The existence of three mysterious stones could support the theory that Phoenicians were the first travelers to reach America – long before Columbus or the Vikings.
According to a 1975 article published in the Winnipeg Free Press, those three stones, found in Eastern Townships in Quebec, serve as evidence that Phoenicians embarked on the treacherous sail across the Atlantic, reaching North America well over 2,500 years ago.
In 1974, deciphered inscriptions on the stones prove that “North America was visited by North Africans 500 years before the birth of Christ,” reads the newspaper, citing an archeologist from the Laval University, Professor Thomas Lee.
By North Africans, Lee was referring to none other than the people of Ancient Carthage, a Phoenician colony of Tyre that dominated the western Mediterranean for centuries.
According to Lee, the stones had Egyptian inscriptions that were written in a Libyan script. “The Libyans would have been operating, in my opinion, out of Carthage, which was a Phoenician city at the time”, said Lee, who had previously worked with the National Museum of Canada.
“Expedition that crossed in the service of Lord Hiram to conquer territory,” reads one of the stones. It was found alongside another stone that reads, “Record by Hata, who attained this limit on the river, moored his ship, and engraved this rock.”
Hiram was the Phoenician king of Tyre who reigned between 969–936 BC (Encyclopedia Britannica).
The third stone, which was found separately, reads, “Hanno, son of Tamu, reached this mountain landmark.”
While ‘Hanno’ was a popular Carthaginian name, could it have been the famed explorer Hanno the Navigator who flourished in the 5th century BC?
It is reported that two of the three stones are displayed at the Museum of the Seminary of Sherbrooke in Quebec.
*Image used for illustrative purposes.
