiler Alert!!!!) they found absolutely NOTHING.

Reply
Donna P Vaughn link
5/9/2019 08:39:53 pm

Wayne May has been exploring for over 30 yrs, he's not a liar, and he's found paralells and actual hard evidence dating to show timelines that correspond w/ the b.o.m. time frame. No one realized that there were copper mines in the eastern states and slag, the gov. has always repressed the sophistication of natives, that was done by Wm. Powell who hated mormons. Even linguistics show the paralell, very amazing things are going on. All of it was done by May who went rogue with others, and if the LDS church moved their search up there and they don't do extensively in the lowers americas as previous, they have to have a good reason and they do.

Reply
Ed Tillman
8/3/2022 01:03:17 am

The Mormons do need to come back to Missouri,Iowa and Illinois. I believe that when Joseph Smith Jr. was in the area he was being lead to different places to find items. He finds to much to fast just by coming across them.But he defied Moroni and showed and lost the translations by fault of his own. Moroni told Smith that if he did he would be killed.
Was he not killed? He was. Moroni prolong his life to get the wheels in motion, and he was good at that. But this one act showed he could not be trusted and he didn't fallow instruction very well even if his life depended on it. So a contingency plan was possibly given to Smith.
. He dose not find all that he would had found if he followed orders.
And time was lost when their 10,000 followers showed up in Missouri enough to change the course of the up coming elections. Where did the money come from? Covered wagons and a team was not cheap. So Missouri declared war on the Morons and force then out. He can to Independence Mo because he was ordered to. It was the center of Zion(North America). There is a rune stone there called the Independence Rune Stone that's believed to have been carved in 1888. I don't care what some believe that the dimples test shows in the limestone. I believed it was carved in the 14th century. I believe he found it and it lead him to Adem-ondi-Ahman. But before he could decipher all of the information on it,he was arrested. And his people was force to leave or die. Should he had deciphered the rune stone completely he may have found the two proof stones that was set in 1362 under the lite of a spectacular comet called Swift-Tuttle comet.In the first month of the year March. March was the first month until 1585.
One of these stones was the Kensington Rune Stone the other was the V'erendry rune stone but both was already moved.They was to serve as proof stones as a claim act in the name of God.
This information is found in my book Heaven Holds the Answers that can be ordered from Amizon or from me 1-660-258-3951.

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