Tucson artifacts facts for kids

The Tucson artifacts, also known as the Tucson Lead Crosses, are a group of thirty-one lead objects. Charles E. Manier and his family found them in 1924 near Picture Rocks, Arizona. At first, some people believed these objects were made by ancient Mediterranean people who had traveled across the Atlantic Ocean long ago. However, experts later decided that the artifacts were a hoax, meaning they were fake.

The collection included lead crosses, swords, and items used for religious ceremonies. Most of them had writings in Hebrew or Latin. They also showed pictures of temples, leaders, angels, and even a dinosaur on one sword blade. One object had the phrase "Calalus, the unknown land." Those who believed the artifacts were real used this as the name of the ancient settlement. The objects also had Roman numerals from 790 to 900. Some thought these numbers were the dates when the items were made. No other ancient items like pottery, glass, or human remains were found at the site. There were also no signs of old homes or fires.

Finding the Artifacts

On September 13, 1924, Charles Manier and his father were driving northwest of Tucson. They stopped to look at some old lime kilns. Manier saw something sticking out of the ground by about 2 inches (5.1 cm). He dug it out and found a lead cross. It was 20 inches (51 cm) long and weighed 64 pounds (29 kg).

Between 1924 and 1930, more objects were dug up from the ground. They were found in a hard layer of soil called caliche. Caliche usually takes a long time to form. However, a retired geologist named James Quinlan said it can be made and placed around objects quickly. He also noted it would be easy to bury things in the soft soil where the objects were found.

Manier and his supporters believed these objects came from a Roman Judeo-Christian colony. They thought this colony existed in Arizona between 790 and 900 AD. But no other discoveries have ever shown that a Roman colony was in this area, or anywhere else in North America.

In November 1924, Manier brought his friend Thomas Bent to the site. Bent quickly became convinced the discovery was real. He found out the land was not owned. So, he immediately moved there to claim the property under the Homestead Acts. Bent thought he could make money by digging up more items.

Latin Messages on the Objects

The first object Manier dug from the caliche was a rough metal cross. It weighed 62 pounds (28 kg). After cleaning, it turned out to be two crosses riveted together. Manier took the cross to Professor Frank H. Fowler. He was the head of Classical Languages at the University of Arizona. Professor Fowler confirmed the language on the artifacts was Latin. He also translated one line as "Calalus, the unknown land." This gave a name to the supposed Latin colony.

The Latin writings on the artifacts seemed to describe battles. They spoke of leaders from Calalus fighting against an enemy called the "Toltezus." Some people thought this might refer to the Mesoamerican Toltec civilization. However, the Latin on the artifacts was either poorly written or copied directly from famous classical writers. These included Virgil, Cicero, Livy, Cornelius Nepos, and Horace. This made many experts believe the artifacts were fake. What was most suspicious was that many of the writings were exactly like those found in common Latin grammar books and dictionaries of the time.

Are They Real or Fake?

Manier took the first item to the Arizona State Museum. Archaeologist Karl Ruppert studied it. Ruppert was impressed and went with Manier to the site the next day. There, he found a caliche plaque weighing 7 pounds (3.2 kg). It had writings that included the date 800 A.D. In total, thirty-one objects were found.

Other experts at the time had different opinions. George C. Valliant, an archaeologist from Harvard University, visited in 1928. Bashford Dean, who worked with arms and armor at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, also saw the items. Both thought the objects were fakes. Neil Merton Judd, a curator from the Smithsonian Institution, was in Tucson when the items were found. After looking at them, he also believed they were fake. He suggested they might have been made by "some mentally incompetent individual with a flair for old Latin and the wars of antiquity."

Who Believed They Were Real?

In the 1960s, Thomas Bent wrote a 350-page book called "The Tucson Artifacts." It was never published but is kept at the Arizona State Museum. Both Charles Manier and Thomas Bent strongly believed the objects were a true archaeological discovery.

Lara Coleman Ostrander, a high school history teacher in Tucson, studied the history behind the artifacts. She translated the supposed history of Calalus from the writings on the items. Geologist Clifton J. Sarle worked with Ostrander to show the Tucson Artifacts to the public and to other experts.

Dean Byron Cummings, who was an administrator and director of the Arizona State Museum at Tucson University, led archaeologists to the site. He took ten of the objects to the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also showed them at museums and universities on the East Coast. Astronomer Andrew E. Douglass, known for his work in dating trees (called dendrochronology), also thought the items were real.

In 1975, Cyclone Covey, a professor at Wake Forest University, looked into the debate again. He wrote a book called Calalus: A Roman Jewish Colony in America from the Time of Charlemagne Through Alfred the Great. Covey had been in contact with Thomas Bent by 1970. He planned to dig at the site in 1972, but legal issues stopped his university from doing so. Covey's book suggested the objects came from a Jewish settlement. He believed these people came from Rome and settled near present-day Tucson around 800 AD.

Who Thought They Were Fake?

Professor Frank Fowler first translated the Latin writings on the items. He found that the inscriptions were from well-known classical writers like Cicero, Virgil, and Horace. He checked Latin books available in Tucson at the time. He discovered that the writings on the lead items were exactly the same as the texts in those books.

Emil Haury, a student and excavator working with Dean Cummings, carefully looked at scratches on the objects as they were dug up. He concluded that they had been planted. This was partly because a hole in the ground was longer than a lead bar taken from it. After Cummings became president of the university, his opinion seemed to change. This might have been because of Haury's doubts. Or, it could have been because more and more people thought the items were a hoax. As university president, he might have felt he needed to take a different stance. George M. B. Hawley strongly disagreed with Bent's ideas about the objects. Hawley even accused Ostrander and Sarle of being the ones who created the hoax.

Who Might Have Made Them?

A local news article suggested Timotéo Odohui as the possible creator of the items. Odohui was a young Mexican sculptor who lived near the site in the 1880s. The article mentioned his possible connection to the area. It also noted his skill in crafting lead objects. Bent wrote that a craftsman in the area remembered the boy. He recalled the boy's love for sculpting soft metals and his collection of foreign language books. This craftsman told the excavators about him.

In Popular Culture

The Tucson artifacts are mentioned in "The Mound." This is a short story written by H. P. Lovecraft for Zealia Bishop. An archaeologist and Lovecraft expert, Marc A. Beherec, believes the items also influenced some of Lovecraft's other stories.

The Tucson artifacts were also shown on The History Channel show America Unearthed. This was in an episode called "The Desert Cross" on February 22, 2013. However, this episode was criticized. People said its methods were poor and that it ignored or left out parts of the writings on the crosses. Its conclusions were also questioned.