The Smithsonian coverups

I would like to share a few interesting stories that involve the Coverup of archaeological studies and destruction or hiding of evidence by the Smithsonian.

they are little known stories that have been around for over 100yrs. they do share one thing in common huge history changing finds with little evidence, many times the little evidence that is recovered by archaeologist's is lost or labeled as to extraordinary to be true.

Source The cover-up and alleged suppression of archaeological evidence
began in late 1881 when John Wesley Powell, the geologist famous for
exploring the Grand Canyon, appointed Cyrus Thomas as the director
of the Eastern Mound Division of the Smithsonian Institution's
Bureau of Ethnology.

When Thomas came to the Bureau of Ethnology he was a

"pronounced believer in the existence of a race of Mound Builders,
distinct from the American Indians."

However, John Wesley Powell, the director of the Bureau of
Ethnology, a very sympathetic man toward the American Indians, had
lived with the peaceful Winnebago Indians of Wisconsin for many
years as a youth and felt that American Indians were unfairly
thought of as primitive and savage.

The Smithsonian began to promote the idea that Native Americans, at
that time being exterminated in the Indian Wars, were descended from
advanced civilisations and were worthy of respect and protection.

They also began a program of suppressing any archaeological evidence
that lent credence to the school of thought known as Diffusionism, a
school which believes that throughout history there has been
widespread dispersion of culture and civilization via contact by
ship and major trade routes.

The Smithsonian opted for the opposite school, known as
Isolationism. Isolationism holds that most civilizations are
isolated from each other and that there has been very little contact
between them, especially those that are separated by bodies of
water. In this intellectual war that started in the 1880s, it was
held that even contact between the civilizations of the Ohio and
Mississippi Valleys were rare, and certainly these civilizations did
not have any contact with such advanced cultures as the Mayas,
Toltecs, or Aztecs in Mexico and Central America. By Old World
standards this is an extreme, and even ridiculous idea, considering
that the river system reached to the Gulf of Mexico and these
civilizations were as close as the opposite shore of the gulf. It
was like saying that cultures in the Black Sea area could not have
had contact with the Mediterranean.

When the contents of many ancient mounds and pyramids of the Midwest
were examined, it was shown that the history of the Mississippi
River Valleys was that of an ancient and sophisticated culture that
had been in contact with Europe and other areas. Not only that, the
contents of many mounds revealed burials of huge men, sometimes
seven or eight feet tall, in full armor with swords and sometimes
huge treasures.

For instance, when Spiro Mound in Oklahoma was excavated in the
1930's, a tall man in full armour was discovered along with a pot of
thousands of pearls and other artefacts, the largest such treasure
so far documented. The whereabouts of the man in armour is unknown
and it is quite likely that it eventually was taken to the
Smithsonian Institution.

In a private conversation with a well-known historical researcher
(who shall remain nameless), I was told that a former employee of
the Smithsonian, who was dismissed for defending the view of
diffusionism in the Americas (i.e. the heresy that other ancient
civilisations may have visited the shores of North and South America
during the many millenia before Columbus), alleged that the
Smithsonian at one time had actually taken a barge full of unusual
artefacts out into the Atlantic and dumped them in the ocean.

to believe that isolationism was that standard back then does not make sense and evidence shows otherwise so why would the Smithsonian need or want to suppress the idea of Diffusion?




more evidence of coverups.
Coffins discovered n 1892 then lost and found 100yrs later also with an explanation as to what they were!

The STONEWATCH NEWSLETTER of the Gungywamp Society in Connecticut, which researches megalithic sites in New England, had a curious story in their Winter 1992 issue about stone coffins discovered in 1892 in Alabama which were sent to the Smithsonian Institution and then 'lost'. According to the newsletter, researcher Frederick J. Pohl wrote an intriguing letter in 1950 to the late Dr. T.C. Lethbridge, a British archaeologist.

The letter from Pohl stated, "A professor of geology sent me a
reprint (of the) Smithsonian Institution, THE CRUMF BURIAL CAVE by
Frank Burns, US Geological Survey, from the report of the US
National Museum for 1892, pp 451-454, 1984. In the Crumf Cave,
southern branch of the Warrior River, in Murphy's Valley, Blount
County, Alabama, accessible from Mobile Bay by river, were coffins
of wood hollowed out by fire, aided by stone or copper chisels.

Either of these coffins were taken to the Smithsonian. They were
about 7.5 feet long, 14" to 18" wide, 6" to 7" deep. Lids open.
"I wrote recently to the Smithsonian, and received a reply March
11th from F.M. Setzler, Head Curator of Department of Anthropology
(He said) 'We have not been able to find the specimens in our
collections, though records show that they were received."

David Barron, President of the Gungywamp Society was eventually told
by the Smithsonian in 1992 that the coffins were actually wooden
troughs and that they could not be viewed anyway because they were
housed in an asbestos-contaminated warehouse. This warehouse was to
be closed for the next ten years and no one was allowed in except
the Smithsonian personnel!

Wooden troughs? for feeding pigs? really the Native Americans were farmers as-well?
this is news in itself they even had Lids for the troughs how inventive .






this discovery in 1944 Acambaro Mexico was an incredible story almost unbelievable, I would like to know what others think about it.
to me it is a perfect example of a Dis-info. coverup.

read for yourself I cant wait to hear ATS'ers thoughts on this.

In 1944 an accidental discovery of an even more controversial nature was made by Waldemar Julsrud at Acambaro, Mexico. Acambaro is in the state of Guanajuato, 175 miles northwest of Mexico City. The strange archaeological site there yielded over 33,500 objects of ceramic;stone, including jade; and knives of obsidian (sharper than steel and still used today in heart surgery).

Jalsrud, a prominent local German merchant, also found statues ranging from less than an inch to six feet in length depicting great reptiles, some of them in ACTIVE ASSOCIATION with humans - generally eating them, but in some bizarre statuettes an erotic association was indicated. To observers many of these creatures resembled dinosaurs.

Jalsrud crammed this collection into twelve rooms of his expanded house. There startling representations of Negroes, Orientals, and bearded Caucasians were included as were motifs of Egyptians, Sumerian and other ancient non-hemispheric civilizations, as well as portrayals of Bigfoot and aquatic monster like creatures, weird human-animal mixtures, and a host of other inexplicable creations. Teeth from an extinct Ice Age horse, the skeleton of a mammoth, and a number of human skulls were found at the same site as the ceramic artifacts.

Radio-carbon dating in the laboratories of the University of Pennsylvania and additional tests using the thermoluminescence method of dating pottery were performed to determine the age of the objects. Results indicated the objects were made about 6,500 years ago, around 4,500 BC.

A team of experts at another university, shown Jalrud's half-dozen samples but unaware of their origin, ruled out the possibility that they could have been modern reproductions. However, they fell silent when told of their controversial source.

In 1952, in an effort to debunk this weird collection which was gaining a certain amount of fame, American archaeologist Charles C. DiPeso claimed to have minutely examined the then 32,000 pieces within not more than four hours spent at the home of Julsrud. In a forthcoming book, long delayed by continuing developments in his investigation, archaeological investigator John H. Tierney, who has lectured on the case for decades, points out that to have done that DiPeso would have had to have inspected 133 pieces per minute steadily for four hours, whereas in actuality, it would have required weeks merely to have separated the massive jumble of exhibits and arranged them properly for a valid evaluation.

Tierney, who collaborated with the later Professor Hapgood, the late William N. Russell, and others in the investigation, charges that the Smithsonian Institution and other archaeological authorities conducted a campaign of disinformation against the discoveries. The Smithsonian had, early in the controversy, dismissed the entire Acambaro collection as an elaborate hoax. Also, utilising the Freedom of Information Act, Tierney discovered that practically the entirety of the Smithsonian's Julsrud case files are missing.

After two expeditions to the site in 1955 and 1968, Professor Charles Hapgood, a professor of history and anthropology at the University of New Hampshire, recorded the results of his 18-year investigation of Acambaro in a privately printed book entitled MYSTERY IN ACAMBARO. Hapgood was initially an open-minded skeptic concerning the collection but became a believer after his first visit in 1955, at which time he witnessed some of the figures being excavated and even dictated to the diggers where he wanted them to dig.

Adding to the mind-boggling aspects of this controversy is the fact that the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia, through the late Director of PreHispanic Monuments, Dr. Eduardo Noguera, (who, as head of an official investigating team at the site, issued a report which Tierney will be publishing), admitted "the apparent scientific legality with which these objects were found." Despite evidence of their own eyes, however, officials declared that because of the objects 'fantastic' nature, they had to have been a hoax played on Julsrud! A disappointed but ever-hopeful Julsrud died. His house was sold and the collection put in storage. The collection is not currently open to the public.

The next story is probably the most publicized, its a story labeled as a newspaper hoax. but it has several coincidences like all coverups and conspiracies.

with all these coincidences in lost artifacts and buried research. it makes me question the Smithsonian and our known history of indians being a superstitious unorganized culture only going back to a few hundred years A.D.

I believe just like the ancient Maya & Inca empires were wiped out of most of their knowledge and history. our Native American was lost in the same way, and in order to keep the rosy picture of Indians and white settlers having thanksgiving together in the public eye. never mind those cozy diseased blankets we gave them for the trip to their new land provided by the new U.S. Gov.


Explorations in the grand canyon written in 1909.
Here is the history behind the cover up or possible hoax story.
I still have not found 100% proof this was a hoax.

A lengthy front page story of the PHOENIX GAZETTE on 5 April 1909 (follows this article), gave a highly detailed report of the discovery and excavation of a rock-cut vault by an expedition led by a Professor S.A. Jordan of the Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian, however, claims to have absolutely no knowledge of the discovery or its discoverers.

The World Explorers Club decided to check on this story by calling the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., though we felt there was little chance of getting any real information.
After speaking briefly to an operator, we were transferred to a Smithsonian staff archaeologist, and a woman's voice came on the phone and identified herself.
I told her that I was investigating a story from a 1909 Phoenix newspaper article about the Smithsonian Institution's having excavated rock-cut vaults in the Grand Canyon where Egyptian artifacts had been discovered, and whether the Smithsonian Institution could give me any more information on the subject.

"Well, the first thing I can tell you, before we go any further," she said, "is that no Egyptian artifacts of any kind have ever been found in North or South America. Therefore, I can tell you that the Smithsonian Institute has never been involved in any such excavations."
She was quite helpful and polite but, in the end, knew nothing. Neither she nor anyone else with whom I spoke could find any record of the discovery or either G.E. Kinkaid and Professor S.A. Jordan.

While it cannot be discounted that the entire story is an elaborate newspaper hoax, the fact that it was on the front page, named the prestigious Smithsonian Institution, and gave a highly detailed story that went on for several pages, lends a great deal to its credibility. It is hard to believe such a story could have come out of thin air.

Is the Smithsonian Institution covering up an archaeological discovery of immense importance? If this story is true it would radically change the current view that there was no transoceanic contact in pre-Columbian times, and that all American Indians, on both continents, are descended from Ice Age explorers who came across the Bering Strait.
(Any information on G.E. Kinkaid and Professor S.A. Jordan, or their alleged discoveries, that readers may have would be greatly appreciated.....write to Childress at the World Explorers Club at the above address.)


Is the idea that ancient Egyptians came to the Arizona area in the ancient past so objectionable and preposterous that it must be covered up? Perhaps the Smithsonian Institution is more interested in maintaining the status quo than rocking the boat with astonishing new discoveries that overturn previously accepted academic teachings.


Historian and linguist Carl Hart, editor of WORLD EXPLORER, then obtained a hiker's map of the Grand Canyon from a bookstore in Chicago.
Poring over the map, we were amazed to see that much of the area on the north side of the canyon has Egyptian names. The area around Ninety-four Mile Creek and Trinity Creek had areas (rock formations, apparently) with names like Tower of Set, Tower of Ra, Horus Temple, Osiris Temple, and Isis Temple. In the Haunted Canyon area were such names as the Cheops Pyramid, the Buddha Cloister, Buddha Temple, Manu Temple and Shiva Temple.
Was there any relationship between these places and the alleged Egyptian discoveries in the Grand Canyon?

We called a state archaeologist at the Grand Canyon, and were told that the early explorers had just liked Egyptian and Hindu names, but that it was true that this area was off limits to hikers or other visitors, "because of dangerous caves."
Indeed, this entire area with the Egyptian and Hindu place names in the Grand Canyon is a forbidden zone - no one is allowed into this large area.
We could only conclude that this was the area where the vaults were located. Yet today, this area is curiously off-limits to all hikers and even, in large part, park personnel.

here is a link to the Full story as it was written in 1909 this site also goes further into evidence of lost cities all but forgotten or misplaced. Phoenix Gazette
Explorations in Grand Canyon
Mysteries of Immense Rich Cavern Being Brought To Life


many cultures have homes, shrines, burial chambers and large city like areas built into cliffs and caves so this story is not so far fetched as the mainstream Smithsonian would have us believe.

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From what I know already and have even read in public journals and also TV shows (although not always the best produced), it is actually common knowledge that indiginous people lived on the North American continent long before what has historically been presented in the classic sense.

Among many scholars, it is widely accepted that more advanced civilizations existed on this continent. However the definition of "advanced" is the key here - meaning that people who had more established societies did in fact exist with higher levels of so called "technology", but that doesn't mean flying saucers, IPads, or anything of the sort. The term "advanced civlizations" refers to societies that were different than the typical tribal culture of nomads and plains people. They built sophisticated buildings and cities, canals for water, and the like, in ways that other tribal cultures did not. No mystery in that really.

This means that a "cover up" as being described is not really taking place nor did it ever really take place in that sense. In like form, almost all scholars now agree that Columbus was not the first to discover this continent - that vikings most certainly did as well as nomadic northern tribes from Europe who migrated here over a land and ice bridge in similar form as did people from Asia cross over from the east.

It would be unfair and inaccurate to paint a picture that the Smithsonian is involved in some sort of conspiracy dating back decades ago in order to hide something like advanced techological societies like our own having existed thousands of years ago on the ground we now occupy. Mounds people are known to have been more culturally advanced and may have even had armor - but that does not make the issue some sort of conspiracy especially since many scholars already have accepted this.

Wow, that was a fascinating read. I would not put it past any institution to hide evidence of our history being somewhat different that what we are told.
People get so engaged in an idea that they devote their lives to it, teaching countless others what they have learned, and adding their speculation and theories.
Then they attract followers who embrace their ideas and research. Soon it is a movement.

Then some tiny scrap of archeological evidence is unearthed that blows everybodies hard work and dedication out of the water. Oh what a predicament. People already believe. What to do?

Presentation of this evidence will surely cause more harm than good.

People create and ruin everything don't they.

reply to post by Bobaganoosh

Presentation of this evidence will surely cause more harm than good.

soooo.....are you suggesting it's ok to hide evidence if it contradicts a well-established theory?

those figurines from mexico are very interesting, as many of them depict dinosaurs and date back a few thousand years. oh, that contradicts established theory? must be a hoax then.

No, I'm not stating that. Just my attempt at entering the mindset of somebody in the position of such a discovery. My post is like a rationalization or thought process.

I don't think its okay.

I just don't like putting the obligitory *sarcasm* denotation. It annoys me.

Apologies for the misunderstanding.

I think all discoveries should be brought to light regardless of the detriment they may bring to the currently held ideologies.

We can't understand our existance as a species without knowing the facts.

Thanks for the interesting post OP! I've always been very interested in Archeology cover-ups and have been absolutely floored the last few years on discovering how often this goes on.

If the SHF scenario every does happen, I would love to break into the Smithsonian and learn the truth.

This could be disastrous on many levels for many people.

Imagine all the work of the people before you for the past 100 years or so just being destroyed in a day by a discovery.
Textbooks would have to be re written.
Teachers would have to relearn history.
It would be pandemonium.

I think it is very egotistical of modern humanity to think that we already have it all figured out. That we KNOW with certainty that the established belief in something is irrefutable. Time and again throughout known history humanity has known things to be 'fact' that were later disproved. The Sun revolves around the Earth, the Earth is flat, civilization is only 6k years old. Wrong, wrong, and wrong! Those that run things just can't handle being shown to be wrong so they will hide, alter, and destroy things that go against established fact. Heck, the Catholic Church (as an entity) is blaring proof of that kind of behavior throughout history and even today. History is written by the winners...and too too much is lost forever because of it.

Instead of admitting to be wrong, some would rather live on in a perpetual lie.

It's really a pathetic existence.

If the Egyptian named parts of the Grand Canyon are dangerous to man, why not send in a drone? I wanna know.

I've posted this before on another thread, but it does give verbal evidence (legend) to some of these theories. While studying Cherokee legend, I read where they say that when they first moved into North Alabama, they found a tribe of small white people with large round eyes, who lived mostly underground. Legend says that these people were friendly, and taught them to bury their dead rather than burn them. The legend seemed to claim that this was the beginning of their tradition of using burial mounds. Obviously the Smithsonian was not around at that time, so there is no cover-up involved, but I truly would like to know if this legend is true or not. I'm not sure if it's ever been investigated at all.
This small white race, sounded extra-terrestrial to me, although I can't see in the history of the Cherokee, any technological evidence of that. I've never heard of anything seriously unusual dug up at any of their archeological sites either. Perhaps it's just legend, but it would be fascinating to hear otherwise...

reply to post by visualmiscreant


great story thanks for sharing i have not heard of this...

it reminds me of vampires, but not in the fearmonger sense that has been fed to us.

they could very well be regular people or extraterrestrials who aren't able to survive under our sun.

just like old nursery rhymes that were meant to keep up out of the forest through fear... these vampires or cave dwellers might be for the same reason.

i have always wondered why it is illegal to dig indian burial mounds yet digging in egypt goes on forever

if a farmer expands his land and stumbles upon artifacts said land becomes protected from development
the history of the americas is far from what we have been taught
curious as to what the snake mounds in ohio would hold
how much more peaceful would mankind be if our true history was revealed ?
great piece thanks for sharing

Why all the lies and coverups? Why throw out valuable evidence from the past? What does the Smithsonian have to gain from all their coverups?

I just wonder....is the Smithsonian getting huge cash payoffs ...from rich private collectors? And...just maybe they spread the rumor that a bunch of stuff was dumped in the ocean...when in fact it may have been sold to the highest private bidder.

reply to post by -W1LL


It's sort of half and half. People usually were isolationists before the 1500s. But a few peoples accidently stumbled on each other.

For example, Gottlieb Mittelberger's journey to Pennsylvania, 1750, page 87.

There is something remarkable that was discovered by Rev. Mr. Schartel or Schartlin, who was a minister in Zell and Altbach in the Duchy of Wurtemberg, but who now serves as a preacher in Pennsylvania, in the township of Magunsche [Macungy] in the Blue Mountains. Some 60 miles from Philadelphia, A. D. 1753, when he had gone astray and was seeking the right way, he chanced to find in the wilderness, in a small wooded hill, a stone door frame which stuck in the ground. At first he thought it was a work of nature; but when he had rubbed off the moss with which it was overgrown, and when he regarded it attentively, he found in the upper stone a legend chiseled out in Hebrew, in the following words: Thus Far The God Of Joshua Has Helped us

Jesus's name in English is Joshua.

Originally posted by Gorman91
reply to post by -W1LL

 

It's sort of half and half. People usually were isolationists before the 1500s. But a few peoples accidently stumbled on each other.

For example, Gottlieb Mittelberger's journey to Pennsylvania, 1750, page 87.

There is something remarkable that was discovered by Rev. Mr. Schartel or Schartlin, who was a minister in Zell and Altbach in the Duchy of Wurtemberg, but who now serves as a preacher in Pennsylvania, in the township of Magunsche [Macungy] in the Blue Mountains. Some 60 miles from Philadelphia, A. D. 1753, when he had gone astray and was seeking the right way, he chanced to find in the wilderness, in a small wooded hill, a stone door frame which stuck in the ground. At first he thought it was a work of nature; but when he had rubbed off the moss with which it was overgrown, and when he regarded it attentively, he found in the upper stone a legend chiseled out in Hebrew, in the following words: Thus Far The God Of Joshua Has Helped us

edit on 18-8-2011 by Gorman91 because: (no reason given)

Jesus's name in English is Joshua.

edit on 18-8-2011 by Gorman91 because: (no reason given)

thanks for posting that I didnt think of it when writing the article but yes it is a half and half.. I would guess a majority of people stay in the cities but there have been travelers and traders most likely forever. there are just more travelers now. and with the internet you dont need to travel to learn.

makes me wonder what group of people if promoting the ignorance of our history and what group is trying to Deny ignorance. seems to me it is the masses of the world who seek knowledge and the elite minority is struggling to hide our true history.

There have been numerous reports of large human skeletons being unearthed by early California gold miners, with San Francisco newspapers carrying the stories. In most cases it was mentioned that the Smithsonian had taken them away, but on their website search function, the only results you get for large skeletons is of dinosaurs or whales, and large human skeletons gets no results. Lying miners and newspapers, or a Smithsonian cover-up?

If you read the book "Forbidden Archeology" by Michael Cremo you can find several examples of things that are just dismissed or covered up because they dont fit the norm. Imagine the impact of each of these finds and then imagine the impact of not knowing. It is much easier to just pretend these dont exist than to try to explain them.

reply to post by -W1LL


Well as a man once said, what is truth? In the 1500-1600s and that whole time period, people were rediscovering Rome. There were two lineages of thinking of the ancients: Conservativly, in which people believed that Rome only knew about the things they could find, and re-interpretative, in which people believed that we can never knew what they knew, so lets just look at what they did and assume based off that.

You can go and look at the so-called historic accounts of either side. The Conservatives were practically immovable unless something solid was presented. But the liberals would reinvent Rome, documenting the Colosseum as oval, not circular, and many architectures they made at twice the size they actually were, or overgrown with jungle and trees to make them look like they'd survived more than they actually had.

Some examples from Giovanni Battista Piranesi

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Question, of course, is to ask if it's ok to "reinterpret" history to try and unleash our modern minds in their setting, or if it's too far and corrupts truth, and we should keep to only what's known.

Really, it's your choice to make. I'm ok with "fun" with history, but I'd like the truth there too as always.


After all. There's no proof Roman streets had lanes painted. Could they? sure. Is it logical that eventually they would? definable. We just don't know. But that doesn't mean we can't speculate.

S & F

Excellent presentation.
The cover-ups continue to this day. However I'm not sure all of it is a "Conspiracy" [I'm not trying to make excuses here but] I honestly believe a large percentage of the evidence that is held up is because it doesn't fit into the accepted time line and they are overly cautious as to how to present it without ruining their self perceived and all too important credibility.

So the evidence just kind of basically sits there collecting dust..

Sad but true.

reply to post by SLAYER69


Thats a great Explanation not an excuse. I hadn't thought of thanks