A depiction of a Pict warrior, painted as described in Roman history.
From the Official Webpage of a Scottish Clan (Fair Use)
The Case of the Picts
Armstrongism, History and Apophenia
By Scout
Revisiting Armstrongist lore is not one of my ardent pursuits. But once in a while, when critical analysis is needed, the education in pseudo-history I got when I was an Armstrongist shines. Armstrongist lore, by my definition, is not the information that flowed from Pasadena. It is rather the colloquial re-interpretation of the information from Pasadena found at the congregational level. The Pews, in some ways, had their own derivative Armstrongism. I understand this. People want to make what is important to them their own by placing their mark on it. Many outside observers do not realize that Armstrongists are indoctrinated with a totally homegrown view of the history of mankind which was then modified in the congregations for local use.
With that background, l will present an incident for your consideration. I was at a gathering years ago in a home in Big Sandy, Texas. There were a bunch of people there and we were sitting around talking. The conversation turned to British-Israelism at one point. And a guy I knew sitting near me did a riff on Native Americans. He stated that Native Americans were brought to North America by Israelites from the British Isles. They were considered by the Israelites to be clowns. They were kept around for entertainment aboard ship. Israelites would get them drunk and then laugh at their drunken antics. The crowd at the gathering seemed to be entertained by this riff. I was shocked and dismayed at the blatantly racist comment and that it was well received by the listeners. But the atmosphere at the gathering did not invite debate. A minister and a sidekick showed up a little later and the gathering acquired a quasi-official ambience.
The question I am considering in this essay is how did such dubious lore originate. This is a broad question and I will focus on only one phenomenon. What I am going to write about is called “apophenia”.
Apophenia in Armstrongist Historical Interpretation
Apophenia refers to making fabulous connections between unrelated facts usually based on pseudo-facts and quasi-logic. Think of the movie “A Beautiful Mind” starring Russell Crowe. Apophenia is the illogical engine that drives conspiracy theories. Herman Hoeh stepped into this realm in his teleological interpretations of history that were intended to support orthodox Armstrongist viewpoint that exalted Northwest Europeans.
An example of apophenia as related to anthropology is Hoeh’s identification of Native Americans as Canaanites based on skin color. The argument goes like this: Native Americans are red in skin color, Phoenicians are also red in skin color and Phoenicians are Canaanites; therefore, Native Americans are Canaanites. The problem is, Native Americans are not red; they are brown. The idea that they are red arose in the middle Eighteenth Century to distinguish them from Whites and Blacks. Before that time, the idea that Native Americans had red skin was unknown. And Phoenicians acquired their redness connection due to a red dye they manufactured from a certain ocean snail. Genetics tell us that the modern-day Lebanese are descended from Phoenicians and the Lebanese are not red in skin color. The only red-skinned people I have ever seen were Whites who had high blood pressure. My guess is that connecting Native Americans, by hook or by crook, to the Canaanites fit so well with British-Israelism that its juiciness could not be resisted.
Another example is apophenia as related to names. For instance, the idea that the occurrence of the name “Dan” that is found in some form in various locations in Europe must refer to the Israelite Tribe of Dan. And these names trace their migration pattern. This association by name overlooks the fact that there is really no certain etymology for the name Dan. Research takes us rapidly into myth. One fact is certain: population genetics indicates that the Danes are unrelated to the ancient people of the Middle East. So, name similarity alone cannot validly connect the modern Danes to the ancient Israelite Tribe of Dan. To assert there is a connection based on the similarity of names without credible supporting history is a case of apophenia.
Armstrongist Apophenia and Native Americans
In Herman Hoeh’s Compendium of World History, Volume 2, Chapter 7, Hoeh asserts that Native Americans are an amalgam of two peoples. They are descended from the Biblical patriarchs Tiras and Canaan. Hoeh has described the connection to Canaan in two different ways. In the Compendium he states that some of the tribes that came to North America were Hivites. On the other hand, Hoeh sent me an excerpt from a historical writing once that indicated that some African Tribes believe that Tiras married one of the daughters of Canaan. I have since lost the short excerpt that he sent me. It is sufficient to say that I could not at that time challenge an assertion like this even though it was at odds with physical anthropology. Not only was it arcane history, difficult to challenge because of the paucity of relevant historical data to attack, it also came from an evangelist rank minister.
In this same chapter, Hoeh also provided a historical account for how the Native Americans came to populate the Americas. I will not repeat the pseudo-history in detail here. Suffice it to say, Hoeh believed that Native Americans were brought to the Americas by their “Israelitish” (If in quotes, read as Northwest Europeans.)They were brought across the Atlantic Ocean rather than out of Asia through Beringia and then into North America as science would have it. One migration was of the Picts. Hoeh advanced the idea that Native Americans were first located in Scotland where they were known as painted Picts. And the Picts consisted of two co-residing peoples: a ruling group which was Caucasian from Thrace and a wild, primitive, subordinate group with painted bodies which was Native American. Conflict with Romans in Britain resulted in population turmoil and the Native American Picts were transported by boat to America by their “Israelitish” overlords. Apparently this migration was where the riff I heard in Big Sandy fit into the pseudo-history. While Hoeh’s creative connection of historical references might have revealed, though unlikely, some kind of actual migration, it was not a migration of Native Americans. This will be addressed below.
Hoeh relies extensively on “the early Spanish writer” named Ordonez to establish the Pict-Native American connection. He does not cite this Ordonez in his bibliography nor does he give his full name in the text. I have been unable to identify this author, after a reasonable effort, in order to review the origin and quality of his historical ideas. I am left to wonder why Hoeh did not give us a clear citation. IF you know anything about Ordonez, let me know.
In creating the connection between Native Americans and Middle Eastern peoples, Hoeh also used apophenia related to names. He noted that the name of the Biblical patriarch Tiras is found in the name of the Tarascan Indians of Mexico as Taras. There are many other examples of such dubious connections. In short, I would class Hoeh’s writing on this topic as apophenic rather than historical.
Who are the Picts?
To place this issue in modern historical context, it would be good to determine what is now understood about the Picts. The Picts were a confederation of ancient Celtic tribes. They lived in Eastern Scotland. They left us very little in the way of intelligible records. But they did leave their bones in the ground. Excavations from the 5th and 7th centuries AD, when the Picts were still on the land, indicate that they were not different from the surrounding populations. In other research, Dr. Jim Wilson, a geneticist, identified the Pictish haplogroup as R1b-S530. This is a subclade of R1b-M269 which is the general haplogroup found throughout Northwest Europe. Though wild and primitive, the Picts were homeboys in Britain, part of the common racial fabric of the isles. The R1b-M269 population derives from Pastoralists who came off the Pontic Steppe anciently and overran Northwest Europe. They are known as Atlantics and notably occupied the British Isles thousands of years before Abraham. This, of course, contradicts the exotic origin for the Picts that Hoeh posited based on connecting references in ancient history. It is worth noting that Hoeh did not have genetics to aid in his research.
Who are the Native Americans?
The other piece of the picture is the identity of Native Americans. Genetic evidence supports the idea that Native Americans are a composite of two Eurasian peoples. When they first left Beringia, the huge land bridge connecting Siberia with Alaska, to populate the New World, they were a mix of East Asian and Ancient North Eurasian. The people in the former group were mongoloid in appearance and the latter were Caucasoid in appearance. The Ancient North Eurasians are identified with the people of the Tarim Mummies. Some scientists approximate the mixture for Native Americans at 70 percent East Asian and 30 percent Ancient North Eurasian. This is why Native American physical anthropology has an affinity for Asia, but their facial appearance is generally not Asian. Tracks found recently at White Sands, New Mexico support the presence of Native Americans in the New World as early as 23,000 years ago.
Genetic analysis tells us that ancient Native Americans were a highly homogenous people. They are almost all y chromosome haplogroup Q-M3 or Q-L54. Haplogroup Q is not found in association with Picts in Scotland. I asked Google AI if haplogroup Q is associated with the Picts in Scotland and it replied succinctly:
“No, Haplogroup Q is not associated with the Picts in Scotland. Haplogroup Q originated in Central Asia and Siberia and is most common in Indigenous peoples of the Americas. Recent genetic studies on Pictish remains have instead linked them to other haplogroups that are common in Britain and Ireland.”
Haplogroup Q does occur in ancient Britain but it is associated with the Vikings. While the Nazis admired the Scandinavians as being the Nordic archetype, they did not realize that Scandinavians carry a measurable amount of Siberian and North Asian ancestry. (If someone tells you they are a racially pure Scandinavian, you are justified in being skeptical. People got around.) But the y chromosome haplogroup Q subclade associated with the Vikings is Q-L804 which is different from the Q subclades among Native Americans in the New World.
The Upshot: Why Does Apophenia in Historical Interpretation Make a Difference?
Is Hoeh’s view just folklore like Beowulf? Or a harmless church chatter? No, it was apophenia-influenced historical interpretation passed off as historical realism. As such, it affected people’s lives. Like who gets to marry whom. And which peoples are acceptable by some idiosyncratic standard, with an affinity for White nationalism, and which are not. Let me clarify that I do not believe that Hoeh’s apophenic conclusions about history were done with malevolence. I believe that at the time he wrote the material, Hoeh thought he had discovered the “real” history of the World. But archaeology and genetics tell us it wasn’t.
The object lesson is that when historical interpretations are going to affect people’s lives profoundly, caution is imperative. If apophenia knocks on the front door, it should not be let in. The two-volume Compendium of World History was Hoeh’s dissertation for his Ph.D. from Ambassador College. But something is missing. In the interests of caution, Hoeh’s committee should have also required him to show why orthodox history was wrong. That is the missing volume three of the Compendium.
18 comments:
The real originator of the Vikings bringing the painted men to America and Mexico was Benjamin Rhea, parroting Masonry......you know, the orgamisstion WCG sponsored for millions of dollard by renting their halls...
Nck
Great write up Scout,
Yea the "Native American = Canaanite" angle is incorrect because there were hundreds of native American tribes already here spread out across the continent while the early settlers settled within the eastern part of North America. Take for instance the Navajo, Pueblo, and Hopi lived in the southwest. And the Blackfeet, Sioux, and Comanche lived in the Great Plains. These tribes were no where near the 13 colonies. So what did the “British Israelites” do, bring them over centuries ago and head back to Britain then to return in the 1600s? No. Armstrongism makes no historical or scientific sense in this area. I used to hear insane stories like that at church gatherings as well.
Anonymous 1:59
I think the Canaanite angle was an attempt to support British-Israelism. The idea that the people of Northwest Europe are Israelites, like G.G. Rupert maintained, doesn't make sense to most people. So, it creates a lot of dissonance. Those who want to believe it, reduce dissonance by loading on as many arguments as they can in support of the viewpoint that they want to be true. I think most conspiracy theories come into existence as dissonance reduction measures. So, the idea that Native Americans are Canaanites becomes a mini proof that the people of Britain are Israelites.
A serious problem enters in when believers of the theory start treating Native Americans like they are pariahs. Racism, though many Armstrongists and White evangelicals do not understand this, is not a Christian behavior. You would think that some people believe that racism is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. Jesus did not say, "Love your White neighbor."
Scout
6:54, exactly in fact Jesus gave the parable of the good samaritan as the neighbor (for us to learn from in case we live amongst different groups of people ethnically). I think this was around the same time they rejected Jesus and the disciples in not allowing them to stay there while they were headed down to Jerusalem.
Yea, the problem with armstrong groups in this paradox of a NT version of canaanite-Israel "American conquest" is that when equating the Native Americans as canaanites along with "the conquest of the land" is really like you said negates "Christian behavior". Because it rejects how you may treat your fellow man in the end, starting with Matthew 5-7. But they always start with Matthew 24.
Nck
I knew of Benjamin Rea. He had already passed away when I was in Big Sandy. His widow and son lived for a time on faculty row next to Lake Loma. I came across a lengthy article that he had written about Native Americans but, alas, it was in Spanish. I asked an Hispanic friend to translate if for me but he, like many other Hispanics in the area, was not literate in Spanish. He could speak but not read or write the language.
An acquaintance in Big Sandy told me that Rea was considered the first martyr in the WCG. I would guess that now most Armstrongists would not even recognize his name.
Scout
Scout, I've always been fascintated by Native Americans, and as I read this, your most recent post, an entire book of thoughts quickly passed through my brain. I've been aware of the Picts for going on twenty years now, and had utilized them in some of my articles and comments as facts supporting the reality that the British Isles have always been a melting pot, in many of the same ways that the USA has also been. Not pure Ephraim. Not even close! It seemed to me, back when I was doing those articles, that every continent had had an earlier indiginous population, and my perception was that the Picts were the indiginous ones in the UK. But, history indicates that they were assimilated amongst the other identifiable ethnicities in Britain.
I generally voraciously gobble up any TV programs featuring Native Americans. My favorite actors in these programs are Zahn McClarnon (he's also a biker) and Tantoo Cardinal.
Shelving my initial book's worth of thoughts, I'm going to restrict my next comments to a favorite HBO program, Treme, a very educational show in so many ways, about the early recovery of New Orleans in the aftermath of Katrina. Prominent in this timeline were the Mardi Gras Indians, who were African American, had a distinct culture surrounding them, spent an entire year creating ornate costumes for each year's Mardi Gras, and were incredibly well respected by the citizens of New Orleans. The very excellent actor, Clarke Peters, plays the part of Big Chief Albert Lambreaux, one of the central characters.
As I watched the first few episodes, the concept of "cultural misappropriation" entered my thoughts. But, I soon learned that I was totally wrong! I knew about the northern segment of the "Underground Railroad" because some of my friends, growing up in the northeast, lived in old houses which had secret rooms and compartments where African American slaves were hidden along their travels to Canada, and freedom. What I did not know was that there was a southern branch of that "railroad" which took the slaves to northern Louisiana, where Native American tribes hid these slaves on their lands. They lived amongst them and absorbed their culture! And that culture continues to this day through their descendants, the Mardi Gras Indians!!!
What an incredible example of innate humanity amongst diverse peoples. There was a natural cross-cultural common ground, enough similarity that indiginous people from Africa and indiginous people from North America were able to live and survive together. I think everybody needs to know about that!
BB
My younger brothers and sisters attended Imperial School in Big Sandy, and my brother was a teacher there. One of my sisters was a classmate of Dr. Benjamin Rea's son, Rafael. Been a long time since I've heard Dr. Rea's name.
BB
BB brings up a good point. That's also what happened in Oklahoma in Tulsa. Some of the Native Americans owned slaves and then after the trail of tears and after slavery those ex slaves in that Greenwood district developed a thriving community. What your talking about also happened in Florida with the Black Seminoles.
Byker Bob
Interesting account of the Mardi Gras Indians. Native Americans are a diverse lot. My mother was a Plains Indian, different from the Indians in north Louisiana. The tribe she came from would not let their women, at one time, intermarry with Creek Indians because they thought that the Creeks were mixed with Black ancestry.
The Picts were not the indigenous people when the Brits arrived. Instead of Brits, it is better to call them the R1b people from their haplogroup R1b-M269. They were Eurasian Pastoralist from the Pontic Steppe. When they invaded the British Isles around 2,450 BC, the indigenous people were similar to the Scandinavians. These were the people who built Stonehenge. They were y chromosome haplogroup I. But there were others earlier. Cheddar Man was there around 9,000 BC. Modern humans were in Britain around 40,000 YA. There is a long history there. The puzzle is why the Picts were so different culturally from the other Brits. They ran around with painted bodies raising cane. The Venerable Bede thought they were a low-class lot.
I thought I might be Pictish at one point. My y chromosome subclade was found in eastern Scotland near the time of the R1b invasion but it was south of the Pictish region in Briton territory.
There is a curious connection between Native Americans and Western Europeans. Native Americans are almost all haplogroup Q and Q split from P about 35,000 YA. Haplogroup R split from P about 30,000 years ago. This is a relatively recent split from the same Eurasian ancestral haplogroup. That is why the two haplogroups are so close in alphabetic sequence.
Scout
Yeah, it gets pretty deep as one seeks to learn more, 2:29! I learned much about the Lenape from a TV series called "The Red Road", which starred Jason Momoa. Tamara Tunie played the part of a mixed heritage Lenape woman. This was the first time I became aware of black people who identified culturally with their Native American ancestors rather than their African ones. And then I read of Jimi Hendrix's pride in his Native American ancestry!
I grew up in the part of the country which had been the Lenape territorial lands, and had never heard of them until binge watching the Red Road, although I had run across the term "Delaware" Indians. (synonym). But my long term interest had its genesis in my reading of "The Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper early in my teens. Cooper is considered to be somewhat of a flawed writer by todays standards, but I really wasn't aware of a heck of a lot of other material on the topic back then. Just the "Lone Ranger" on TV, and the Disney film, "The Light in the Forest". Which is a sad commentary on the general state of awareness of those days.
BB
Sorry. Slipping. Correct spelling is "indigenous"
BB
Yea that’s why we see Jimi Hendrix clothing attire with the colors and Native American garb, he was honoring part of his ancestry. Loved his version of star spangle banner. Also if you look at James Brown facial features, he’s got that native blood in him as well. We could name more. But I will admit I loved the movie Last of the Mohicans, but I guess the book is better. Lone Ranger….. that’s another story.
Hey Scout, did you hear about this find , although this is much later in the Middle Ages in Britain.
https://archaeology.org/news/2025/08/18/dna-analysis-reveals-west-african-ancestry-in-early-medieval-england/
Anonymous 9:21
Thanks for the reference. I had seen a blurb on this somewhere but no detail. It is an interesting finding. It demonstrates that the science of archaeogenetics really can unpack the racial history of ancient peoples. If there were Native Americans living in Pictland in northeastern Scotland back around the third century as Hoeh describes, this is genetically discoverable. So far, nobody has found anything that would suggest this. Likewise, if British-Israelism is true, we would find a huge presence of haplogroup R1b in excavated graves in Palestine. Excavation is limited due to the proscription in Judaism against disturbing graves. But so far, nothing.
Scout
Retraction
I stated in a response to anonymous 9:21 that no R1b had been found in ancient Palestine. I just did some research that indicated that in fact some R1b was found in the late Bronze Age. This is associated with the invasion of Sea Peoples from the Aegean. At the time of the invasion, the main body of R1b people was in Europe. Otherwise, haplogroups J, T and E are found in ancient Palestine. There is nevertheless no widespread evidence of
haplogroup R1b as would be required by British-Israelism.
Scout
Noted Scout, I am wondering and will do more research on the archeology within the North American continent. You would think that there would be more focus in finding more about who was living on our continent say like during the different ages with the DNA.
Yea it stinks that the excavations are limited, but they are finding lots of things currently in the City of David, and for instance Israel is carrying out secret excavations under the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Only time will tell I guess.
If tats are the main identifier of the Picts, I'm seeing a lot of them in the supermarkets, at the service station, and in restaurants these days. Or they may just be latter day disciples of the Picts. We should get Henry Louis Gates involved in investigating this! Maybe one of Dr. Hoeh's theories is in play! Perhaps there is some supernatural sifting going on, and it is the people who have Pict dna who are getting all these tattoos!
Anonymous 9:27
I know you are speaking tongue-in-cheek. But what you cite is the Source versus Content aspect of the Genetic Fallacy. It is an error of Irrelevance. I would class it an apophenic mechanism.
Scout
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