Episode #6
Two Skeptics Tested an Ohio Earthwork to Debunk Stonehenge | Where the Moon Stands Still, Part 1 | Newark Earthworks, Archaeoastronomy & Hopewell
Could a two-thousand-year-old earthwork in Ohio really be built to follow the moon and what happens when two skeptics set out to prove it couldn't? In this episode of Archaeology Books for Fun, archaeologists Barbara and Tristan begin a brand-new book, "Where the Moon Stands Still: Revealing the Cosmic Genius of Ohio's Indigenous Earthworks" by James W. Graham, following a philosopher and an astronomer who tested the massive Newark Earthworks expecting to expose archaeoastronomy as wishful thinking. Along the way they marvel at how Indigenous builders engineered these enormous earthworks entirely by hand, unpack the Newark "Holy Stones" hoax, and sit with the harder history these places are bound up in. A must-listen for anyone interested in the Newark Earthworks, Hopewell culture, and ancient astronomy. WHAT WE COVER IN THIS EPISODE: ‣ The book's opening stretch (chapters 1–6): the Newark Earthworks - a half-mile-long octagon-and-circle complex of roughly 7 million cubic feet, engineered and carried into place by hand, without wheelbarrows, metal tools, or beasts of burden; and how a philosopher (Bob) and an astronomer (Ray) came to investigate it ‣ Archaeoastronomy and healthy skepticism: the "you can draw an alignment through anything if you have enough points" problem, why skepticism is how science actually works, and the shift toward more respectful, accurate language (mounds → earthworks, prehistoric → pre-contact) ‣ A what-archaeologists-actually-think moment: the Newark "Holy Stones" hoax and the "Lost Tribes of Israel" myth - a forgery tangled up in the harmful, complicated history of denying that Native peoples built these sites (with a callback to the hosts' Frauds, Myths and Mysteries series) ‣ Hard history, handled with care: the book gives real space to the Indian boarding schools, the mid-twentieth-century Native adoption programs, and the remarkable life of Zitkála-Šá (Gertrude Simmons). The hosts credit the author for not glossing over this, and connect it to why consultation laws like Section 106 exist - and why current efforts to weaken that consultation concern them ‣ Florida & regional connection: how earthworks and mounds get reused and misused, from the golf course sitting on the Newark site to a shell mound in Jupiter, Florida topped by a lighthouse keeper's house ABOUT THE BOOK: "Where the Moon Stands Still: Revealing the Cosmic Genius of Ohio's Indigenous Earthworks" by James W. Graham. Graham is a writer with a decades-long career in journalism, government, and public affairs, and the author of Victura: The Kennedys, a Sailboat, and the Sea. He isn't an archaeologist; instead, he recounts Ray Hively and Robert Horn's investigation of the earthworks while refuting exploitative mythical interpretations and tracing the history of how the U.S. treated Indigenous people and of tribes' long quest to regain authority over their stories, ancestors, and places. RESOURCES & LINKS: Our Frauds, Myths and Mysteries series (the deeper dive on the Newark hoax and "lost tribe" myths) - https://youtu.be/rRDH0z7HN-4 Where the Moon Stands Still at Ohio State University Press: https://ohiostatepress.org/books/titles/9780814259917.html The Newark Earthworks / Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks (UNESCO World Heritage) - https://www.ohiohistory.org/visit/browse-historical-sites/newark-earthworks/ Society for American Archaeology Statement on Section 106 - https://saa.org/Member/SAAMember/Media-Room/News/SAA-Issues-Statement-On-ACHP-Draft-Changes-To-Section-106-Regulations.aspx ___ Support the show: https://www.fpan.us/give/ COMING UP NEXT: Part 2, where we read chapters 7–10. ___ #archaeologybooksforfun #WhereTheMoonStandsStill #NewarkEarthworks
