Freeman's 49er trunk is a fake [news]
From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas)
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1999 14:07:07 -0800
|
Via: Chris Barrus <xibalba@no-fi.com>
Reprinted from:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/28/MN996CH.DTL
San Francisco Chronicle
Thursday, January 28, 1999
Followup to previous article at:
http://www.ufomind.com/misc/1999/jan/d20-001.shtml
----- Begin Article Excerpt -----
Park Service Declares Forty-Niners' Treasure Chest a Fake
Some of the contents date from after 1850
Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer
The wooden trunk found in Death Valley National Park that supposedly
contained artifacts from a party of Forty-Niners on their way to the
California Gold Rush is a fake, an investigation has determined. The
National Park Service announced yesterday that several artifacts in
the trunk ``have been proven to have come from periods later than
1850.''
Jerry Freeman, a self-styled archaeologist who discovered the trunk
inside a cave in the bleak Panamint Mountain range last month, had
said the trunk was apparently left behind by William Robinson, a
member of an ill-fated party of Forty-Niners who had become lost in
Death Valley on their way to California.
He had removed the trunk from the park and returned it last month,
saying he was ``just blown away'' by the discovery, which was hailed
by some historians as a potentially valuable find.
The trunk also contained a letter supposedly written by Robinson and
dated Jan. 2, 1850, telling of his concern for his wife and his fears
that he would never find his way out of the mountains.
However, Death Valley National Park rangers were cautious, and park
superintendent Richard Martin called in a conservator from the
Western Archaeological and Conservation Center in Tucson and curators
from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Their conclusions:
-- Glue samples from the trunk contained materials made in the 20th century.
-- Two photos in the trunk were tintypes, a process that was not
patented until 1856.
-- One of the two ceramic bowls in the trunk was stamped ``Made in
Germany.'' A united Germany did not exist until 1871, and the mark on
the bowl, the experts said, ``could not have occurred before 1914.''
-- ``Several other inconsistencies in the condition and the time
frame of the articles were also noted,'' the park service said.
---- End of Article Excerpt ---
Continued at...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/1999/01/28/MN996CH.DTL
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RELEVANCE OF THIS MESSAGE: Followup to previous
Index: Jerry Freeman (#6)
Created: Jan 28, 1999
