Overview

The Michigan Relics are a large collection, numbering in the thousands, of forged artifacts said to have been unearthed from mounds across Michigan between the 1890s and the 1920s. Made of clay, copper, and slate and covered with a confused mixture of alphabets and with scenes drawn largely from the Bible, they were promoted as evidence that an ancient literate people of Old World origin had once lived in the American Midwest. They circulated among collectors with religious motivations, most notably the Detroit Catholic priest James Savage, and a substantial portion was for many years held by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose leaders considered whether the objects might relate to Book of Mormon peoples without ever officially endorsing them.

Scholarly and forensic examination has shown the relics to be modern forgeries, manufactured by James Scotford and promoted by Daniel Soper. The site records them as debunked, cites the analytical scholarship, and notes the custody history, including the 2003 transfer of the LDS-held portion to a Michigan museum, neutrally.