Was Fort Ancient in Ohio a Nephite Fort in North America? – Part II

Continued from the previous post regarding a series of questions or comments sent to us by a visitor to our site.
Comment: “This was carried over to Cahokia and walled communities were used up until the conquest.”
Response: Cahokia, covering more than 2,000 acres, was the most sophisticated prehistoric Native civilization north of Mexico. Best known for large, man-made earthen structures, the city of Cahokia was inhabited from about A.D. 700 to 1400. First occupied in 700 AD, it reached a peak population of as many as 20,000 individuals and was the most extensive urban center in prehistoric America north of Mexico.
    The reason for the rise of this city was the fact that the river didn’t have a significant flood between the approximate years 600 AD and 1200 AD, allowing the farming of large swaths of land and the development of the city around 700 AD—it could not have been built much earlier because of the land untenable from the constant flooding (Patrick Yeagle, “The Rise and Fall of Cahokia, Illinois Times, May 14, 2015).
    In addition, while the city had a defensive wall 15-feet high, Cahokia was not even built or established until 300 years after the demise of the last Nephite.
Comment: “Any Semitic artifacts found in south America? Graves, language, or art.”
Though not spelled the same, but sounding the same, it might be of interest to know that there are numerous Semetic words found in the ancient, pre-Columbian Quechua language, which is spoken by 17 million people in Ecuador, Per, Bolivia, Argentina and Chile.

A sample of these similar words are: 
Llama – Peruvian camelid 
Gamal – Hebrew for camel
Jamal – Arabic for camel 
Qhasay – Quechua for burp 
Gasah – Hebrew for burp
Qhoyu (Coy) – Quechua for group of people
Goi – Hebrew for Nation, people
Qhapa – Quechua Rich, powerful
Gabar – Hebrew for Strong, increase
Q’enti – Quechua for Shorten, contract, shrink
Gamad – Hebrew Shrink,
Gamaad – Hebrew for reduce, diminish, decrease
Gamadit – Hebrew for minuscule, very small
Gamedet – Dwarf, undersized, midget 
Amaru – Quechua for Totem of knowledge, sage
Amaru – Hebrew for Teach, instruction 
Ch’olge – Quechua for Wrinkles
Ch orchi – Coptic (Egyptian) for Wrinkles
Tarpuy – Quechua for planting, planting
Sirpad – Hebrew for plant
Kutuna – Quechua for Blouse
Kutunet – Coptic for Garment, Tunic
(Fernando Aedo, “Semitic Hints in the Quechua language,” Hebrew Related to the
Quechua, Princeton Dissertation, New Jersey, 1994
Comment: “In North America you have the Jesus Stones that depict Christ found in Southern Illinois and the Decalogue stones written in Hebrew. One found in New Mexico and the other in Ohio?”

The Los Lunas Inscription Stone is a large boulder on the side of Hidden Mountain, near Los Lunas, New Mexico that bears a very regular inscription carved into a flat panel. Also known as the Los Lunas Mystery Stone, Decalogue Stone or Commandment Rock, it is controversial with some claiming it Pre-Columbian and proof of early Semitic contact others claiming it is post contact
Response: Regarding the so-called Jesus Stones found in the Burrows Cave in southern Illinois, called the “Lost Tomb” by Russell Burrows himself, but others call it the “Mystery Cave”—all five of those claiming to be the Jesus Stones, the artifacts have been tainted or faked from scratch.  After summer of 1995, these faked artifacts started popping up from different collections as Burrows continued to sell stones. 
    Burrows set up a company called Archaeological Recovery Exchange, but experts referred to it as a bogus Company set up to sucker others with. Burrows conned Jack Ward and Norman Cullen in using it as a means of access to Burrows’ dreamed up landowner George Neff. The many the abbreviation of the company name A.R.E. was referred to Artifact Rip-off Expert. Professionals in the field accused Burrows of tainting the actual stones, however, it is entirely possible that the authors perhaps "enhanced" several pictures of tablets with a computer (which appears to have happened long before this was published.) 
    It appears that in this case, the distortion was easy to supplicate.  It is also worthwhile noting that the photographs themselves have had computer-generated red graphics layered on top of the original thereby positioning the editor with obvious knowledge of how to "enhance." There were no tablets in any collection before 1995 that depict Jesus, the Michigan/Soper (Right-Hand) motif or even the general schema pertaining to the artistic design of the tablets.  (Wayne N. May (Editor of Ancient American magazine) and Joshua M. Bennett, “North America’s Pale Prophet,” Regarding the Los Lunas Decalogue Stone, is a large boulder on the side of Hidden Mountain, near Los Lunas, New Mexico, about 35 miles south of Albuquerque that bears an inscription.

Left: Las Lunas Stone; Right: Paleo-Hebrew letters used in the historic kingdoms of Israel and Judah, specifically when recording the Hebrew language dating from 10th century BC

Some consider this inscription, claimed to be Semitic, of dubious character, though it has the Ten Commandments written on it in Greek, believed to be post Alexandrian, or around 300 BC, or later, while others claim it is Samaritan and was a Samaritan mezuzah (James D. Tabor, “An Ancient Hebrew Inscription in New Mexico, Fact or Fiction?” United Israel Bulletin, vol.59, Summer 1997, pp1-3.
    "None of this proves anything one way or the other. Until confirmation comes from another quarter, all we can really do is provide a clearer idea of the stone's contents for those who are intrigued by it, and give those who reject the inscription's authenticity ... a deeper appreciation of what they have rejected” Michael Skupin, "The Los Lunas Errata," Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, vol.18, 1989, pp249-252).
Comment: “Is there any oral history about the last battle of the Nephites?”
Response: In Peru, as early as 1350 AD, oral tales of great battles along with daily life is found in oral education, such as music and dance. This was then developed by the Inca, and incorporated into their historical pantheon, embellished and presented as their own history of conquest and glory. In fact, pre-Columbian cultures passed music tradition on to the next generation and was part of Peruvian life from the region’s earliest history—its role remains central to Peruvian life today.
    In ancient Quechua, the word “taki” stood for both song and dance. In fact, as Victoria Waxman, Director of Liberal Studies at Boston Architectural College and a graduate in World History at Northeastern University, states that, “Songs were used as a way to tell and retell history for the ancient ancestors that had to be learned by rote and function as a kind of oral history” (Raymond Torres-Santos, Music Education in the Caribbean and Latin America, National Association of Music education, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Maryland, 2017, p223).
    Now, in return one might ask if there is any record in North America as there is in Andean Peru of four brothers settling the land and sent by their father back for treasure; a golden object telling them where to go and where to stop; the breechcloth ceremony, and numerous other origination legends.