Written by Chad Stuemke
Learn more about Chad at his website!
“All matter must be in a constant state of flux to insure progress, for what was wrong yesterday might be right tomorrow.” Henriette Mertz
In the late 1800’s, farmers and laymen alike were migrating to different areas of Michigan and claiming their newly acquired parcels of land. These common folk were unaware of the amazing discoveries that would soon be unearthed from the many ancient mounds that dotted the landscape. Farmers destroyed many of the mounds while preparing their lands for crops. In the meantime, other citizens were digging into the mounds out of pure curiosity. Imagine the disbelief when they began uncovering what was perceived to be ancient relics from a forgotten time. Estimates on the number of relics recovered ranges from 10,000 to 30,000. The artifacts were comprised mainly of clay, copper and slate. The majority of the relics contained strange inscriptions that were unrecognizable to those who discovered them.
The thousands of relics bearing an unrecognizable language were almost immediately declared a hoax of unprecedented proportions. Although this was, and is, the conclusion of mainstream archeology, there were, and are others who disagree.
The hope of this article will not be to prove or disprove the authenticity of the artifacts, but to bring awareness to them. They have been all but forgotten by the general public. If they did turn out to be authentic, they would be one of the most important archeological discoveries of all time. That said, let’s see what the authorities say in regard to what they feel could be the greatest hoax of all time.
During the time the relics were unearthed, it did not take the authorities long to dismiss them as forgeries. Not only did the relics contain inscriptions that seemed to be a mix of several ancient languages, but the tablets contained depictions of ancient religious art. The art on the tablets contained depictions of Noah’s Ark, the Tower of Babel and the Crucifixion among others. Many times the stories depicted had a slight variation to the known beliefs of the 18 and 1900’s, making no sense to those analyzing them. Considering the scrambled language and the “cartoon like” religious art, they were dismissed as forgeries.They even had a group of culprits to blame!
Although no one was ever “charged”, the authority’s main culprits were James 
Scotford, Daniel Soper and Father James Savage. Soper was a former Secretary of State and Father James Savage was pastor of Detroit’s’ Most Holy Trinity. James Scotford was a relics collector and a supposed expert at “slight-of-hand” maneuvers. It was postulated by some that these men, Scotford in particular, would forge Daniel the artifacts and then bury them in mounds around the state of Michigan. At a later time, they would then take groups of artifact hunters out and unearth what were perceived to be ancient relics.
(Pictures: left Daniel Soper, Father James Savage right)
Others thought that Scotford may have introduced the relics (sometimes large tablets) by a slight-of-hand, consistently fooling fellow treasure hunters. In general, all digs were said to have been accompanied by highly acclaimed witnesses who later signed affidavits in regards to their discoveries. Unconvinced authorities proclaimed the artifacts hoaxed leading to the “Michigan Relics” largely being forgotten for much of the 20th century.
After Father Savage passed away, his collection of artifacts were eventually relocated to Notre Dame. The main bulk of the artifacts remained there until an authority from the L.D.S. church showed enough interest that the university gifted him the collection in its entirety1. Milton R. Hunter also purchased Daniel Soper’s collection from his son around the same time. With the death of Hunter, the relics were finally deeded to the Church of L.D.S. They remained in storage for years, unavailable for viewing for the most part. Then in 2001, Associated Professor of Anthropology at Oakland University, Dr. Richard Stamps, was asked to do an analysis of the relics. After analyzing several relics with modern technologies, Dr. Stamps concluded they were forgeries. On some of the slate tablets he has discovered what he feel are modern saw and file marks left by the hoaxers. In regards to some of the images, he points out that the use of perspective wasn’t in use until the 15th century. He also had several of the copper relics analyzed by a metallurgist and concluded the copper wasn’t necessarily pounded as one would expect from the natives, but rather smelted. It should be noted that one of the tablets portrayed a possible smelting process.
The Church of Latter-Day Saints was convinced with Dr. Stamp’s results, declaring the relics frauds and in 2003, returned them to their original home of Michigan. They were briefly displayed in an exhibit at the Michigan Historical Museum called “Digging Up The Controversy.” They now reside in a back storage room due to renovations at the museum. Michigan’s lead archeologist says,”They may be in this condition for the next five to six years.” He wonders if anyone will see them again. According to not only the Smithsonian Institute, but mainstream archeologists, these artifacts were hoaxed. Their mind is made up. It should be noted at this juncture, for an archeologist to admit the “ white-man” could have pre-dated Columbus in North America is akin to a scientist contemplating UFO’s: career suicide.
(Above photo: Henriette Mertz: The Mystic Symbol, pg. 34. Courtesy of Ancient American Magazine.)
There have been several other top minds over the years who have full heartedly disagreed with the conclusions of the authorities in regards to the Michigan relics. In 1986, Henriette Mertz’s eye opening book “The Mystic Symbol” was released. Henriette Mertz was born in 1896 and passed in 1985. She was a patent lawyer who was admitted to practice before the U. S. Supreme Court, the United States Patent Office, the Canadian Patent Office and the Supreme Court of Illinois. Henriette also worked on the Manhattan Project as well as contributed to the Greek encyclopedia3. As if those weren’t enough credentials, she was also considered an expert in cryptanalysis and was extremely interested in ancient artifacts. Known for her expertise in analyzing writing and language, she was asked to analyze the Michigan artifacts.
(Above photo: Henriette Mertz: The Mystic Symbol, pg. 256. Courtesy of Ancient American Magazine)
Before the actual language(s) were analyzed, Henriette made some basic observations. The first and most obvious observation made was that every relic seemed to bear a three character symbol, or the “Mystic Symbol”. She postulated that this three character symbol may be akin to the Greek symbol of IHS (Jesus), which made its appearance around 312 A.D.4. The artifacts and tablets mainly consisted of clay, copper, and slate. The tablets were then able to be categorized again into ones that were covered in writing, tablets containing writing and pictures and those containing mostly depictions with few words. She then was able to categorize the relics containing both writings and depictions into three more groups: Biblical, battle scenes, and calendar records. Upon analysis, Henriette noticed something almost immediately that others had failed to recognize. She said, ”One peculiar thing stood out, even though the letters may be a mixture ,the mixture within itself appeared consistently uniform.”
Continuing analysis, she discovered that the measured symmetry indicated that whoever engraved the plates must have been familiar with the language(s) in which they wrote. She felt that, “Copied writing lacks fluency “and” no one could doubt that but one person engraved both sides and understood what he wrote with fluency, sureness, and no slight of hesitation.” Henriette claimed, “Analysis, such as would be acceptable in any recognizable court, showed that the writing had not been forged. Each tablet had been written by a different hand and no two tablets bore characteristics stemming from one single hand.”
(Above photo: Henriette Mertz; The Mystic Symbol, pg. 252. Courtesy of Ancient American Magazine.)