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Volume 17

 

Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications
Table of Contents, Vol. 17, 1988

In Memoriam: Prof. Dr. Linus Brunner (2 pp) Barry Fell 17-p 9
Photo, biographic information on and bibliography of Dr. Linus Brunner, who died on 3 Dec 1987. He was a substantial contributor to epigraphic research.

In Memoriam: Dr. Robert T. Meyer (1 p) Ida Jane Gallagher  17-p 11
Photo and biographic information on Dr. Robert T. Meyer, of Catholic University, who died in Swansea, Wales, on 3 October 1987. He was a prominent scholar of Celtic studies who confirmed Dr. Fell’s Old Irish translation of a West Virginia petroglyph.

Forum (6 pp) 17-p 12

Letter: An Ancient Greek Inscription (1 p) James N. Lamb 17-p 12
Sent a photo of a Greek inscription from the Villa d'Este near Rome. Fell read it as a Greek motto in an uncial script: GNOTHI S'AUTON = "Know thyself."

Letter: Memorial Volume to Alexander Thom (1 p) Archie S. Thom 17-p 12
Alexander Thom’s son writes announcing a memorial volume to his father, late Prof. Emeritus, Oxford University: Records in Stone: Papers in Memory of Alexander Thom; published by the Cambridge University Press.

Letter: Celtic and the Dene dialects (1 p) Ethel G. Stewart 17-p 12
The author comments on the origin of the Celtic element in Dene dialects; believes it came from the Italo-Celtic Tokharian B dialect of the Northern Tarim Oases and the Sino-Tibetan border of Kansu, reaching America via the Pacific.

European Viewpoint (1 p) Heinz B. Maas 17-p 13
A visitor from West Germany comments on the Newport Tower, the Upton Chamber, Mystery Hill, Petroglyph Park (Peterborough, Ontario, Canada), Warren Cook's exhibition at Castleton College Library and the "Fell Controversy." He says: "Don't give up… You are certainly on the right track."

Letter: A Tennessee Gorget (1 p) Myrle A. Kirk 17-p 13
The author encloses a photo of a shell gorget donated to the Ventura County, California Historical Museum in 1936. It is supposed to have originated from the Great Serpent Mounds in Tennessee. Fell notes its resemblance to another gorget from Tennessee now in the Rochester Museum of Arts and Science.

Letter: A Request (1 p) Sun Bear 17-p 14
Sun Bear is an Ojibwa Medicine Man and Chief of the Bear Tribe Medicine Society located in Spokane, Washington. He is the author of 5 books and is doing research on a sixth dealing with Native American petroglyphs. He requests information and photos as well as names of persons he can contact.

Letter: A mysterious wall (1 p) Robert J. Petrelli 17-p 14
Describes the remains of an "enormous stone wall" near South Windsor, Connecticut. It is anchored deeply into the river bank on the east side and runs into the river all the way across to the west bank. It is straight and constructed of the red river shale common in the area. There was a large Indian village site on the east bank near the wall.

Letter: A Hopi Tablet (2 pp) Ron Anjard 17-p 14
Two sides of a sacred Hopi Fire Clan Tablet are shown. It was inscribed on both sides with ideograms at least one of which probably stands for the Great Spirit (Masaw in Hopi). It also bears the swastika (see The Book of the Hopi by Frank Walters).

Letter: World Cultures of Ancient America Conference (1 p) Diane Sundberg 17-p 15
Inauguaral meeting held at the University of California, San Francisco, Laurel Heights Conference Center, 4-7 June 1988. It was attended by investigators in archeology, geology, linguistics, epigraphy, anthropology and astronomy who documented evidence of links between the Old and New Worlds. A "Retrospective" of meeting is being prepared. Sundberg was the Conference Coordinator.

Letter: Burrows Cave Artifacts (1 p) Charles W. Bailey 17-p 16
Bailey strongly doubts the authenticity of the claims for the site and for the artifacts and gives cogent reasons for his views. He particularly mentions the crude and amateur artwork that seems to draw its inspiration from many known originals in Old World sites. Bailey, after 30 years of research, is very familiar with ancient art forms.

Letter: Burrows Cave Artifacts (2 pp) Warren Dexter 17-p 16
Dexter, a professional photographer, strongly believes in the integrity "of a majority" of the artifacts from the alleged cave. He claims that he was personally taken to the cave in Illinois by the founder, but was not allowed to enter it. [DB Note: It was pointed out to him that what he was shown fit the description of a rock shelter, not a cave.]

Review: Kiln Sites in China (1 p) Institute of Archeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking 17-p 17
Reviews Kiln Sites in China, by Rewy Alley, a New Zealander who worked in China for the past 58 years acquiring a deep interest in Chinese history and archeology, especially relating to ceramics. He has produced a book on various ceramic centers, old kiln sites, and modern factories in China.

Letter: Oklahoma Runestone (1 p) Paul H. Chapman 17-p 17
He defends his decipherment of the Heavener Runestone: "To invite barter." While he differs with Nielsen, he nevertheless lauds his work.

The Cup-and-Ring Motif in the Rock Art of the British Isles and in America (13 pp) Ronald W. B. Morris 17-p 18
Bio info given on author, a Scot, with photo (currently vice president, of the UK’s Ancient Monuments Society). His article compares the cup-and-ring motif as carved in the British isles with examples of the same motif found in America. It is illustrated with many photos.

A Decipherment of the Chichicastenango Stone (22 pp) John S. Carroll 17-p 31
The language of the inscription is Quiche Maya. The script is partly pictographic, partly ideographic, partly homophonic (rebus). It records battles, cities and enemies defeated, and tribute gained apparently by a king named Tohil (Fate).

Stephen Laurent (Atian Lolo), Lexicographer of the Abenaki (4 pp) Stephen Laurent 17-p 53
An autobiographical sketch (with a color photo). He is an expert on Amer-indian linguistics and the son of an Abenaki chief, Joseph Laurent.

Javier Cabrera (1 p) Michael Skupin 17-p 56
Skupin comments on Peruvian physician Javier Cabrera Darquea's collection of stones with controversial pictures carved or etched on them (some of the subjects of the pictures are supposed to have been long extinct).

Living in Total Harmony with Stupidity (3 pp) Marshall D. Payn 17-p 57
Marshall takes on Barry's critics and tells them to go straight to Fell.

Deciphering Inca Textiles Using Computer Graphics (5 pp) Warren L. Cook 17-p 60
Peruvian (Inca) textile designs are analyzed using a Macintosh computer to determine if they hide alphabetic symbols representing the fourteen sound values postulated by Fell as comprising the Tocapu alphabet.

On Norse Importation of Domestic Animals into North America (2 pp) George F. Carter 17-p 65
Comments as a result of the discovery of a Runic inscription accompanying the portrayal of a cow in Ludlow Cave, South Dakota.

Stonehenge and the Calendar of Coligny (34 pp) Alban Wall 17-p 67
Presents evidence that Goidelic Celts built Stonehenge and wrote in Ogam (Ogham) Consaine. Gives biographic information on Alban Wall (w/photo). There is a graphic of the reassembled Celtic Coligny Calendar. He discusses the contents and reading of the Coligny Calendar in depth and compares the results to the structure and usage of Stonehenge.

Tanith with Two Scripts from South Africa (2 pp) Barry Fell, Warren Dexter & Gloria Farley 17-p 101
An effigy of the North African goddess, Tanith, found in South Africa, bears inscriptions in two scripts, Ogam and Libyan. Fell deciphers both.

Letter: The Westford Knight and his Coat of Arms (1 p) Herbert E. Robinson 17-p 103
Corrects a mistake concerning the Gunn arms seen on the Knight-inscription from Westford, Massachusetts as published in Fell’s book, Saga America.

Letter: Ogam Rock in Ventura County (1 p) Myrle A. Kirk 17-p 103
A stone bearing man-made linear markings similar to Ogam was excavated in Ventura County, California, in 1974. Working from a photo (shown), Fell suggests a decipherment.

Contribution to Modern Potawatomi Vocabulary (3 pp) ShupShe (Howard La Hurreau) 17-p 104
A glossary of Potawatomi terms for flora and fauna, the natural world, the body, etc.

Foreign Influences on the Priesthood and Nobility in pre-Columbian America (16 pp) Lawrence F. Athy Jr. 17-p 106
Discusses evidence that the elite classes in Meso-America were influenced by foreignors and sometimes included foreignors.

Photo: Table Rock, Near Wheeling, West Virginia (1 p) Cyril C. Bruhn 17-p 121
Photo of Bruhn standing in front of Table Rock, a natural formation in Ohio County, West Virginia. It stands on the summit of a 400 ft. hill on private property.

An Ethnologist looks at the Odyssey (2 pp) Fred Tromel 17-p 122
He suggests that most of the Odyssey had little if anything to do with Odysseus, but reflected earlier sagas and voyages by Phoenicians. He reviews Dr. Christine Pellech's book "The Odyssey - An Antique Circumnavigation of the World," published in 1983 in Berlin.

The Kensington Stone Part 3: Linguistic Evidence for Its Authenticity (55 pp) Richard Nielsen 17-p 124
He strongly supports Robert A. Hall Jr.'s thesis that the Kensington Runestone is genuine.

The Cross of the Inca (8 pp) Walter Stender 17-p 179
Discusses the use of the "square cross" (like the Red Cross symbol) by the Inca, which he maintains was a continuance from preceding cultures.

Melanesians in Panama (8 pp) John Spencer Carroll 17-p 187
Reports on the unexpected presence of blacks in Panama in the 16th century as reported by one Italian and five Spaniards.

An Elephant Petroglyph (2 pp) Joan Camp 17-p 195
Petroglyph of an apparent elephant found in Northeastern New Mexico by Joan Camp. Illustration from a cast of the inscription made by Gloria Farley.

Christian Symbols of the Pre-Columbian Maya (1 p) Walter F. Morris 17-p 196
Many of the Catholic rituals taught to the Maya were already familiar to them, according to Walter F. Morris in his book Living Maya (1987).

The Eight Cousins from Lisbon (3 pp) John Spencer Carroll 17-p 197
Eight men from Lisbon, all first cousins, loaded a ship c. 1100, and ventured into the Atlantic. They seem to have reached the Azores, Madeira, the Canaries or Cape Verde islands, where they noted that Arabic was known.

Timeless Threads in the Fabric of Cuna Indian Culture (1 p) Roberta C. Smith 17-p 199
Review’s Clyde Keeler’s book (title as above) which can be obtained from either Keeler or herself.

Reworking Early Glottochronologies (6 pp) E. Morgan Kelley 17-p 200
Glottochronology refers to the dating of language and linguistic change. Jürgen Spanuth, Velikovsky and Fell show us that our traditional notions need changing.

An Epigraphic Hoax on Trial in New Mexico (14 pp) Phillip M. Leonard & William R. McGlone 17-p 206
Stones found in New Mexico bearing inscriptions purportedly written before the time of Christ, are revealed to be hoaxes based on the Las Lunas inscription (which itself is believed not a hoax); the hoaxers were tried and convicted and the authors were witnesses at the trial.

An English-Gadelic Dictionary (36 pp) Burrell C. Dawson 17-p 220
A dictionary of cognates in the Gadelic (Goidelic) dialects, drawn from an Old Irish Dictionary by Thurneysen and a study of Takelne by Barry Fell (A-H, to be continued in Volume 18); photo and bio of Dawson given.

Rome and Greenland A.D. 1206-1492 (12 pp) Barry Fell 17-p 255
Russell Swanson, President, of the San Francisco and Bay Counties Epigraphic Society, found correspondence between at least three popes and the church in Greenland in a rare book, Pre-Columbian Historical Treasures 1000-1492, published by the Norroena Society in 1906; facsimiles and translations of three letters are shown.

An Unusual Medieval Inscription from Externstein, NW-Germany (4 pp) Ulrich Niedhorn 17-p 267
An enigmatic inscription discovered high on the wall of a grotto in NW Germany is examined. He concludes it is a fraud by an unknown monk who wanted to make false claims about the site.

A Pioneer Amerind Explorer of North America (3 pp) Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz 17-p 271
Fell publishes an account by the author of a journey by an Amerind across the prairies and Rockies c 1700-1710.

Susquehanna Petroglyphs Observed in 1820 (1 p) Barry Fell 17-p 273
A manuscript by Joel J. Carter (Prehistoric Pictorial Rocks Near Bald Friar Ferry on the Susquehanna River), discovered in the Delaware Museum, reveals that cup-and-ring marks and apparent Phoenician lettering were seen on stones in the Susquehanna as early as 1820 or 1830.

Bronze Age Nordic Traders in Canada (New Light on Peterborough) (2 pp) Barry Fell 17-p 274
The Peterborough site was visited by famous Danish historian Dr. Jon Galster (photo by Dean W. Monahan) in the Summer of 1983. He confirmed and expanded on Fell's work there.

Inscribed Bricks from Comalcalco (7 pp) Neil Steede 17-p 276
Sets out the circumstances that make Comalcalco different from other Mayan sites.

A Christian North African Inscription from Comalcalco (2 pp) Barry Fell 17-p 283
Fell holds that some of the tablets at Comalcalco are definitely foreign or by foreign inscribers. In the case of tablet AP-480, he says it shows a North African influence or origin.

A Punic Calendar from Comalcalco (3 pp) Barry Fell 17-p 284
Fell deciphers Tablet T1-2280 as a Punic calendar bearing inscribed letters showing the initial letters of the names of Phoenician and/or Hebrew months, reading in sequence from right to left.

The Michigan "Relics" (32 pp) James E. Talmage 17-p 287
Fell agrees with Talmage and other scholars that the Michigan finds are a modern hoax.

The Holly Oak Mammoth (1 p) Barry Fell 17-p 319
A shell pendant engraved with a mammoth supposedly found in Delaware in 1864 is proven to be a hoax.

Preface to Pale Ink (2 pp) Michael Skupin 17-p 319
The author reviews the book by Henriette Mertz about an early exploration of America by Chinese.

On the Cover
Stonehenge at Sunrise. Photo courtesy of English Heritage.

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