Grave Creek Stone - Discovery

Discovery

In 1838, an archaeological excavation of Grave Creek Mound, led by Jesse and Abelard Tomlinson, uncovered the ruins of two large vaults, one situated directly below the other. The vaults contained several human skeletons and a considerable amount of jewelery and other artifacts. According to Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a renowned geologist who visited the site in 1843, the Grave Creek Stone was discovered in the upper vault, along with seventeen hundred beads, five hundred sea shells, five copper bracelets, and one hundred and fifty plates of mica. It was "a small flat stone, of an ovate shape, containing an inscription in unknown characters". Schoolcraft was the first to subject the stone to a critical examination, five years after its discovery; he found it "lying unprotected among broken implements of stone, pieces of antique pottery, and other like articles", suggesting that those who found it had not recognised the potential significance of the artifact.

The first published account of the find, along with a woodcut of the inscription, occupied the front page of the Cincinnati Chronicle of February 2, 1839, in an article written by Dr. Thomas Townsend. Another drawing of the stone, "differing essentially in its characters", was published in The American Pioneer in May 1843, accompanied by Abelard Tomlinson's eyewitness account of the stone's discovery. He says that the stone was discovered on June 9, 1838, about two feet from the skeleton in the upper vault. It had "no engraving on it, except for on one side". In a later statement, Tomlinson asserts that "I removed it with my own hands ... from its ancient bed". A letter dated April 10, 1839, written by Dr. James Clemens, who spent two weeks at the Grave Creek site collecting data in the summer of 1838, appears to corroborate Tomlinson's version of events. Clemens writes that "Abelard Tomlinson, Thomas Biggs, myself, and others were present when the stone was discovered with the copper bracelets and the shell necklace".

Peter Catlett, one of the workers involved in the excavation, offers a conflicting account: "I was the man who found the stone ... The engraved stone was found on the inside of a stone arch". His testimony was supported by Colonel Wharton, who claims to have spotted the stone amongst the loose dirt and debris being wheeled out of the mound that day. Stephen Williams, author of Fantastic Archaeology, considers Catlett's story to be the most credible, explaining that "Tomlinson's description of the way the shaft and drift were dug does not accord with any of the statements made by any of the observers of the excavations". The same view was expressed by M.C. Reid, in his 1878 report, published in The American Antiquarian. Reid also pointed out numerous factual errors in Tomlinson's statement, concluding that "it is very certain that Mr. Tomlinson is mistaken and that he did not find the inscribed stone".