The Walam Olum came to light in the anthropological community during the 1800's in the writings of a French anthropologist named Rafinesque. He claimed to have received a series of bark tablets with Lenapé glyphs on them from a doctor who had received them from a Lenapé "history keeper" as a gift for healing him.
To those who accept
the authenticity of the tablets, the story that they tell is one of the migration
of our people from a land in the West across this Turtle Island [the North
American continent] to our home in Lenapehoking in the East [now parts of
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York]. As they traveled, groups
broke off from the nation and became the other Algonquin nations across Turtle
Island. This is why the Lenapé are regarded by many Native American
nations as "the Grandfathers". Some historians suggest that this story may
also contain reference to the crossing of the Bering Strait by our ancestors.
The study of these documents is an ongoing endeavor, and much discussion still continues on their authenticity. For additional information, visit these related sites: