Burrows Cave

Burrows Cave is the name given to an alleged cave site in Southern Illinois reputedly discovered by Russell E. Burrows in 1982. Burrows says it contained a number of ancient artifacts. Through the many inconsistencies of Russell E. Burrows' story, discovery and findings, the cave is considered a hoax by archaeologists and anthropologists.

Russell E. Burrows

Russel E. Burrows was a former Illinois prison guard. He also served in the Korean War and was a war veteran. Therefore, Burrows did not have any archeology or anthropology background. During the time of the alleged discovery, Burrows was 42 years old.

Location

Burrows claimed that the cave was located near the Embarrass River in Richland County. During this time, Burrows lived in Olney, Illinois, which is a short distance away from the alleged cave site. Burrows never revealed the precise location and claimed it was because he believed that people would rob the cave of its ancient treasures.

Discovery

Burrows says he discovered the cave while hiking along the hillside miles away from the Embarrass River. He later claimed that he was searching for buckles from the Civil War era and pioneer horseshoes with his metal detector. Burrows then stated that he came across a hole and fell into a mysterious cave full of priceless ancient artifacts. The cave was said to have contained numerous archaeological artifacts, including carvings, coins, and other items.

Differing claims, such as given by Frank Joseph, a spectator at a presentation by Burrows, recount Burrows' discovery in a different way. Joseph stated that Burrows claimed to have been searching for pots near the Embarrass River, where he discovered a cave that was inscribed with Native American writing and images. Burrows then tried removing some of the wall inscriptions, when a perfectly lit stone pathway emerged from fire torches. He then claimed the torches led him to the vast treasures.

Therefore, this represents the inconsistencies of Burrows' story based on the differing alleged discoveries.

Cave as a "Tomb"

Burrows claims that the cave was a tomb that was meant to hold the ancient artifacts of the dead. Currently, nobody outside Burrows's immediate circle has claimed to have been inside the cave. Anthropologists and archaeologists have not been able to conduct scientific research on the cave due to Burrows' intense secrecy. Many of Burrow’s so-called artifacts have been revealed as forgeries. The cave and its artifacts are widely considered to be a hoax or fraud,^[1][2][3][4] even among proponents of other pseudoarchaeological theories such as Barry Fell.^[5] The idea has gained some traction within proponents of Mormon archaeology^[6] and hyperdiffusionism advocates such as Frank Collin (writing as Frank Joseph).^[7][8]

Artifacts

Burrows claimed that the artifacts within the cave were ancient and diverse. He reported that there were life-sized gold statues, gold coffins, mummies, pagan idols, weapons, diamonds, coins, portraits, burial urns, scrolls, swords, weaponry, and suits of armor. Many of these treasures have never been inspected by archaeologists or anthropologists due to Burrows' extreme secrecy. Although, perhaps the artifacts he is best known for are the carved stone tablets with writing in various unknown languages, many with image depictions. The stone tablets are said to represent Old World people, such as Romans, Hebrews, Egyptians, Sumerians, Greeks and Phoenicians. Thousands of these tablets have been sold to private collectors.

Media

Burrows cave was one of the subjects in the show America Unearthed,^[9][10] in season 2, episode 5 and on the show Holy Grail in America on the History Channel.

Thomas Emerson, the Illinois state archaeologist and former head of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, warned that the claims being made by Burrows cave proponents were sensational, and not backed by evidence.^[11]

With no evidence of the cave and its existence, many archaeologists quickly dismissed Burrows and the alleged cave.

Phoenician ship scenario

Until about 1993, the predominant claims about Burrows Cave involved a Phoenician ship. Part of the evidence for this claim involved a stone tablet claiming to depict a Phoenician ship vessel found in Burrows cave. Frank Joseph, a key figure involved with the Burrows Cave, reproduced this claim in his book The Lost Treasure of King Juba: The Evidence of Africans in America before Columbus. Alongside this claim, he included a legitimate image of a Phoenician vessel and combined it with the picture of the alleged Phoenician ship from Burrows Cave. In doing so, he cropped the image from the Burrows stone making the paddle end of a steering oar unidentifiable but leaving the steering oars that are shown on what he calls (and the artist depicts) as the prow of the boat. This would have been unnoticeable, except Joseph included steering oars at both ends of the ship on this tablet, which is impossible in real life. Essentially, this mistake made by Joseph contributed to the belief in inaccurate claims, until it was ultimately squashed by critics.

The anthropologist and geographer George F. Carter, a supporter of the concept of trans-cultural diffusion, commented on the image saying

"The 'author' did not recognize the paired oars, and hung an 'impossible' oar over the bow. All others equally botched up. Fanciful stern pieces...Oar over bow - crude fakery by an ignoramus in the world of ships."^[4]

Dating

Joseph misclaimed the legitimate Phoenician ship vessel image, the one he used to compare to the Burrows Cave tablet, to be dated 170 BCE. However, it is actually dated to around 700 BCE. Joseph likely did this because around this time, Burrows Cave was being portrayed as the destination of Mauretanians, including "exiled Romans, Africans, Celts, Christians and Jews"^[12] who were fleeing the Romans taking with them a supposed treasure belonging to King Juba II.^[4] Therefore, Joseph was likely purposefully skewing research to fit with the Burrows cave narrative of the artifacts.

References

1. Kleen, Michael (2010-01-01). Haunting the Prairie: A Tourists Guide to the Weird and Wild Places of Illinois. Black Oak Media. p. 131. ISBN 9780979040146. Retrieved 2014-01-20 – via Google Books.
2. Troy Taylor; Mark Moran; Mark Sceurman (2005). Weird Illinois: Your Travel Guide to Illinois' Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets. Sterling Publishing Company. p. 38. ISBN 9780760759431. Retrieved 2014-01-20 – via Google Books.
3. Feder, Kenneth L (2010). Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum. ABC-CLIO. p. 49. ISBN 9780313379185. Retrieved 2014-01-20 – via Google Books.
4. Wilson, Joseph AP (2012). "The Cave Who Never Was: Outsider Archaeology and Failed Collaboration in the USA". Public Archaeology. 11 (2): 75–93. doi:10.1179/1465518712Z.0000000007. S2CID 162312493.
5. Fell, H. B. (1987). Detecting Fraudulent Inscriptions. Epigraphic Society Occasional Publications, 16: 24. [1]
6. "True Suppressions 3: Burrows Cave, "Newark Holy Stones, "Sopher Plates"; Fakes as Orthodox Science Claims-Or - True Suppressions?". S8int.com. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
7. . Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
8. Joseph, Frank (2009). Unearthing ancient America. New Page Books. ISBN 9781601630315. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
9. "America Unearthed: Grand Canyon Treasure Full Episode - America Unearthed". HISTORY.com. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
10. "Review of America Unearthed S02E05: "Grand Canyon Treasure"". JasonColavito.com. 2013-12-29. Retrieved 2014-01-21.
11. Rutland, Reece (Dec 21, 2013). "Marion County to appear in America Unearthed episode". Centralia Morning Sentinel.
12. Meador, S. 2004. Untitled Review. "Rambles: A Cultural Arts Magazine", 3 January 2004 [2]

External links

• Falling into Burrows Cave 2014-02-21 at the Wayback Machine
• 2013 Burrows Cave update 26 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• Burrows Cave: A Modern Hoax
• The Cave Who Never Was: Outsider Archaeology and Failed Collaboration in the USA
• Burrows cave and other archaeological fantasies

38°44′N 88°5′W / 38.733°N 88.083°W / 38.733; -88.083