The Lost Civilizations of North America, a DVD released this summer 2010, explores an archaeological debate surrounding prehistoric Americans.
The 63-minute DVD presents the possibility that they interacted with ancient Old World civilizations such as those in Egypt and Rome.
The DVD was crowned Best Multicultural Documentary by the International Cherokee Film Festival and was featured prominently in a TV segment by Fox News host Glenn Beck.
But this month, six of the experts interviewed for the film, including an Ohio archaeologist, released a letter that says the documentary advances unsubstantiated claims, uses their words out of context and highlights artifacts that have proved to be fraudulent to advance a "fringe" archaeological belief.
"We want to make it clear that we do not support the theories presented in The Lost Civilizations of North America DVD," the letter reads.
The film's makers defend it as an objective documentary.
The DVD was produced by filmmaker Rick Stout, as well as Steven Smoot and Barry McLerran, board members of the Family First Foundation, a Utah-based organization that provides funding for pro-family nonprofit groups.
"Any suggestion that the scholars' remarks were edited in order to use them in support of a claim they did not express support for in their interview is specious," Stout, Smoot and McLerran said in a statement.
The DVD's only "claims," the producers say, are that technological advancements of ancient American cultures were excluded from American history and that the authenticity of some artifacts is still debated.
"We worked to honor the Native American cultures and tried to be reflective of the great respect that we personally hold for those peoples," they wrote.
One of the archaeologists objecting to his portrayal in the DVD is Bradley T. Lepper, the Ohio Historical Society's archaeological curator.
Lepper, who writes an archaeology column for T he Dispatch, was interviewed twice by the filmmakers. The first interview - on April 19, 2009 - followed a tour he gave of the Octagon Earthworks in Newark, which are mounds constructed by the Hopewell culture (100 B.C.-A.D. 400).
"They were basically just asking me about the Newark earthworks," said Lepper, adding that he compared the scale of the earthworks to other ancient wonders.
A major focus of the documentary, and Beck's television segment, were the Newark Holy Stones. Discovered in the 1860s by David Wyrick, a Licking County surveyor, the stones contain Hebrew writing and are used by some to prove the link between the prehistoric Americans and Old World civilizations. Others, including most archaeologists, believe the stones are a fraud, carved in modern times and hidden in the earthworks for Wyrick to find.
"What the film 'claimed' is that these artifacts were controversial: Some accepted them and some don't," the documentary's producers wrote. Beck presented the stones as authentic artifacts during his Aug. 18 broadcast.
"I was blown away!" he said on the program. "I didn't know the story of these. ... Do you live in Ohio, and did you know that? Why not?"
Beck went on to say the stones were purposely kept out of history books by the government and the Smithsonian Institution.
But, Lepper said, "The evidence is overwhelmingly that they are a fraud. And the premise that the Smithsonian or anyone made an effort to cover this up is not factually based."
Beck's program did not respond to requests for comment.
Read more in the Columbus Dispatch:
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/12/29/dvd-stirs-up-archaeological-spat.html
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