{"product_id":"2940013848641","title":"Bat Creek Stone: At a Glance","description":"The Bat Creek Stone is a controversial \u003cbr\u003eartifact that was discovered during a mound \u003cbr\u003eexcavation in the 1800s near the mouth of Bat \u003cbr\u003eCreek in Loudon County, Tennessee. The stone is \u003cbr\u003esmaller than the size of an average cell phone. One \u003cbr\u003eside of the stone has a polished appearance and \u003cbr\u003eeight symbols are engraved into the center of the \u003cbr\u003estone. \u003cbr\u003eCyrus Thomas published in the Ethnology \u003cbr\u003eReport that the inscription on the stone contained \u003cbr\u003eCherokee symbols. However, he later realized an \u003cbr\u003eerror in his logic. In his book, Cherokees in Pre- \u003cbr\u003eColumbian Times, he stated that the symbols could \u003cbr\u003enot possibly be Cherokee because the mound \u003cbr\u003ewhere the stone was found was older than the \u003cbr\u003eCherokee alphabet. Due to his misinterpretation of \u003cbr\u003ethe symbols, many speculate the stone is a fraud. \u003cbr\u003eThe stone did not hit the spotlight until the \u003cbr\u003e1970s when Professor Cyrus Gordon suggested \u003cbr\u003ethe inscription was most likely a form of Paleo- \u003cbr\u003eHebrew, an ancestor script to the current Box \u003cbr\u003eHebrew. \u003cbr\u003eReligious groups, such as the Latter-Day \u003cbr\u003eSaints, used the stone as proof that members of a \u003cbr\u003elost tribe of Israel were the ancestors of the Native \u003cbr\u003eAmericans. Even with the positive response of the \u003cbr\u003estone by the Latter-Day Saints, others still did not \u003cbr\u003ebelieve it was authentic, including the \u003cbr\u003eSmithsonian Institute.","brand":"POL Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47068921561328,"sku":"2940013848641","price":3.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013848641_p0.jpg?v=1763600301","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013848641","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}