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SUPPRESSED HISTORY: FORGOTTEN MONUMENTS OF AMERICA
The rise of the United States destroyed many ancient monuments left behind in North America. The Mound Building Cultures of the Adena, Hopewell and Mississippians were until recently unrecognized by history, and thus un-protected for much of the colonial and industrial eras. Most of these monumental works no longer exist today. However what cannot be disputed is that the prehistoric peoples of America constructed some truly monumental structures. They exhibited advanced engineering skills, and a sophistication and culture that is only now being admitted by mainstream historians. Most of the Great Works and monuments that dotted this land have long since vanished to the churning tides of history, lost to the modern era forever. It is these forgotten works that we turn to now.
The Great Stone Stack of Ohio
Found in Northern Ohio ten miles outside of Newark was what pioneers named the Great Stone Stack. It was in the shape of a Keltic Broch, an enormous heap of stones with a base of 500 square feet tapering up to forty five feet high. The Structure had thick walls of piled stones, a decidedly Keltic architecture style. When the Great Stack was hauled away and demolished to be used for a dam in 1860, it took more than 10,000 wagon-loads to clear the stones.
Mississippi, Georgian and Texan Rock Walls
The Mississippi wall was named the Brandywine wall and reportedly covered four square miles of piled stones, some of an immense size and cut. There were stones six feet long, three feet wide and two feet thick joined together with an advanced form of cement. Other walls constructed in ancient America and long since demolished include a massive rectangular wall outside Rockwall, Texas,that was 3.5 miles wide and 5.6 miles long. Part of the wall was excavated by R.F Canup who declared it was likely evidence of an ancient city.In Georgia many rock walls and fortifications dating from 400 AD were discovered on Stone Mountain, Alec Mountain, Ladd’s Mountain and Fort Mountain where parts of the wall can still be viewed today. The wall at its thinnest sections was 4.5 feet thick and 16 feet at its thickest, it zigzagged along the mountain’s side at an average elevation of 2500 feet.
The Salt River Canals of Arizona
Few are aware that the Arizona once the home of an advanced farming society. This Hohokam civilization constructed an immense system of canals in the Salt River Valley between the estimated dates of 600 AD and 1400AD that may have been the largest most sophisticated ever created in the pre-industrial world.The canals were designed with the local topography in mind and created swathes of irrigated fields, a systems of weirs was used on distribution canals that ran out from the larger ones. Many of the canals were over 12 miles in length, with the largest extending for 20 miles. Two of the largest canals are preserved in the Park of the Four Waters. They measure 26 and 18 meters in width and approximately 6.1 meters in depth.
The Newark Earthworks in Ohio
Outside of Newark Ohio once stood the greatest earthen enclosure in the world, encompassing more than 3000 acres. It consisted of the Great Circle Earthworks, the Octagon Earthworks, and the Wright Earthworks and is said to be constructed by the Hopewell culture between 200AD and 600AD. The great circle earthworks is 1200 feet from crest to crest, with 8 foot walls surrounded by a moat 5 feet deep. The octagon earthworks it was concluded, were used as a lunar observatory and could have been more accurate then Stonehenge itself. The Wright earthworks were a geometrically near-perfect enclosure that encompassed 20 acres of land and originally were 940 feet in length. All together the builders of the Newark Earthworks would have moved 7 million cubic feet of earth to construct the site.
The Cahokia Mound Complex
Situated directly across the river from St Louis, Missouri, Cahokia was once a great sprawling city with originally 120 earthen mounds, 80 of which still exist today, and was one of the most populous cities of its time. The site is dated to 600AD to 1400AD and is crowned by Monk’s mound, the largest preserved prehistoric earthwork in the Americas covering 5 hectares and standing 30 meters high. It is claimed many mounds at Cahokia were used as temples, ceremonial sites and calendars. It is estimated that 55 million cubic feet of earth, transported in woven baskets, was used to create the network of mounds and community plazas in Cahokia.
The Grand Canyon Cave Complex
This site has never been officially admitted or its investigations shared with the public, however thanks to a detailed article in the Phoenix Gazette the site is known to exist. It was first discovered by G.E Kincaid, looking for minerals and exploring the Gran Canyon. He found a cave entrance 300 feet above the canyon floor and when investigated discovered an immense labyrinthine of tunnels, chambers and passageways that ran in all directions like a spoke of a wheel.Hundreds of rooms were discovered, along with artifacts, tools and weapons of an exotic style and possibly Egyptian influenced civilization. Kincaid went on to describe that the main passageway is 12 feet wide, narrowing to nine feet toward the far end. About 57 feet from the entrance, the first side-passages branch off to the right and left, on both sides, are a number of rooms about the size of ordinary living rooms of today, though some are 30 by 40 feet square. These are entered by oval-shaped doors and are ventilated by round air spaces through the walls into the passages. One room, about 40 by 700 feet, was probably the main dining hall and all together it was estimated 50,000 people could have lived in the complex comfortably.
By CJ Keleher
