The cosmos of the ancient Earthworks Cultures of the Eastern Woodlands was a layer-cake type of division of realms. The three most important divisions were the Sky World above, the Earth Disc where all humans, plants, animals, etc. live (aka “Earth”), and the Underworld.
The Underworld was a watery place inhabited by powerful entities depicted by both ancient and historic Native Americans as Great Horned Serpents or Underwater Panthers. These beings were ruled by a singular chief of the Underworld Powers, known by a number of names. As explained by the great ethnographer and archaeologist George Lankford: "The most widely recognized form of the underwater powers, however, is the Horned Water Serpent. It is frequently referred to as a single creature, but more careful reading through the collections indicates that the Underwater Panther/Horned Water Serpent is really understood to be a race of people, representatives of which may be encountered in any large body of water, whether seas, lakes, or rivers. Even so, there is still frequent reference to a “master” of the underwater powers." (1, p. 109) Since the Native American cosmos does not draw artificial barriers between the three realms and considered them interconnected, the Underworld powers could—and did—access the Earth Disc. The Great Serpents emerged from streams, lakes, springs, and caves. They were usually dangerous to man, causing drowning, floods, and other calamities, but they could also offer powerful magical abilities. This tradition is still alive today, as many Native medicine societies maintain some type of connection to the Master of the Great Serpents. There is an account of an actual sighting of the Great Serpent/Underwater Panther by the Sioux in the Missouri River, recorded in the late 1800s: “Long ago the people saw a strange thing in the Missouri River. At night there was some red object, shining like fire, making the water roar as it passed up stream. Should anyone see the monster by daylight he became crazy soon after, writhing as if with pain, and dying. One man who said that he saw the monster described it thus: It has red hair all over, and one eye. A horn is in the middle of its forehead, and its body resembles that of a buffalo. Its backbone is like a cross-cut saw, it is flat and notched like a saw or cog-wheel. When one sees it he gets bewildered, and his eyes close at once. He is crazy for a day, and then he dies. The Tetons think that this monster is still in the river, and they call it ‘Mi-ni-wa-tu’, or sea monster. They think that it causes the ice on the river to break up in the spring of the year.” (1, pp. 115-116) References 1. George E. Lankford, “The Great Serpent in Eastern North America”, Ancient Objects and Sacred Realms: Interpretations of Mississippian Iconography, ed. F. Kent Reilly and James F. Garber, University of Texas Press, Austin, 2007, pp. 107-135.
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Recently, a debate has developed in the Ohio archaeological community over the age and cultural affiliations of the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County, Ohio. Serpent Mound is the greatest effigy mound in the Ohio Valley. The earthen mound is 1,348 feet long and portrays a serpent with a coiled tail with what has been interpreted as an egg at its mouth. In the 1800s, Frederick Ward Putnam excavated several mounds and other burials in the vicinity of the Great Serpent (1). At least two of the mounds yielded evidence, which today would be recognized as diagnostic of the Adena Culture (1000 B.C.—300 A.D.), while several non-mounded burials resemble Late Archaic (2500—500 B.C.) tombs as found elsewhere in Ohio. There is much more cultural information from Putnam’s excavations that archaeological institutions have never made available to the public in a comprehensive format, but this situation is soon to be remedied (2). In addition to the evidence recovered in the 1800s, a recent project at Serpent Mound radiocarbon dated the earliest phase of the effigy to around 321 B.C. (3), placing the origin of the mound in the Early Woodland period, which is defined by the Adena Culture. In spite of the Adena evidence, influential organizations have continued to back an alternative interpretation of the Great Serpent Mound which associates the effigy with the much more recent Fort Ancient Culture manifestation (1000—1600 A.D). Adena
One of the criteria recently given for rejecting an Adena affiliation for the Great Serpent Mound is “the virtual absence of serpent imagery in the Adena culture” (4). However, evidence from several archaeological sites reveals that indeed, the Adena Culture didutilize serpent symbolism in a presumably ritual context, and may have even passed the mythology behind the serpent to their contemporaries and successors in the Hopewell Culture. The Adena-affiliated Wright Mound was located in Montgomery County, Kentucky, and was excavated in the late 1930s (5). The mound contained over 20 burials, some in typical Late Adena log tombs. Calibrated radiocarbon dates from the mound include 120 A.D. and 264 A.D. (6). Burial 11 at Wright consisted of an extended skeleton in a tomb with two logs at each end and side. The body had been laid upon strips of bark, and bark also covered the tomb. The skeleton featured a copper bracelet on each arm and a shell disk bead necklace under the chin. Another “artifact” with Burial 11 recorded by William S. Webb was a serpent skeleton: “Between the femora was the skeleton of a large snake. This appears to have been an intentional placement and not the result of the death of a transient snake visitor seeking winter quarters.” (5, pp. 35-37) A similar discovery was documented for Wright Burial 18, which was another extended skeleton in a rectangular log tomb. This burial featured two copper bracelets on each forearm. According to Webb, “At the foot of the burial there was the complete skeleton of a large snake, fairly well preserved.” (5, p. 46) There is another possible example of Adena serpent symbolism from elsewhere in Kentucky. In 1988, Sara L. Sanders surveyed a stone serpent mound situated on a ridge top overlooking the Big Sandy River in Boyd County, Kentucky on the property of Ashland Oil (7). The present authors recently summarized several details of this site in Ages of the Giants: A Cultural History of the Tall Ones in Prehistoric America(Serpent Mound Books & Press, 2017): “At the time of Sara L Sanders’ survey in 1988, the serpent was 191.4 m in length, the head being 25.6 m long and 11 m wide. The tail was 7.2 m at the widest point and 2.05 m at the narrowest. The serpent was composed entirely of sandstone, the head facing east towards the River. The piled sandstone integrates natural “float rock” into the design. On a lower ledge below the serpent, a semi-circular stone structure 5.2 m in diameter built atop a sandstone outcrop has been interpreted to represent an egg. Sanders considered the Kentucky Serpent to be immediately comparable to the more famous earthen serpent in Ohio.” While the Kentucky serpent has not been radiocarbon dated, information has been obtained from another stone structure in Boyd County, which may have been constructed by the same community that built the stone effigy. The Viney Branch Stone Mound was also situated to overlook the Big Sandy Valley and has produced calibrated radiocarbon ranges of 890-215 B.C. and 798-1 B.C. (8). This chronology overlaps the periods of the Late Archaic and Adena cultures in the Ohio Valley. The Viney Branch mound contained two cremations, and also covered a crematory and hearth. One of the cremations was placed in a pit. These features are similar to Late Archaic and very early Adena mounds (9). Another little known stone Serpent Mound was located in West Virginia, situated on a ridgeline overlooking the town of Omar in Logan County. The West Virginia serpent was surveyed by Gary Wilkins in 1979, and found to be “similar in form to serpent mounds found in Kentucky and Ohio” (10, p. 1). The authors also summarized this effigy in Ages of the Giants: “The serpent was oriented north, the head consisting of an oval ring of stone with a rectangular flat rock at the center. The serpent was composed of large, flat sandstone rocks, extending in undulating fashion over 80 feet to the south, where it joined a natural rock outcrop incorporated into the design. The artificial wall varied between 1 and 3 feet in height and 1.6 and 8 feet in width at the time of the survey. The “natural” section was also aligned with the ridge and extended around 51 feet further to the south.” Wilkins Himself suggested that the West Virginia stone serpent was “probably late Adena to early Hopewell in age” (10, p. 3). Serpent symbolism has also been documented from Adena sites outside of the Ohio River Valley. Several major Adena sites have been excavated on the East Coast, usually grouped under the cultural label of Delmarva Adena. It is a popular trend in modern studies to explain Adena elements on the East Coast as the simple product of exchange. However, it has been pointed out that regional manifestations of Adena appear in the archaeological record around 800 B.C., emerging from a local formulation of the Late Archaic cultural network (11). This is almost identical to the late Adena expert Don Dragoo’s theory for the origin of Adena in the Ohio Valley (9). Besides the chronology, Delmarva Adena ritualism is also closely linked to the Ohio Valley culture. T. Latimer Ford once pointed out that the number of diagnostic artifacts found at the Demarva Adena site at Sandy Hill in Maryland “far exceeds that recovered from any Ohio or Kentucky Adena site.” (12, p. 86) Commenting on the obvious Adena ritualism at the West River site on Chesapeake Bay, Ford stated in 1976, “While the artifacts might have been trade goods, the cremation and burial traits are not likely to have been diffused to local tribes.” (12, p. 75) There are other Delmarva Adena ceremonial practices, which have been demonstrably connected with the Ohio Valley. For example, the upper medial and lateral incisors and supporting bone of a skull buried at the Rosenkrans site in New Jersey had been intentionally broken out. Herbert C. Kraft suggested that this had been done to allow for the insertion of a worked wolf jaw spatula as reported from the Wright and Ayers Mounds in Kentucky and the Wolford Mound in Ohio, allowing the individual to become a “wolf shaman”(13, p. 29). With these important ties to Ohio Valley Adena established, it is interesting to note that obvious serpent symbolism has been found at the Delmarva Adena affiliated Boucher site located east of Lake Champaign in Vermont. Three hide medicine bags from the Boucher site are considered part of the paraphernalia of local shamanic practitioners or ritual specialists. One of the hide bags contained the bones of a black snake covered in red ocher, while another bag contained copper fragments (14). The third bag, found near the chest area of a middle-aged male, contained bones of a timber rattler, a black rat snake, American mink, pine marten, cervid, duck, and red fox, as well as a raccoon bacculum, a bone fish hook, and two pebbles (Ibid). The radiocarbon range of the Boucher Site is 885—114 B.C., and at least 15 Adena-style tubular pipes from the site were made of Ohio fireclay (Ibid). Ohio and Illinois Hopewell Returning to the Ohio Valley, serpent symbolism was also present in the contemporaries and successors of Adena in the Hopewell Culture (200 B.C.—500 A.D). Christopher Carr and Robert McCordhave recently published a fascinating study of four “composite creature” effigies from the Hopewellian Turner Earthworks in the Little Miami valley (15; 16). The four effigies feature elements of rattlesnakes, fish, salamanders, crocodilians, and bear or badger. Carr and McCord suggest that the Turner effigies could represent a very ancient form of the mythic entity, which later evolved to become the “Great Horned Serpent/Underwater Panther” of the historic Native American tribes—albeit from a time before the archetype was associated with Above-World animal elements (such as wings). Basic serpent symbolism has been found at other Ohio Hopewell sites. As an example, a group of four sandstone tablets from Mound 1 of the Hopewell Mound Group in Ross County are engraved with effigies of a diamondback rattlesnake, the body formed in a “Z” shape (15). Beyond Ohio, serpent symbolism very similar to that documented from Ohio Valley Adena sites has been found in Hopewell burial mounds in Illinois. The Utica Mound Group consists of 3 groups of 27 mounds located on the Illinois River south of Utica, Illinois. Beneath Mound 1 of Group 1, an effigy comprised of hundreds of stones was uncovered about 20 inches above the mound base, described as “A large quantity of rock, which appears to be a large effigy of a snake…” (17, p. 63). The stone serpent measured 25 x 17 feet, and enclosed a central burial area originally containing at least 14 burials. In Mound 3 of group 1 at Utica, the bones of a snake were found placed over the frontal bones of two disarticulated skeletons. In Mound 11 of the same group, two skeletons extended side by side (Burials 10 and 11) also featured a snake skeleton placed over the frontal bones. Finally, a snake skeleton had been placed near the right shoulder of the skeleton of a young female in Mound 1 of Group 2. The stone serpent effigy and the snake skeletons placed with burials at Utica Mounds are strongly reminiscent of the Adena practices discussed in this article. Similar discoveries were also made at the Adler group of 8 Hopewell mounds near Joliet and the Des Plaines River in Will County, Illinois (18). Beneath Adler Mound 3, a central sub-floor tomb containing the remains of five individuals placed shoulder to shoulder, as well as the skeletons of two infants was uncovered. According to Howard Winters, “With the exception of the two infants in the lower portion of the tomb, all burials were found with the articulated vertebrae of snakes placed several centimeters above their waists.” (18, p. 62) In Adler Mound 7, a tomb was found containing the remains of 4 individuals. Above the waist of one of the burials were found “snake vertebrae, again intentionally placed in that position.” (18, p. 73) Finally, Adler Mound 8 covered a sub floor tomb containing 3 extended burials and one large bundle reburial. Only the skeleton of a young adult male was associated with grave goods. Regarding this burial, Winters notes, “the vertebrae of a bull snake (?) were draped across and above the waist, as in Mounds 3 and 7.” (18, p. 73) The Great Serpent of Southern Ontario The local manifestation of the Hopewell Culture in southern Ontario, Quebec, and New York State is usually referred to as Point Peninsula. People participating in the Hopewell/Point Peninsula Culture constructed a Serpent Mound of their own at Roach’s Point on Rice Lake in Peterborough County, Ontario. The Middle Woodland component of the site consist of nine burial mounds, one of which—Mound E—is considered by many to be a serpent effigy (19; 20). The Mound E serpent is 194 feet in length and 25 feet wide at the base, with a maximum height of 5-6 feet. Mound F is located very near the head of the serpent, and has been interpreted as an “egg” similar to that before the head of the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio. The Mound F egg contained at least six burials, one of which was a “trophy skull” burial as found at many Adena and Hopewell sites in Ohio (21). David Boyle found that Mound F also contained a layer of earth mixed with ash and mussel shells 4 feet from the surface at mound center, and beneath this at the mound floor was a stone circle 3 feet in diameter, which exhibited evidence of fire (Ibid). These features are very similar to those documented by Squier and Davis within the ovular “egg” at the mouth of the Great Serpent Mound in Ohio: “The ground within the oval is slightly elevated: a small circular elevation of large stones much burned once existed in its centre; but they have been thrown down and scattered by some ignorant visitor, under the prevailing impression probably that gold was hidden beneath them.” (22, p. 97) The Rice Lake serpent was also a burial mound, and may have once contained the remains of at least 60 individuals (19). The burials were likely accretional and span several eras, but the oldest were those placed in burial pits beneath the mound and on the mound floor, with such artifacts as copper, shell, and silver beads, mandibles of timber wolf, bird, and bear, beak of loon, a limestone animal effigy, and a massive double-bitted adze (19; 20). While these burials may seem to strongly differentiate the Rice Lake serpent from its Ohio counterpart, this is not the case. For while Ohio Valley archaeologists largely continue to insist that the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County was not a burial mound, recent research by Jeffrey Wilson (23) has proven that although they were forgotten and poorly documented, burials wererecovered from the Ohio Serpent sometime in the late 1800s. With regards to the cultural influences and affiliations of the Rice Lake Serpent, Michael Spence and J. Russell Harper state, “Mound burial might be a Hopewellian trait, though the serpent shape is possibly related to the Serpent Mound of Ohio, seemingly Adena.” (24, p. 55) Indeed, radiocarbon dates for the Mound E serpent span 128—302 A.D., overlapping the temporal range of Late Adena and Hopewell in the Ohio Valley and elsewhere (25). The Rice Lake Serpent is located in the vicinity of numerous burial mounds, which have yielded extensive evidence of Hopewell influence. Regional Connections and Conclusion The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the serpent symbolism of several Adena and Hopewell sites. The authors suggest that in light of this evidence, there is no reason why the Great Serpent Mound in Adams County Ohio—located near the epicenter of Adena and Hopewell—could not be considered as possibly being a site of one or the other, if not both of these cultures. This is especially true in light of much of the evidence (including early radiocarbon dates) collected by William Romain and his associates in recent years. One objection to this article will undoubtedly be that the sites mentioned are from Kentucky, Illinois, West Virginia, the East Coast, and Southern Ontario, while the Great Serpent Mound is located in Southern Ohio. However, we would point out that the archaeological record strongly suggests close cultural connections between the Ohio Valley Adena and Hopewell and the manifestations beyond. Furthermore (and perhaps most importantly), the recent evidence obtained from DNA research (26) and studies of physical skeletal morphology (27) clearly reveal that actual peoplespread out from the Ohio Valley during the time of Adena and Hopewell, likely taking new ideas and forms of ritualism with them. One of these ideas may well have been a ceremonialism and veneration of an early form of the Great Serpent, as represented at Ohio’s Great Serpent Mound. References 1. F.W. Putnam, “The Serpent Mound of Ohio”, The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, Vol. 39. 2. Jeffrey Wilson, forthcoming. 3. William F. Romain, “New Radiocarbon Dates Suggest Serpent Mound is More Than 2,000 Years Old”, The Ancient Earthworks Project, 2014, http://ancientearthworksproject.org/1/post/2014/07/new-radiocarbon-dates-suggest-serpent-mound-is-more-than-2000-years-old.html 4. Bradley T. Lepper, “On the Age of Serpent Mound: A Reply to Romain and Colleagues”, Midcontinental Journal of ArchaeologyVol. 43 (1), 2018, pp. 62-75. 5. William S. Webb, The Wright Mounds, sites 6 and 7, Montgomery County, Kentucky, University of Kentucky Press, 1940. 6. Robert F. Maslowski, Charles M. Niquette, and Derek M. Wingfield, “The Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia Radiocarbon Database”, West Virginia Archeologist, Vol. 47:1-2. 7. Sara L Sanders, “The Stone Serpent Mound of Boyd County, Kentucky: An Investigation of a Stone Effigy”, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology,16 (2). 8. Darlene Applegate, “Chapter 5: Woodland Period”, in The Archaeology of Kentucky: An Update, ed. David Pollack, State Historic Preservation Comprehensive Plan Report No. 3, Kentucky Heritage Council, Frankfort, 2008, pp. 339-604. 9. Don W. Dragoo, Mounds for the Dead: An Analysis of the Adena Culture, Annals of the Carnegie Museum, Vol. 37, 1963. 10.Gary R. Wilkins, “A Rock Serpent Mound in Logan County, West Virginia”, Tennessee Anthropological Association Newsletter, Vol. 6 (4), 1981, pp. 1-4. 11.Jay F. Custer, “New Perspectives on the Delmarva Adena Complex”, Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology, 12 (1), 1987, pp. 35-53. 12.T. Latimer Ford, Jr., “Adena Sites on Chesapeake Bay”, Archaeology of Eastern North America, Vol. 4, 1976, pp. 63-89. 13.Herbert C. Kraft, “The Rosenkrans Site, An Adena-Related Mortuary Complex in the Upper Delaware Valley, New Jersey”, Archaeology of Eastern North America, Vol. 4, 1976, pp. 9-50. 14.Michael J. Heckenberger, James B. Petersen, Ellen R. Cowie, Arthur E. Spiess, Louise A. Basa and Robert E. Stuckenrath, “Early Woodland Period Mortuary Ceremonialism in the Far Northeast: a View from the Boucher Cemetery”, Archaeology of Eastern North America18, 1990, pp. 109-144. 15.Christopher Carr and Robert McCord, “Ohio Hopewell Depictions of Composite Creatures Part 1—Biological Identification and Ethnohistorical Insights”, Midcontinental Journal of ArchaeologyVol. 38 No.1, 2013, pp. 5-82. 16.Christopher Carr and Robert McCord, “Ohio Hopewell Depictions of Composite Creatures Part 2—Archaeological Context and a Journey to an Afterlife”, Midcontinental Journal of ArchaeologyVol. 40 No.1, 2015, pp. 18-47. 17.Henry C. Henriksen, “Utica Hopewell, A Study of Early Hopewellian Occupation in the Illinois River Valley”, Illinois Archaeological Survey Bulletin No. 5, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1965, pp. 1-67. 18.Howard Winters, “The Adler Mound Group, Will County, Illinois”, Illinois Archaeological Survey Bulletin No. 3, University of Illinois, Urbana, 1961, pp. 57-88. 19.Jeffrey Bryan Dillane, Visibility Analysis of the Rice Lake Burial Mounds and Related Sites, Master of Arts Thesis, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario, 2010. 20.Jason Jarrell and Sarah Farmer, “The Burial Mounds and Woodland Traditions of Canada”, Ancient AmericanIssue 114, 2016. 21.David Boyle, “Mounds”, Annual Archaeological Report, Ontario, 1897, pp. 14-57. 22.Ephraim George Squier and Edwin Hamilton Davis, Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, Bartlett & Welford, New York, 1848. 23.Jeffrey Wilson, “The Mysterious Excavations of Serpent Mound”, presentation at Friends of Serpent Mound Mysteries Day event, August 21st, 2016, and forthcoming book. 24.Michael Spence and J. Russell Harper, “The Cameron’s Point Site”, Royal Ontario Museum, Art and Archaeology Occasional Paper 12, Toronto, 1968. 25.Richard B. Johnston, The Archaeology of the Serpent Mounds Site, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1968, pp. 70-72. 26.Deborah A. Bolnick and David Glenn Smith, “Migration and Social Structure Among The Hopewell: Evidence from ancient DNA”, in American Antiquity, 72 (4), pp. 627-644. 27.P.J. Pennefather-O’Brien, Biological Affinities Among Middle Woodland populations associated with the Hopewell Horizon, PhD Dissertation, Indiana University, 2006. The use of plants and minerals as remedies for the healing of the human body is well known to most people with a cursory knowledge of ancient (and alternative) medicine, but some may be surprised to learn that one of the oldest medicines is not derived from a plant, but from a metal. Silver, the third most commonly utilized metal in the ancient world after gold and copper, possesses a wide range of medicinal uses. There is evidence that as early as 3,000 B.C., man had learned to isolate silver from other metals, and it was identified by the Chaldeans as early as 2,000 B.C. Silver was one of the most valued healing and preserving agents during ages past, due largely to the fact that it is extraordinarily antimicrobial. Indeed, it is extremely effective against most all organisms against which it has been tested in modern times. Some of its most popular applications for the past 5,000 to 6,000 years have been: · Wound healing (Vulnerary)/Wound dressing · Antimicrobial · Antibiotic/antibacterial · Antifungal · Food preservative · Water preservative · Sunburn and burn remedy · Stomach ulcers · Antiviral · Water purification · Food preservative There are many methods to making silver products, as it can be bound with different substances which result in various compounds, such as silver nitrate, silver chloride, ionic silver, colloidal silver, silver oxide, etc. Each form possesses its own unique range of uses. Some can be used internally and most all forms can be used topically, the application largely dependent on the area of the body that needs treatment. It is generally understood that ionic silver and true colloidal silver are the safest forms for ingesting, although recommended dosages vary wildly. Since the medical establishment and government agencies responsible for health are mostly silent on the subject of oral consumption (except for the occasional fear-mongering), the prescriptions and dosing are left to the manufacturing companies and/or individuals taking silver. Silver in the Past In the Bible, there are many accounts of the use of silver as currency as well as its valued function for drinking vessels. Silver vessels were also heavily utilized by the Greeks, Romans, and Phoenicians to preserve both water and food by preventing bacterial growth. Herodotus wrote that no king of Persia would dare drink water that had not been transported in silver cisterns. The cisterns made of silver could keep the water they held fresh for many, many years. Alexander the Great stored and transported his water provisions using silver vessels, which must have been a great advantage to his operations to have had fresh, non-algae ridden water on hand for his soldiers. Many other cultures and people throughout history have either stored their water in silver containers, or placed silver coinage in their water vessels. As late as the mid 19th century in America, gold prospectors and other west-bound explorers would plunk silver coins into their water barrels to retard the growth of bacteria and algae. Silver was also used extensively for wound care in the ancient world, not only to discourage microbial growth but also to promote faster healing, a use that is still widely practiced today. In ancient Macedonia, there are accounts of healers using silver plates over wounds, and as recently as the 1900s silver foil was still used for the same purpose. In one bizarre report from 1886, a doctor named Georgia Arbuckle Fix bonded a fractured skull back together using a silver coin that had been hammered into a fine, thin plate using a chunk of rail iron. Her poor patient had been the victim of a gruesome farming accident and she was the only attending physician within a 75 mile radius of the man. According to the report, she successfully closed the skull injury and the patient eventually healed without complications! The Fear of BlueNo one can investigate the subject of medicinal silver without running into the topic of argyria. Argyria is a medical condition that causes the skin and tissues to take on a grayish blue tint, due to the large silver particulates settling in the extremities, i.e. skin. It occurs when someone consumes either the wrong type of silver (such as silver nitrate or silver chloride, orally) and generally the person needs to consume large quantities of it on a daily basis for many years in order to attain this side effect. After millennia of using silver for medicine, argyria is the ONLY known side effect of this medicine and is cosmetic only in nature. Although modern medicine has claimed it can cause kidney complications, it has never been documented or demonstrated. In 1999, the FDA made a final ‘ruling’: “That all over-the-counter (OTC) drug products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for internal or external use are not generally recognized as safe and effective and are misbranded. FDA is issuing this final rule because many OTC drug products containing colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts are being marketed for numerous serious disease conditions and FDA is not aware of any substantial scientific evidence that supports the use of OTC colloidal silver ingredients or silver salts for these disease conditions.” This ruling essentially categorizes silver as an “unclassified drug.” Since that ruling, companies producing medicinal silver products cannot declare anything that would allude to silver’s medicinal qualities and any silver sold commercially on the market today must be branded as a “mineral supplement.” Such legal pontification from the FDA is established in spite of the past 5,000+ years of history. Straight Facts: What Does the Science on Silver Say? According to the National Institutes for Health: 1. “There are no high quality studies on the health effects of taking colloidal silver, but we do have good evidence of its dangers.” 2. “Claims made about the health benefits of taking colloidal silver aren’t backed up by studies.” 3. “The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that colloidal silver isn’t safe or effective for treating any disease or condition.” 4. “It can be dangerous to your health.” 5. “Scientific evidence doesn’t support the use of colloidal silver dietary supplements for any disease or condition.” Point 1: I’d like to ask the NIH what the difference is between a “high quality” study and a “low quality” study, because those terms aren’t scientifically objective. How did they arrive at such a conclusion? Also, in the interest of increasing human health, and especially with all the fabulous claims about silver, why would an institution that asserts to be advancing human health NOT issue a whole host of scientific studies on such a topic? And finally, if no “high quality” studies on the health effect of silver have been done, how does the NIH have such good evidence of its “dangers,” other than argyria? Why not state the known dangers on the NIH website for the taxpayers or other interested parties? Point 2: Claims aren’t backed up by studies? That’s because evidently the NIH/FDA/[insert your favorite alphabet agency here] didn’t bother to do any studies. Point 3: Again, why rule any supplemental material like silver unsafe before doing studies? If even some of the health benefits attributed to silver are true, wouldn’t most people desire to know the true science behind how it may actually work? Point 4: Other than the unfortunate possibility of turning blue, and possible drug interactions with antibiotics or thyroid medications (which the FOIA request couldn’t even produce proof of), how is silver dangerous to health? To make such a condemnation without providing access to the studies demonstrating the veracity of such claims forces one to take the statement on good faith. It is not backed up by science. Point 5: Yes, yes, we know. As of 1999, there somehow weren’t any studies. However, this website was updated in 2017—long after many wonderful “high quality” studies on silver have been conducted which display the broad range of antibacterial action of silver, amongst other qualities. The following is a Freedom of Information Act Request from 1999, asking for information regarding the dangers of silver, reported cases of allergic reactions or deaths associated with silver, and the number of cases of argyria: October 14th, 1999 Food and Drug Administration U.S. Department Of Health and Human Services Public Health Service 5600 Fishers Lane Rockville, MD 20857 Dear Sirs/Madam, Pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act and in regard your August 17th, 1999 ruling regarding colloidal silver, could you please supply the following documentation on which you based your decision? 1. The number of deaths related to the consumption of colloidal silver. 2. The number of allergic reactions to the consumption of colloidal silver. 3. The number of harmful drug interactions from both OTC and prescription drugs when combined with colloidal silver. 4. The number of reported cases of Argyria from colloidal silver made with the AC or DC electrical process. 5. The number of cases of Argyria from colloidal silver that did not contain protein stabilizers. Thank you for your time and consideration of this request. Sincerely, ----------------------------------------------------- The FDA response: Public Health Service Center for Drug Evaluation and Research Office of Training and Communication Freedom of Information Staff HFD-205 5600 Fishers Lane 12 B 05 Rockville, Maryland 20857 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 3, 1999 In Response Refer to File: F99-22589 [ Name Removed ], WA 98408 Dear [ name removed ]: This is in response to your request of 10/14/99, in which you requested adverse events associated with the use of Colloidal Silver. Your request was received in the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research on 10/25/99. We have searched the records from FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) and have been unable to locate any cases that would be responsive to your request. Charges of $3.50 (Search $3.50, Review $0, Reproduction $0, Computer time $0) will be included in a monthly invoice. DO NOT SEND ANY PAYMENT UNTIL YOU RECEIVE AN INVOICE. If there are any problems with this response, please notify us in writing of your specific problem(s). Please reference the above file number. Sincerely, Hal Stepper Freedom of Information Technician Office of Training and Communications Freedom of Information Staff, HFD-205 This situation begs the question: why would the FDA not only declare silver to be unrecognized as unsafe, but also ban it when there are NO documented allergic reactions, NO deaths, and surprisingly NO documented cases of argyria? How could the FDA claim to have known about the “dangers” of silver while it moved to ban it as a medicine, while under a FOIA request the agency could not produce any evidence? What would the real underlying motive for such an action be? According to silvermedicine.org: “…it is clear that the MOTIVE behind the FDA's ruling is driven by forces unrelated to the safety, the condition of argyria, or the potential effectiveness of true colloidal silver. One STATED motivating factor was that many products of unknown substance and quality were being marketed under the label of colloidal silver. Some of these products undoubtedly were, and are, of questionable quality. There certainly are no established standards for the production of colloidal silver. However, the FDA's underlying motives reveal themselves when examining their public relations strategies:
Enter Papa Smurf Any honest layperson who seeks to learn about the use of colloidal silver or ionic silver as medicine will also undoubtedly eventually come across the fear-inducing picture circulating on the internet of the iconic, suspender-wearin’, beard-sportin’ “blue man.” The Internet knows him as “Papa Smurf”, but his real name is Paul Karason. He became somewhat of a celebrity after years of silver consumption (and other possible things, as we shall see) that caused his skin to turn blue. According to Paul Karason, silver cured his acid reflux and shoulder arthritis after he began making his own silver solution at home and consuming 10+ ounces daily. Eventually however, things got a little weird for Karason. According to some reports, it was determined that the silver Karason was creating was not ionic nor colloidal, but was actually silver chloride, due to the fact that he was adding sea salt to his solution. He also decided it would be a good idea to rub the silver solution on his face, which he supposed might ease his dermatitis. Left out of most accounts of the Karason horror story is the suggestion by some that he also engaged in extreme tanning, in order to ‘fix’ the silver particulates in his skin and face. Further accusationsagainst Mr. Karason suggest that he was a paid shill for a pharmaceutical company holding a vested interest in suppressing the truth about medicinal silver. Indeed, he did make some very public appearances to warn of the dangers of silver on the Today show and the Oprah Winfrey show among other venues, which would seem to make such accusations reasonable.
Whatever the case, the mainstream media claimed that Karason had poisoned himself. But on the day Paul Karason died, it was very quietly admitted that he had died of complications with stroke, heart attack, and pneumonia, which had nothing to do with being blue or having taken his homemade silver for years. One news story tried to spin the story to make it seem as though his death was caused by the silver, with the headline: “Man who turned blue after taking silver for skin condition dies.” According to J. Wesley Alexander: "American Silver Producers Association recruited W.R. Hill and D.M. Pillsbury to examine the incidence and consequences of argyria [1]. They searched the world literature and were able to find 357 cases that had occurred by 1939. The earliest cases were recorded in the 1700s. It became apparent that silver compounds administered by any route except the unbroken skin could produce argyria when used for a sufficiently long period of time. However, chronic argyria appeared to cause no pathologic alterations of the affected organs and to have no important physiologic consequences. In clinical practice, the gastrointestinal tract probably was the most important site to absorb silver. Once in the body, silver can be deposited in the majority of tissues, nerve tissue and skeletal muscle excepted. Two hundred thirty-nine of the 357 cases of argyria occurred as the result of silver given for medical indications. The remainder was related primarily to industrial uses such as mining and refining. In only 16 of the 239 cases where silver was given for medical indications had it been used for less than one year, and most of the patients with argyria had taken silver for a much longer time, as long as 20 years. Silver nitrate was responsible for 49% of these cases. The total dose of silver needed to cause argyria with silver arsphenamine was approximately 6 g, or 0.9 g of metallic silver." {emphasis authors} That is a heck of a lot of silver. It seems that in order to turn blue, one must orally administer ounces upon ounces of high parts per million silver solution on a daily basis for a bare minimum of at least one year, probably much longer (up to 20 years?!). And apparently hopping in a tanning bed off and on while taking it can’t hurt if one is really going for that blue skin hue. What other medicines in alternative or modern medicine are taken in copious volumes for years on end? Not. Very. Many. It is interesting to note that there have been many recent studies conducted on silver in the past several years that show a wide range of antimicrobial qualities. One paper states that silver is quite effective against both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, as well as fungi. Another paper published in 2010 acknowledges silver as “a traditional broad-spectrum antiseptic” as “a solution against antibiotic resistant bacteria.” References: https://www.naturalnews.com/035219_colloidal_silver_blue_man_skin.html#ixzz4S6HFIP7g https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19566416 (see also: http://www.silveredgehealth.com/pdf/history.pdf) http://www.naturodoc.com/library/medsmats/silver/silver.htm https://archive.org/stream/useofcolloidsinh00searuoft/useofcolloidsinh00searuoft_djvu.txt https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23017226 Hill WR, Pillsbury DM. Argyria–The Pharmacology of Silver. Baltimore. Williams & Wilkins, 1939. https://nccih.nih.gov/health/silver http://www.silvermedicine.org/fda.html You may believe that you have no power. That you could never be a force of influence or an agent of positive change. But indeed, you wield immense power every day. You are l i t e r a l l y, a living battery of energy. The problem is, your energy is directed to achieving the aims of the system. Your job, career, social role has been tailored so that your power is harnessed by the system and directed according to the will of those who control you (rather than your true purpose for living.) Be bold. Walk out of your assigned role. Reject the “purpose” given to you by the system. Discover the true reason you exist within yourself. When you devote your power–your energy–to accomplishing the goals of your heart, you will wield a power mightier than a thousand New World Orders. You may invite your friends and family to walk out of the system with you. Perhaps you will inspire others to abandon the system with your own work. Eventually, (if enough individuals walk out), the machine
will no longer have enough cogs to continue operating –and will be consigned to the same dust bin of history where now languish the empires of the past. |
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