Walam Olum or Red Score

[Hal Sherman]

I have always been fascinated by the story of the Walam Olum or Red Score that Constantine Rafinesque published on the history of the Len-nape people. Being that he was highly educated, it doesn't seem he would have made up such a story as some say, and chanced on ruining his reputation. Many historians have written
about it. The sticks with the red symbols seem like a way the Indians would keep their records, but I'm not sure of the songs or verses that accompany them would be something they would have recorded. If anyone has studied this and has an opinion about same I would appreciate their comments.

Hal

P.S. I'm in the process of painting a picture of Doctor Ward, who originally received the sticks from the old Delaware that he was supposed to have cured.

[Richard L Pangburn]

Hi Hal,

The most recent argument, which was published for peer review, is that the entire Walum Olum is false because the remaining documents used by Rafinesque shows that he was translating from English to Delaware, rather than the other way around, suggesting that there was no original Delaware source, only a hoax but a man seeking to enhance his reputation as a scholar.

Dr. Ward's genealogy has been traced and his family does indeed have the tradition about the connection with the Walum Olum and Rafinesque, but I looked far and wide and did not come across the Mr. Burns who Rafinesque claimed did the translating for him. I expected to find a former captive or an interpreter or someone connected to the name who could have had the expertise, but found nothing.

My thought is that Dr. Ward may have obtained the strings and given them to Rafinesque, but that the good doctor fudged on the translations. The village he appears to have visited was Black Hawk's village in southern Indiana. This Delaware village chief was not the more famous Black Hawk of the Black Hawk War, names among natives often being duplicated.So, like many historical mysteries, it seems a dubious artifact. Interesting, in that more may yet be discovered about it.

All best,
Richard L. Pangburn

[halsherman]

I just read about the Algonquin's walked to America from Greenland on the ice and it's connection to the Walam Olum, implying that it may not be a hoax. To read the story see
hnn.us/readcomment.php?id=73376&bheaders=1

[halsherman]

There is now proof that the Walam Olum is authentic. It has been matched up with Old Norse. See the complete story and translation on the following site.
www.frozentrail.org/reviews/newsarticle

[belleville]

See the Journal of Natural History 10/96 for the article "Unraveling the Walam Olum - A Classic Account of Native American Origins is Exposed as a Scholar's Hoax' by David M. Oetreicher. This article makes bulletproof arguments for it being fake.

The Lenape that I know, a grandson of a past Chief (OK) says that the "Delaware" know nothing of the Walam Olum. And I would take his word to the bank.

Doc