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The Identity of the First Governor of Roman Scotia Has Been Revealed: It Was Harold

1/26/2016

 
The latest weak coffee to be added to stew of "evidence" for a Roman occupation of Nova Scotia is a "Roman inscribed stone." The carved boulder, described in this post as a "Roman symbology stone," joins an evidence list that already includes such powerhouse "smoking guns" as a modern brass tourist sword and some "crossbow bolts" that are most likely pieces of historic period logging tools.  

The "Roman symbology stone" is depicted as covered with all kinds of symbols that don't look like much to me. Apparently you have to be a professional cacheologist to understand that the symbols on the stone mark

"some form of a Roman Recon Mission, possibly a forbearer to various Iberian Reconquistas hit the shores of Oak Island."

Or, as Howard Montgomery (an alert member of an Oak Island group on Facebook) did, you could just turn the stone upside down and read it as it was meant to be read.

It says "Harold."
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These pieces of "evidence" seem to be getting dumber and dumber, which (hint hint) is the wrong direction to go if you want to build a case that anyone will take seriously. ​

Recently I've been asked how long I plan on staying on this topic. I don't really have an answer to that except to say that I'll write about something if it interests me. I found #Swordgate to be fascinating, so I put quite a bit of effort into it. The drivel that we're seeing now, while somewhat entertaining in a strange way, doesn't have much appeal to me beyond the "how long does this go on" question. I'm curious to see how all this plays out now that (1) the main piece of "evidence" has been pretty thoroughly examined and (rightfully) thrown in the garbage pile and (2) the main proponent of the case has demonstrated himself to be less than credible both in terms of his interpretations and his statements of fact.  Lately we've seen a second round of attempts to get the "Roman" story in the media.  My impression is that those attempts have been less successful than the first round. We've also seen some kind of strange battle on social media that has apparently resulted in Pulitzer being suspended from using his Facebook accounts.

One thing that I haven't seen yet is others in the "fringe" community distancing themselves from this debacle.  As someone commented on my blog (sorry - I haven't been able to find the post again), what we're seeing here has moved beyond "fringe" archaeology into the realm of "tassel" archaeology. I get emails from people across the spectrum on things like this. One person who self-identified as someone on the "fringe" told me that "everyone on the fringe side is laughing at Hutton as much as the archaeological community." As far as I know, however, no-one on the "fringe" side has publicly said "enough of this nonsense." People who carefully read what I write will know that I am open to many different ideas about the past. I am a scientist, however, and for me to accept a claim as credible there has to be some kind of evidence that stands up to scrutiny. I think many of you on the "fringe" side understand and appreciate that and also understand that what we're seeing here does not meet even the minimum thresholds of quality of evidence, sincerity of investigation, or honesty of argument required to be taken seriously. The Ancient Artifact Preservation Society went all in on Pulitzer's story, and is apparently still backing all of this. Some of you could do a lot for your own credibility, I would suspect, by weighing in with your judgement of the merits of what's going on. Pulitzer is pretending to speak for all of you right now, and what he's saying is not making you look good.

That's just my opinion. If you want to keep drinking the weak coffee and pretending it tastes good to you, that's your business. Prepare yourselves for some pretty bad tasting stuff coming down the road: my impression is that the coffee is only going to get weaker. Don't say I didn't warn you when we're debating a Little Caesar's box washed up on shore (that's from another blog comment that I can't find - sorry for stealing it to whoever said it) and you're still letting the TreasureForce Commander speak for you. 

The stone says "Harold."  What else are you waiting for?
Peter Geuzen
1/26/2016 09:03:52 am

The AAPS wasn’t looking too good even before JHP. It’s the PhDs that will be part of the white paper that you really have to specifically wonder about. The comments sections in the fringe media, where he is shot gunning his stories, are generally nuking him as well.

I also wonder, given the story that the Laginas paid 10,000 for the fake sword after his analysis, if they have a legal claim to be made at this point.

Andy White
1/26/2016 09:06:44 am

Someone made the proposal that Pulitzer should offer to buy the priceless sword from the Laginas for the modest sum of $15k. That way he'd get his "Roman sword" that he claims is authentic and they'd get their money back plus something for their trouble. Sounds like a win-win.

Peter Geuzen
1/26/2016 09:19:13 am

Absolutely. When he has it in his hands he should be fully open to have it tested side by side with any of the reproductions and the Florida sword.

Jonathan Feinstein
1/26/2016 09:25:35 am

Well, my first thought was "What the heck is a Roman Symbology Stone?" But then I revised that to "What the heck is a Symbology Stone?" since even that phrase doesn't actually exist in the searches I made.

Not having many hours in Classics, I can't claim to be a Roman expert, but the only Roman inscriptions I am aware of were fairly straight forward. The only time they got strangely mystical or code-like was in cases like mention in one of the histories (Suetonius, I think and reused by Robert Graves in "I, Claudius") in which lightning struck off the letter "C" from Caesar's name and it was decided that it meant he only had 100 days to live (and according to the writer that is, indeed, what happened). But markers in code (never mind that the code was to take an Anglo-Saxon name and turn it upside down :-) ) well, le3t's just say I'm not aware of that.

As for those PhDs, well back in college and grad school the very old joke was that PhD stood for "Piled higher and deeper" although at the time I pointed out that the "h" was lower case and a more accurate use of the acronym was "Phony Doctor." Regardless of the humor or lack of such involved, I feel fairly sure that is the sort of PhDs he has at hand.

Eric
1/26/2016 09:51:11 am

At the very least, it could have been one of my somewhat less scatological favorites from Pompeii- "Floronius, privileged soldier of the 7th legion, was here. The women did not know of his presence. Only six women came to know, too few for such a stallion."

Jonathan Feinstein
1/26/2016 04:38:40 pm

Definite 100% authenticated proof that the concept of "Italian Stallion" is not new.

And from a friend, "This whole thing gives a new meaning to the phrase, 'No stone unturned.'"

Gina Torresso
1/26/2016 09:10:37 am

Wonder if "Harold" is Italian/ Roman for Harold... sorry there is no Italian Translation for Harold.. There is a Symphony called Harold in Italy.

Eric
1/26/2016 09:20:31 am

"some form of a Roman Recon Mission, possibly a forbearer to various Iberian Reconquistas hit the shores of Oak Island."

Man can't even construct English sentences correctly, notwithstanding the useless and ahistorical analogy to the unrelated reconquista.

DaveR
1/26/2016 09:53:07 am

So these guys were able to cross the Atlantic, and then build the technological marvel that is "The Money Pit," yet they carve the name Harold so poorly it looks like the writing of child.

Andy White
1/26/2016 09:54:05 am

They were tired. From burying the Ark 45,000 feet underground and shooting at the trees.

Jonathan Feinstein
1/26/2016 10:09:06 am

Hey, those trees are tricky, they are. Real treacherous things, trees are. Can't trust them,

DaveR
1/26/2016 10:17:58 am

The Ark, ok, I figured they buried alien technology to protect it from the rising force of the Christians.

Howard M
1/26/2016 10:23:39 am

Not to mention swimming to shore after their boat sank

Peter Geuzen
1/26/2016 02:02:37 pm

For those playing along at home...Swordgate: the Poster v3

https://imgur.com/qbS0rj7

(Note that imgur knocks the quality down to 800kb)

Peter Geuzen
1/26/2016 02:14:42 pm

Of course as soon as I posted it, I saw a mistake.

Try this:

http://imgur.com/YGb3Ix4

sword skeptic
1/26/2016 08:42:25 pm

Nice work, Peter! I hadn't noticed before tonight that the California and Sonja swords have identical blade damage.

Andy White
1/27/2016 06:28:37 am

Nice - it's up:

http://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/the-latest-swordgate-poster

Peter Geuzen
1/26/2016 06:24:45 pm

I don't know if this has been posted anywhere else but here's the presumed original photo, and of course it appears NOT to be one of JHPs own photos, which further suggests he has probably never physically seen this stone:

http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/inscribed-stone-oak-island-nova-scotia_4696263628_o.jpg

...from this page:

http://www.oakislandtreasure.co.uk/photos/inscribed-stones-of-oak-island/

As you can see, the photo is aligned properly to read HAROLD, not the flipped JHP version, so if this is how and where he took it from he should have seen HAROLD from the get go, unless for whatever reason this page has just been revised in the last little while.

Jonathan Feinstein
1/27/2016 01:44:57 am

It is not surprising that he is using other's pictures as though he took them and then invented markings on them. Look at the picture of the so-called arrow head (or Peavey pick) that he presented (supposedly as one of three). As I recall Kel Hancock told us that Pultizer not only used the photo without permission, but that he had never actually had the piece in his hands.

Pulitzer's MO is to manufacture evidence and then whine that anyone who does buy it is part of a conspiracy to hide the truth that he has just made up. As Andy said, his arguments get continually weaker, more desperate, and continually less believable.

Of course it all begs the question, :"what difference does it make?" Even if the Romans, Phoenecians, Babylonians, Tibetans, or whoever somehow made it to the Americas, none of that had any historical significance - no lasting effects on anything that came after - so he is arguing about a matter that is as silly and useless as he is.

Ken
1/26/2016 07:17:18 pm

Why won't the fringe come out publicly against the sword?

Because for true believers, evidence against things like the sword is actually evidence of a conspiracy to hide the truth.

It's the same as alternative medicine. True believers and practitioners never stop the methods / products that have been shown to be useless. Naturopaths won't drop homeopathy despite it never working in well controlled tests. Chiropractors won't stop neck manipulations despite it being a leading cause of stroke for people under 40.

If their thing was never based on evidence and critical thinking, then evidence and critical thinking will never kill it.

Bobby B.
1/26/2016 09:37:58 pm

Maybe it's just me, but I have a different translation for the stone. It says: Far Out Waldo. J. Hutton Pulitzer has unlocked a clue to finding the infamously elusive, and long sought after children's mystery man, Waldo. Where is Waldo? J. Hutton Pulitzer just might find out.

Mike Jones
1/27/2016 04:07:27 am

In Philyaw's rant about Facebook that Andy linked to in the post, this is my favorite part. "And, on the other side of the coin not a single History Channel Executive alerted to the historic finds (and others) would return a multiple calls, numerous emails and even personally mailing them facts of the situation and pleas for a review and audience."

Jonathan Feinstein
1/27/2016 04:39:58 am

What puzzles me is why he is so desperate to prove the unlikelihood of a Roman voyage to Nova Scotia. Why Rome? Why Oak Island?

Actually if a Roman ship did get storm tossed across the Atlantic, I would be more inclined to believe they had follow the Trade Winds westward and into the Caribbean. At least the prevailing breezes are headed in the right direction and it would have taken less work in cooking up phony artifacts and documentation.

As a bonus he could have linked it all to the Bermuda Triangle, the "Lost Legion' (Take your pick of Lost Legion), Atlantis and any number of ancient aliens proposals.

Oh well, bring on the next Pulitzer prize-hoax!

Mike Jones
1/27/2016 04:46:11 am

I think it's because Oak island was on the tee vee.

Eric
1/27/2016 05:53:15 am

Maybe because Scot Wolter and his ilk have cornered the market on spinning fantasies about Templars in America. The far out fringe has turf wars about who gets to be the spokesman for what crazy theory-Pulitzer apparently wasn't alpha dog enough to get the big prize of Ancient Aliens/Templars/Freemasons (the Holy Trinity and cash cow of the fringe) so he has to be satisfied with the scraps from the fringe table.

Jonathan Feinstein
1/27/2016 06:19:11 am

Heh! It's basic geometry. There's always more room on the fringe than in the center.

edoardo Italy
1/27/2016 05:58:19 am

Good morning
sorry but I m Italian and I live here
There is the equivalent of the name Harold in Italian it s Aroldo ( google Aroldo Tieri a decesead but very famous Italian actor)a rare but not unknow first name but 99% sure never used during ancient Rome time because Aroldo is typical from Middle Age.

Jonathan Feinstein
1/27/2016 06:42:30 am

As always I find myself horribly depressed byt he uselessness of baby name sites and even my friends at the Academy of St. Gabriel did not help much this time so I'll have to fly this one on my own.

I suspect that because the name Harald (or Harold) is of Germanic origin, Aroldo probably did not find a lot of use in Italy before the Gothic incursions (which of course agrees with what you said, Edoardo.

If someone named Harald came to Rome during the days of the Empire his name might have been translated to the nearest Latin equivalent. Because some translations of Harold and Aroldo are "Strong as an eagle," so he might have been addressed as "Aquila" which not only is Latin for "Eagle" but was a well-established cognomen at the time. or his name might just as easily be repronounced into whatever Roman name sounded closest, such as Hermann becoming Arminius. Or some physical attribute might have been used; such as a blond being called Aurelius (golden). Or just added a Latin ending (Joseph becomes Josephus).In my experience that was how Romans handled foreign (non-Greco-Roman) names,

Eric
1/27/2016 07:12:41 am

That, and there are two "W's" inscribed on our mystery stone. That letter only became part of the Latin alphabet in the early medieval period. Naturally, this is an inscription stone showing that King Harald was not killed at Hastings in 1066, but escaped via the Pope's secret underground so that some Nova Scotian fisherman is the rightful heir to the English throne.

Logan
1/27/2016 09:06:52 pm

I subscribe to the theory that Oak Island is no more mysterious than an early fishing community who produced their own salt for preserving their catches for market. If I was going to speculate, the name Harold appears more likely to support the claims of those who hold that the Vikings were the earliest visitors. I'm not saying that the Vikings dug the so called "Money Pit", or hid treasure, just that they could have visited there, as they did L'Ance aux Meadows. Harald Hardrada Sigurdsson, Harald "Bluetooth" Gormsson, King Harald of Norway all immediately leap to mind, and yes, I know Harald isn't Harold, but literacy has never been a criteria for history, any more than it is for conspiracy theories. Since the Viking's argument doesn't allow for a "100% genuine magic north pointing lode stone Roman sword" theory, for now it appears we will have to settle for Harold the Hopelessly Lost Formerly of Rome and First So Named.


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