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| An Illinois
portrait-stone preserves the image of a Mauritanian soldier. |
which reposed a large sarcophagus of gold gleaming
in the steady beam of his flash- light. There were more chambers,
but they appeared to have collapsed and become inaccessible.
Returning to the first room, the now amazed explorer filled his
pockets with strange, gold coins from small, un- locked caskets.
Nearby were stacked enormous piles of roughly hewn black stones,
all engraved with the likeness of bizarre- looking men and women
accompanied by written scripts of some kind.
| The profile
depicted on this Illinois portrait-stone is identified by a streamer
extending from the helmet crest. Such head-gear were were fashionable
among cavalry-men of many kingdoms during early Roman imperial
times. |
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His flashlight battery
failing, he pushed outward with his hands and feet against the
walls of the narrow pit through which he had fallen, and clambered
out of the subterranean darkness back into the sunlight. For
the next 17 years, he removed thous- ands of artifacts from the
underground site. Most of these have been the black stones engraved
with singular portraits of largely non-Amerindian persons.
Although he sold them throughout the U.S., his steadfast refusal
to reveal their place of origin led many investigators to conclude
that they are modern fakes, and not the genuine artifacts of
overseas' visitors to pre-Columbian Illinois. But collect- ors
who pay high prices for these peculiar stones insist they are
genuine for fundamental reasons. Approx- imately 7,000 examples
are known to exist, far too many to have been manufactured by
one man, even with assistance. More convincingly, they feature
internal evidence in the form of esoteric and even arcane images
far beyond the experience of the provincial man to have faked.
After nearly two decades, the controversy may be resolved in
the near future, as excavation proceeds at what researchers believe
is the prev- iously undisclosed, underground location itself.
If and when it is finally opened, the chambers' bizarre contents
may prompt more questions than answers. But so many objects have
already been removed and exam- ined, that a credible, even convincing
interpretation of the site now seems possible. The chief argument
against its authenticity may in fact be the most persuasive evidence
on its behalf as a repository for indisput- able, abundant, material
proof of peoples from the Ancient World in the American Middle
West.
 hat interpretation begins,
not in 20th Century Illinois, but on the other side of the globe,
in a forgotten kingdom of North Africa once known as Maur- itania.
Encompassing the equivalent of today's Morocco and parts of western
Algeria, it was governed by King Juba II, 2,000 years ago. He
and his people stemmed from ancient Caucasian stock: the Mauri,
who were believed to have migrated from Asia Minor after the
fall of Troy in the late 13th Century B.C.. They were thus culturally
and racially dif- ferent from the dark- skinned inhabitants who
presently occupy North Africa.
Juba was a great statesman, who led his country to unprecedented
heights of cultural splendor and material prosperity. When neighboring
Numidians staged a revol- ution, Juba volunteered his army to
defeat the unconventional guerrilla forces that had eluded Roman
commanders. In gratitude, the Senate of Rome granted Mauritania
virtual independence, the only state to have achieved a free
status within the Empire. A cultured monarch more inter- |
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| The
scarification of this man depicted on an Illinois portrait-stone
identifies him as Senegalese. |
ested in art and science than conquest, Juba
was the author of twenty books (all in Greek) on such widely
varied subjects as geography, geology, astronomy, mythology,
music, dance, painting and sculpture. He built a large library
at the nation's capital, Caesarea (today's Cherchel, in Algeria),
and sponsored several sailing expeditions down the west African
coast, even to the Canary Islands.
These voyages of discovery were part of the Phoenician tradition
that pervaded Mauritanian life. A few centuries
Treasure-Trove... Page 3
| A Jewish profile depicted
on an Illinois portrait-stone. The Jews backed Mauritania's ill-fated
revolt against Rome. |
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