Category: Precolumbian History

Fifty “Facts” about the Tucson Artifacts
By Donald Yates 9th February 2018

Fact #1. They are “old iron objects found outside Tucson in 1924.” Incredibly, this “fact” comes from the first sentence of the description of the Tucson Artifacts in the Arizona Historical Society’s catalogue, which is published on the World Wide Web. The Tucson Artifacts are made of lead. Rusty ranch objects are “found.” Artifacts are […]

White Strangers and Papago Gold, the origin of the Tucson Artifacts?
By Donald Yates 22nd November 2017

Bearded Semitic merchant wearing keffiyah, from Hodges Ruin, Tucson, dated to Cañada del Oro period ca. 500-700. Rafael Serrano, after figurine published in Kelly (1978).   A supposed colony of peaceful, white-skinned Old World miners among the Papago Indians is traced to a small place of the same name in the Santa Cruz valley. Red […]

Forgeries, Fakes and the Tucson Artifacts
By Donald Yates 28th September 2017

Pope Hadrian, one of the authors of the Donation of Constantine.    What do the Tucson Artifacts have to do with some of the most celebrated forgeries of all time—the Donation of Constantine, Ossian Poems, Gonon Venus, Kinderhook Plates, Burrows Cave artwork, Glozel Stones and Vinland Map? Very little, as it turns out. Donald Yates’ […]

The Strange World of the Tucson Artifacts, 775-900
By Donald Yates 21st August 2017

Merchant Adventurer Kings of Rhoda The Strange World of the Tucson Artifacts, 775-900 Completed, in draft form, are the introduction and first section of a new reader I am compiling to help people understand the Medieval Latin and Hebrew and cultural context of the Tucson Artifacts. The working title is Merchant Adventurer Kings of Rhoda. […]

Evidences of Ancient Civilization Are Found West of Tucson
By Donald Yates 6th October 2015

The following is the substance of an address delivered by Robert F. Gilder, archeologist of the University of Nebraska in Omaha telling of the ancient fortress on the Desert Laboratory hill just west of Tucson.

Leaden Spear-Shaft Found in Location of Famed Artifacts
By Donald Yates 6th October 2015

Imbedded in caliche and gravel that apparently had been undisturbed for hundreds of years, two fragments of a leaden spear-shaft were found at the third lime kiln on the Silverbell road, seven and a half miles from Stone avenue and Congress street by university scientists yesterday.