What Most People Don’t Know About The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is among the most iconic landmarks of the USA and is commonly thought of one in every of the most visited natural wonders in the world. Sitting solidly inside the top ten of the most popular national parks in the U.S., the Grand Canyon is just out-competed by locations like Zion Nationwide Park, Yosemite, Yellowstone, and Glacier. It is easy to see why this vacation spot is so well-liked; the canyon is gorgeous to behold. The time-worn rock formations wrapped in multicolored pink and orange bands present a beautiful distinction with the blue arch of the sky, and the winding Colorado River far under ties the entire scene collectively.

People have been ingesting on this dramatic panorama for hundreds of years. The earliest human exercise on this land goes again no less than 10,500 years, however the newest entry date for humans into the Americas suggests the chance that Native People appreciated landscapes just like the Grand Canyon for no less than 21,000 years. Probably the most well-attested historical Native American tradition to dwell on this land is the Ancestral Puebloan peoples, who lived right here between 500 BCE and 1299 CE.

Sadly, any well-known historical place on planet Earth goes to be subjected to conspiracies. This consists of the Grand Canyon. In 1909, an Arizona newspaper revealed a zany conspiracy about America’s Grand Canyon that also circulates in 2025.

The 1909 Conspiracy Idea About The Grand Canyon

Buckle up for a 100-year-old conspiracy about America’s most well-known pure surprise. In 1909, the newspaper The Arizona Gazette revealed an article titled “Explorations within the Grand Canyon: Mysteries of Immense Excessive Cavern Being Delivered to Mild, Jordan Is Enthused, Outstanding Finds Point out Historical Individuals Migrated From Orient.” This text claims to report the “oldest archaeological discovery in the USA” (the Clovis culture wouldn’t be found for an additional 20 years, in 1929), supposedly made by archaeologists from the Smithsonian.

What was this “oldest discovery in the USA”? In line with the 1909 article, an explorer from Idaho named G. E. Kinkaid was taking a ship journey by way of the Grand Canyon. Heading to Yuma, Colorado, from Inexperienced River, Wyoming, he occurred upon a passage alongside a sheer canyon wall.

The story goes that he descended by way of the 1480-foot cave and stumbled on a community of tunnels that led to the stays of an historical metropolis, full with a crypt and a shrine. The town itself was described as being large enough to accommodate 50,000 individuals. On this underground “metropolis,” Kinkaid claims to have discovered archaeological supplies from Historical Egypt in a method paying homage to the Nationwide Treasure films.

Kinkaid claimed to have found a whole metropolis constructed by Historical Egyptians beneath the Grand Canyon. The article doesn’t clarify how the Historical Egyptians acquired to the Grand Canyon. Kinkaid supposedly discovered all kinds of artifacts right here. Supposedly, there have been a lot of mummies that had been wrapped in bark material and positioned within the crypts with grave items. These weren’t the one “discoveries” the explorer made right here.

On the shrine, he describes a cross-legged god holding lotus flowers, enormously resembling the Buddha. To prime it off, the Kinkaid described the entire metropolis as being lined in hieroglyphic writing. The article says that each one of those artifacts date to the time of Ramses II (1279–1213 BCE). Kinkaid additionally claims that the Native People who lived within the Grand Canyon space had been the descendants of this Historical Egyptian civilization’s slaves.

The newspaper was not capable of confirm his findings as a result of, coincidentally, the land on which the passage was positioned was owned by the U.S. authorities and was inaccessible by the point he reported the story. Although the article does state that archaeological excavations had been happening on the website underneath a sure Professor S. A. Jordan of the Smithsonian Institute.

Does The Conspiracy Have Validity?

The probability that the Pharaonic Egyptians ever reached the Americas could be very low, and so touring as far west because the Grand Canyon is even much less doubtless (although they did circumnavigate Africa!). Even later Mediterranean civilizations, like the Ancient Romans, did not attain the Americas. It wasn’t till 1021 CE that Eurasians reached North America, when the Norseman Leif Erikson reached Newfoundland on his longship. Even then, Eurasians did not retain data of the Americas, and the data was misplaced till 1492.

Nevertheless, to totally problem this conspiracy, it is necessary to investigate its details. There are vital and particular inconsistencies with the article:

• No Historical Egyptian artifacts have ever been discovered within the Grand Canyon. Archaeological findings and indigenous accounts totally doc the cultures that lived within the Grand Canyon space.
• The Smithsonian maintains to this present day that it didn’t fund the expedition linked to Kinkaid’s story.
• G. E. Kinkaid didn’t share this story with every other sources, which questions his mere existence. The Smithsonian archaeologist, S. A. Jordan, is in the same place, making existence unverifiable, as effectively.
• The creator of the story appeared to have restricted data of Historical Egyptian iconography and tradition. The statue of the Buddha discovered within the alleged cave is an effective indication of this.
• The newspaper itself didn’t confirm the findings past “Kinkaid’s” phrase.

Some Web boards have postulated that Kinkaid, if he existed, could have simply stumbled upon an historical Native American metropolis that resembles Mesa Verde. In spite of everything, the Ancestral Puebloans had been well-known for his or her cities constructed into the cliffs. There’s even one not removed from the Grand Canyon at Navajo Nationwide Monument. Whereas this might be a potential rationalization for the story, the reason itself is just too beneficiant and doesn’t line up with the account given within the article.

The town just isn’t described as being constructed into the cliffside; it is as a substitute constructed deep in an underground cavern. Plus, town is described as having a carrying capability of fifty,000 individuals, whereas the biggest Ancestral Puebloan cities may solely accommodate a couple of hundred to a couple thousand individuals on the most. For instance, the city of Cliff Palace would only have had a population of about 100 people. As compared, Chaco Canyon in New Mexico may solely maintain round 2,000 individuals at its largest level.

Furthermore, the described artifacts don’t match identified Ancestral Puebloan artifacts; notably, he found a Buddha statue within the cave and claimed to have discovered Egyptian hieroglyphs relationship again to the interval of Ramses.

As a bonus, no such expansive underground metropolis has ever been found within the Grand Canyon area within the subsequent 116 years after the alleged discovery. Its supposed location in a nationwide park which receives between two and 5 million guests every year signifies that somebody ought to have discovered it by now, even when by chance.

Why Are Conspiracies Like This So Fashionable?

Even in 1909, this conspiracy would have been fairly far-fetched. But in 2025, it is making the rounds once more because of the Web. That begs the query: why are conspiracy theories like these nonetheless well-liked at present?

If you happen to’ve ever researched the historical past of North America or the biggest archaeological breakthroughs in America, it is doubtless that you’ve got stumble upon a model of this conspiracy principle. These tales all have the identical fundamental premise, whether or not you’ve got found the idea that the Phoenicians/Egyptians found the Americas, the Youthful Dryas impression speculation, or the conspiracy principle that the Native People are literally the “Misplaced Tribes of Israel.”

A number of underlying elements propelled this explicit principle. Within the nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, tutorial data was not readily accessible to the plenty. Whereas it is simple for us at present to find out about matters like Historical Rome, the prehistoric Eurasian Steppe, or the huge Incan Empire, individuals within the current previous did not at all times have that chance; discovering out that data meant not simply studying books, however bodily touring to the areas the place these books had been housed.

Historical past training wasn’t at all times the very best; even at present, historic textbooks are sometimes years behind cutting-edge findings. Plus, all of this wasn’t helped by the truth that academia was not at all times probably the most welcoming or public-facing atmosphere. Moreover, trendy exceptionalism, or the concept that we in trendy occasions are distinctive compared to historic individuals, is rife in each public and tutorial communities. Many individuals look again on the previous, believing that historic individuals had been inherently inferior as a result of they did not have entry to trendy know-how and data.

The truth that it surprises us at present to study that Ancient Romans had hilarious graffiti, that the Mayans had spectacular water assortment methods, and that woodland Native People had massive cities says extra about us than it does about them. In spite of everything, people have been cognitively and behaviorally constant for no less than 50,000 years (although the precise quantity is probably going nearer to 100,000).

Why would not historical peoples internationally have issues like graffiti, humorous tales, take care of family members, ingenious concepts, and funky innovations? What offers us at present a bonus is our collective data that is been constructed on for hundreds of years by numerous individuals and many various cultures.

Lastly, racial biases may help gas different accounts of the previous. Centuries of cultural misrepresentation would have made it simpler for readers of this explicit 1909 problem of The Arizona Gazette to consider fantastical theories over correct representations of indigenous historical past.

Thus, it’s almost certainly that the early Twentieth-century Arizona Gazette made up the story, presumably as a strategy to promote extra papers. As to why the thought of a long-lost Historical Egyptian metropolis hidden within the Grand Canyon may nonetheless make the rounds at present, the idea is probably going fueled by the identical fantastical indulgence that made Indiana Jones well-liked.

Nonetheless, moderately than speculating, we are able to as a substitute give attention to the cool historical websites that do exist within the Southwest. Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon ought to be on each bucket listing, as they supply alternatives to find out about Native American discoveries is an effective way to spend a day.