Video argues disputed Burroughs Cave stones trace Great Lakes copper routes

November 02, 2026ScotlandArtifactShare

▶

Key facts

• The video identifies the Walam Olum, also spelled Wallam Olum, as a purported Lenape migration record first recorded under Constantine Rafinesque around 1820. Rafinesque published it in 1836, and its authenticity has been disputed since publication.
• On Vince's map, routes attributed to the Walam Olum run through the Great Lakes, down the Mississippi via Indiana to Ohio, and toward the Delaware and Hudson rivers and the Iroquois Confederacy. The video also cites Brinton's St. Lawrence route and Morgan's continental-mark model.
• The video proposes a timeline of undated traditions, 350 BC–400 AD ceremonial earthworks, 1400–1650 stockades and copper plates at European contact, 1630–1800 documented westward migration and 1800–1900 removals in the printed record.
• According to the video, Beverly Mosley tested three stones attributed to Burroughs Cave and discussed them in Ancient Mysteries of America in 2007. Vince interprets them as showing the Great Lakes, copper mines, the Keweenaw Peninsula and several major rivers.
• The video interprets the dots on the stones as days of travel along the rivers.
• Rick says roughly 15–18 such stones are known and that most bear a northern snake-clan symbol and a southern 'mystic' symbol, which he interprets as a division between two trading groups.
• The video notes that the reported Escanaba River cave site is in an area with no natural caves and that the cave identification and stones' attribution are disputed.
• The video compares a circle-and-cross petroglyph at Copper Harbor with symbols on the stones; it says a second purported example is eroded and lichen-covered.

← All stories

AI-generated text · images from the original sources · always verify with the sources.