Newark Holy Stones

Record summary

The Newark Holy Stones are objects reportedly found in an Ohio mound complex in 1860, most famously a stone box containing a supposed Hebrew inscription and a carved stone bearing the Ten Commandments. They were used to support claims that ancient Israelites built or influenced Hopewell earthworks. Scholarly assessments have generally identified them as nineteenth-century frauds or modern insertions, while the genuine Newark Earthworks belong to Indigenous Hopewell traditions. The case helps compare authentic monumental archaeology with fabricated inscriptions and the religious assumptions of diffusionist interpretation.