As the scientists of today work on unraveling the mysteries of the Native American’s DNA map, archaeologists from the past had their own theories as to the origins of the Native Americans and Aztec people.
The following article was originally published in 1898 and discussed the possibility of the Aztecs having been in North America.
Origin of the Aztecs in America Traced by a Birchbark Manuscript
Startling Discovery Made by a Workman
Ancient Theories Controverted
Mexico’s Old Time Inhabitants May Once Have Dwelt in Iowa
A birchbark manuscript now being examined by the authorities of the Smithsonian Institute at Washington is likely to change the entire theory as to the origin so far as America is concerned of the Aztecs, held to be the original inhabitants of Mexico. Professor Warren K. Moorehead, archaeologist of the Ohio State University and a man famous for being versed in Aztec lore and knowledge, makes in this article the first accurate statement and the only one regarding the manuscript, which was discovered by a workman at Fairfield, Iowa.
Despite his learning regarding the hieroglyphics in which the Aztecs transmitted their history from generation to generation, Professor Moorehead has been unable to satisfactorily decipher the inscription upon the birch bark. For this reason he forwarded the manuscript to the Smithsonian Institution. The results of the examination by the experts there will be far more important than might be thought at first consideration. Unquestionably it is the first genuine aztec manuscript ever unearthed within the borders of the United States.
Professor Moorehead says, over his own signature, there is small doubt of its genuineness. It has long been held that the Aztecs inhabited certain portions of this country as early, if not before, their advent to Mexico. This find and the ancient appearance of the hieroglyphics as compared with those even many centuries old seem to give strong color to the belief regarding the United States. Professor Moorehead states succinctly in the following, which if from his own pen, the status of the find from an archaeological standpoint. This is what he says:
“To the Editor: The Ohio State archaeological and Historical Society of Columbus received early in February a most remarkable relic. On September 2, 1896, a laboring man of Fairfield, Iowa, while excavating for the water works, brought to light what was apparently a chunk of wood, except that its surface was encased with a coating of pitch. The object was found about three feet below the surface. Its dimensions are something over a foot in length by eight inches and five or six inches thick.
“Out of curiosity the workman struck it a blow with a pick, causing it to split open, revealing a space in the center in which lay a roll of birch bark covered on one side with strange hieroglyphics. The workman was intelligent enough to know that the find was of some value and, taking it to his home, carefully spread out the manuscript and encased it between glass in a frame. The matter was brought to the attention of Miss Emma Clark of Fairfield, who had heard of the museum at Columbus, and she wrote there, describing the find in all its details. I concluded that the find was certainly worth examining and persuaded Miss Clark to send the wooden receptacle and manuscript for my inspection.
“The bark is extremely thin and its natural color is well preserved. This is due to the fact that it was sealed almost airtight. The edges are torn and broken and there is every evidence that a part of it is missing. I had further excavations made, but there was no more fragments or relics of any description and the workman positively asserted that the manuscript was found in a fragmentary condition and that he had sealed between glass all that he had found of it.
“The wood is of oak, and shows marks on the end of having been rudely hewn with stone axes. With the manuscript were received letters from prominent citizens certifying to the character of the workman. A letter from the editor of the Ledger, the county paper published at Fairfield, states ‘Griffith is a laboring man of about average intelligence and information, and would have neither the ability nor the knowledge to mislead anybody as to the circumstances. Nor is there any would have the knowledge to execute a plan like this and keep quiet about it. Nor has there been interest sufficient in matters of this kind in the community to furnish such people basis for work.’
“A tree some fifty or sixty years old grew directly over the spot, the hollow log, being found under its root. The gum, or wax, which not only fastened the pieces together but made the receptacle practically water and air tight, had been evenly distributed by turning the block over a fire. This was plain, because the block was not only covered with soot, but was also slightly charred. The characters are written in red, evidently the juice of some plant. The work is neat.
“After a careful examination I decided that I could not read the characters and, furthermore, that no one could read them, that a great deal had been published on Aztec and Maya manuscripts, but that no one could translate them, and that one-half of the archaeologists who claimed to read them gave different translations of the same manuscript. The characters are manifestly Aztec or Maya and were made, I think, by some of the highly cultures tribes of Mexico or Yucatan. A party, for some unknown reason, set out north, carrying this little box and, on account of a decrease in strength, either through sickness or war, buried the manuscript at the point where it was found. It is not at all probable that the whole thing is a hoax, for if it was a fake we must account for the knowledge on the part of the workman who found it of Aztec and Maya glyphs, which is not in the least probable. There are very few men in this country who know anything about these hieroglyphics, and it would be impossible for anyone in Fairfield to make them unless he had a work at hand containing plates of the Maya hieroglyphics. There are only a few such books in existence and they are very high priced.
“The characters are not Indian. For instance, take the grotesque human figure shown in the middle section, around which is the sun symbol. The sun symbol with the character in the left hand upper corner of this middle piece and all the characters in the upper piece are very like those upon the tablets of Central American ruins and to the four manuscripts or book preserved in the European museums. Combinations of straight lines and dots are strong proof of the southern origin of the manuscript. There have been several fraudulently sculptured stones found in the United States, but they are all totally different from this, and do not appear either aboriginal in concept or execution.
“I have sent the box and the birch bark to the Smithsonian Institution at Washington for further examination, with a request for an opinion as to their meaning and age. Whatever may be said the find is one of great interest and value to the archaeological world, and there is every indication that it points to an exploring party sent north from the Aztec country. – Warren K. Moorehead.”
The most generally accepted belief concerning the Aztecs has been that they came from some portion of Asia. It is supposed they made their advent into Mexico about the year 1130, for from that time, or soon after their history seems to have been interwoven with that of the Toltecs, a race of people who seem to have left records of history before the Aztecs began to make evidence of theirs, although the latter are declared by archaeologists to have antedated the Toltecs in point of residence in Mexico.
Owing to the indefiniteness which has enshrouded the origin of this remarkable people, there has been any amount of discussion and controversy among scientists learned in archaeology as to the origin of the Aztecs. While the belief previously stated, that this race had its birth in Asia, was widely cherished, there were many who differed from the statement that it was immediately from Asia that the Aztecs came who settled Mexico. These scientists held that no matter where this people came from in the first place they had previously to entering the borders of Mexico found residence in other portions of the North American continent.
Some declared the Aztecs found their way to America from Japan. It certainly is true that every year at least one Japanese junk drifts from a point close to the shores of Japan to the California coast. Instances of this sort have been known where the Japanese fishermen who composed the crew of the junk when she started on her voyage have lived to tell their strange experience. Therefore science has held that in some such manner as this the original North American Aztecs reached these shores. No one has attempted to explain how they managed to extend their wandering according to what several archaeological discoveries have indicated, but there seems to be scattered evidence, brought to light at rare intervals, of the residence in various portions of the country of members of the Aztec race in fairly good numbers.
All this has, of course, been very largely theory, because of the authenticity of the evidence referring to the Aztecs has been frequently denied. At last, however, there seems to be something tangible in this Iowa discovery. That a mere workman should be able to counterfeit the aztec characters and all that goes with them is, of course, an impossibility. The peculiar formation of the characters referred to shows, as Professor Moorehead states, that they were not the product of the skilled hand of a scholar of any tribe of the Indians. Only the Aztec himself or some one of Modern days well learned in the Aztec hieroglyphics could have prepared the birchbark manuscript.
Source: The San Francisco call. (San Francisco [Calif.]), 14 March 1897.
