Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Eastern Tennessee and The Anceint Hebrews


In our history books, the "Yuchi" Indians have not been represented very well. This may be because of several reasons, one of which is that disease ravaged the tribe, after the Spanish made contact with them. The evidence tells us that the Spanish visited the Yuchi in what is now Eastern Tennessee. The tribe was known to have villages that extended from Florida to Illinois, and reaching from the coast of Carolina to the Mississippi River. It has been generally accepted that the Yuchi, settled throughout the Southeast, represented the original inhabitants of the area prior to the Iroquoian and Algonkian People. It is known that the Yuchi were of the Mound-building people and among the oldest known residents of the Southeast.

The Yuchi were a distinct tribe that were known for their insistence on "descent from the Sun", a religious belief that was a part of the Mound Building Sun Worship. They as a people, while living among other tribes, kept themselves distinct and remained separate. The language of the Yuchi, "Uchean", has never really been classified for certain. It does not resemble any of the known languages of the Americas. A practice of the Yuchi was to bury their dead laid out flat, and most often buried in wooden or stone lined pits. It is these cultural traits found among the tribe that separates them from their neighboring tribes.

There is some proof that there is at least some connection between the Yuchi and the ancient Hebrews. A similarity found in the religious practices of both people have led some to this conclusion. A more compelling proof is the "Bat Creek Stone" which was removed from a mound in Eastern Tennessee. The stone on its surface, has what has been interpreted as a Hebrew inscription. The stone was reportedly found under one of nine skeletons in a mound. Dr. Joseph D. Mahan Jr. of the Columbus, Ga. Museum of Arts and Crafts photographed the stone's inscription and sent it to Dr. Cyrus H. Gordon, professor of Mediterranean studies at Brandeis.
Dr. Mahan was convinced that there was a connection between the Indians of the Southeastern U.S. and the eastern Mediterranean people in ancient times.


Dr. Gordon, once he studied the inscription, discovered that five of its letters are in the writing style of Canaan, the "promised land" of the Israelites, located between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. The fifth letter he stated, corresponds to the style of writing you would find on Hebrew coins of the Roman era. Gordan translated the inscription as "for the land of Judah". He goes on to say that the inscription attests to a "migration" of Jews.
There is compelling evidence that the Indians of Eastern Tennessee were visited by the Hebrew people. Just as this detail of the The Bat Creek Stone illustrates. We now know for certain that North America was visited by various cultures many years prior to Columbus. The ancient Hebrews are now believed to be a part of those people.

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