James Churchward

By Tyler Grubb

The Lenape Stone is a piece of slate believed to have possibly been an ornamental necklace worn by the Lenni Lenape. The stone is broken into two pieces and has two holes considered to have possibly allowed it to be used as a neckpiece. On both sides there are cravings: one side has carvings of fish, turtles, birds, and snakes, and the other side has a detailed carving. The detailed carving is of multiple individuals fighting a mammoth with arrows and bows and has a background with mountains and the sun. This was considered the first artifact that contained a drawing of a mammoth and could be considered evidence that humans and mammoths existed during the same time period. However, the authenticity of the stone gorget has never been confirmed and is largely believed to be contrived.

Discovery

The Lenape Stone was discovered in 1972 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania on a farm by Barnard Hansell the son of the owner of the farm. Barnard Hansell was plowing on his father’s farm, he noticed a rock on top of the ground. Barnard Hansell says he picked up the rock piece and placed it in his pocket not thinking anything of the rock he had found. He then placed it in a box leaving it there for nine years until he pulled it out and looked at the carvings on the stone. Eventually, in 1881, Barnard Hansell sold the stone to Henry Paxton. <ref>Mercer, Henry C. 2014 The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth’’ The Project Gutenberg. Electronic document, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45853/45853-h/45853-h.htm, accessed November 30, 2019

Future Discoveries

About 9 years after the first original discovery, Barnard Hansell discovered another stone in the same field where he had originally found the Lenape Stone. Multiple other supposed Indian artifacts were found throughout that year. Each time Barnard made a discovery, he would sell his findings to Henry Paxton. The discoveries included another stone with carvings and s few other small relics believed to have been created by the same Native American Group: the Lenni Lenape. <ref>Mercer, Henry C. 2014 The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth’’ The Project Gutenberg. Electronic document, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45853/45853-h/45853-h.htm, accessed November 30, 2019

After The Discoveries

After the discoveries, the artifacts were scrubbed down multiple times in order to display them at the Bucks County Historical Society exhibitions. The cleaning process was intended to make the artifacts the most appealing to the public and to make the carvings in the stone the most obvious. However, through this process, archaeologists' ability to date and find the stone’s origin completely depleted. Archaeologists cannot compare the surrounding soil from the Hansell farm to any soil matter on the artifacts, so there is no evidence of the origin and the validity of the Lenape Stone. <ref>Mercer, Henry C. 2014 The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth’’ The Project Gutenberg. Electronic document, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45853/45853-h/45853-h.htm, accessed November 30, 2019

Precursor To The Findings

Eight years prior to Hansell’s discovery, a carving of a mammoth was found on cave walls in La Madeleine, Perigord, France. This carving depicts a human standing next to a mammoth. After the discovery, the world viewed this as evidence of humans living in the same time period as mammoths. Today, there are many arguments of the meaning of the La Madeleine carvings mainly caused by the accuracy of the carving. The physicality of the mammoth is considered very accurate in the size and structure of a mammoth. Some individuals argue that the carving was a warning of male elephants that go through a period of musth where their testosterone levels soar, and others argue that only someone who has seen a mammoth could create a craving so accurate. <ref>Mercer, Henry C. 2014 The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth’’ The Project Gutenberg. Electronic document, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45853/45853-h/45853-h.htm, accessed November 30, 2019

History of Mammoths and Humans

At the time the carving was found, there was a large conversation on human history and Europe’s importance in the human timeline. During this time, multiple parts of the world had discovered evidence of the potential interaction between humans and mammoths. However, North America, especially the United States, had no evidence of this interaction at the point when Barnard Hansell made his original findings.

The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth

The Lanpe Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth by H.C. Mercer is a book written to defend the discovery and validity of the discovery by Barnard Hansell. The introduction acknowledges scholarly archaeologists doubts in the legitimacy of the artifact: the lack of evidence because the stone has been heavily cleaned, no scientific observer during the discovery, multiple frauds of Native American relics in Philadelphia, and the suggestion that it is the earliest artifact representing a mammoth. H.C. Mercer continually states that he is only stating the facts of the discovery as he has learned them, and that is up to the audience to decide if the stone is legitimate or not. Along with giving the audience the ability to decide the quality of the artifact, Mercer uses a dialog towards scholarly archaeologists that questions their knowledge and authority. By using quotations around a modern scientist and scientific observer, as well as other scholarly terms, Mercer undermines the authority of archaeologists and their argument against the validity of the stone and its subsequent discoveries. <ref>Mercer, Henry C. 2014 The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth’’ The Project Gutenberg. Electronic document, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45853/45853-h/45853-h.htm, accessed November 30, 2019

However, Mercer attempts towards the end of the book to acknowledge that there is a lack of evidence to be able to prove in one way or another that the Lenape Stone could be used as evidence for the interaction between humans and mammoths within the United States.

H.C.Mercer

Henry Chapman Mercer is a founder of the Bucks County Historical Society (BCHS) in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, the same city where Barnard Hansell made the discovery of the Lenape Stone. The Bucks County Historical Society was concentrated on the written history of the town. However, H.C. Mercer tried to change the intent of the BCHS by displaying artifacts alongside the written histories. Mercer received major backlash from the society and was removed from the BCHS for years until he was reinstated in 1905. <ref>Ryan, Kathleen 2002 ‘’Implements of Change: Henry Chapman Mercer and the Bucks County Historical Society’’ Lehigh University. https://preserve.lehigh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1735&context=etd, November 30, 2019

Throughout Mercer’s career, he strived toward discovering great histories about the people of Pennsylvania, specifically in the Delaware Valley. Mercer was educated at Harvard University, but later gained an interest in archaeology. His interest led him to travel throughout Europe and Africa to visit archaeological sites. Although he had an interest in archaeology, he was not a scholarly archaeologist. His lack of education in the field caused scholarly archaeologists to not view him of equal level. In an effort to prove himself to the archaeological community, Mercer conducted research on the Lenape Stone and published his findings in The Lenape Stone or, The Indian and The Mammoth. <ref>Ryan, Kathleen 2002 ‘’Implements of Change: Henry Chapman Mercer and the Bucks County Historical Society’’ Lehigh University. https://preserve.lehigh.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1735&context=etd, November 30, 2019

Lenni Lenape Native Americans

The Lenni Lenape Native American tribe live throughout NewJersey, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and Oklahoma, and is derived from the Delawares. The tribe is autonomous, but in Pennsylvania, they are not officially recognized as tribes by the United States Government and do not have reservation land. The Lenni Lenape are advanced with their own religious, political, and cultural systems that have excited for centuries. <ref>Redish, Laura and Lewis, Orrin 2015 ‘’Lenape Indian Fact Sheet’’ Native languages of the Americas. http://www.bigorrin.org/lenape_kids.htm, accessed November 30, 2019

===Lenni Lenape Artifacts

While the Lenni Lenape tribe does have historical stone carvings, the style and size do not equate to the stone carving that Barnard Hansell discovered on his father's farm. Often carvings were of their language and not necessarily of images. <ref>Scott, Susan H. 2011 ‘’Native American Artifacts’’ The Hunt Magazine. http://www.thehuntmagazine.com/arts-antiques/2011/03/native-american-artifacts/, accessed November 30, 2019 Not only are the carvings themselves different, but the style of gorgets was also different. They were often made is stone, had two holes, and were most likely intended to be worn around the neck, similar to the predictions of the Lenape Stone, none display the same extensive carvings that are displayed on the Lenape Stone. The differences in the artifacts and their styles cause doubts in the authenticity of the stone. <ref>Kraft, Herbert C. and Kraft, John T. 1985 ‘’The Indians of Lenapehoking’’ Seton Hall University Museum. https://www.digifind-it.com/njhistoricalportal/data/ringwood//The%20Indians%20of%20Lenapehoking.pdf, accessed November 30, 2019