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No. 15: Spring 1981

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Basques in the susquehanna valley 2,500 years ago?

Back in the 1940s, Dr. W.W. Strong assembled about 400 inscribed stones from Pennsylvania's Susquehanna Valley. Called the Mechanicsburg Stones, they seemed to bear Phoenician characters -- at least Strong interpreted them as such. Naturally, Strong was ridiculed, for the Columbus-first dogma was dominant then. More recently, however, B. Fell claimed that the Mechanicsburg Stones are the work of Basque settlers circa 600 BC. The Basque theory has fared no better than the Phoenician. Now, a noted authority on the Basque language, Imanol Agire, has strongly supported Fell's conclusion that ancient Basques carved the stones.

(Anonymous; "Noted Basque Scholar Supports Claim That Mechanicsburg Stones Were Cut by Ancient Basques," NEARA Journal, 15:67, 1981.)

Reference. For other enigmatic inscriptions, see our Handbook Ancient Man. This volume is described here.

Inscription on one of the Mechanicsberg Stones
Inscription on one of the Mechanicsberg Stones

From Science Frontiers #15, Spring 1981. � 1981-2000 William R. Corliss