The story of the Silverbell artifacts continues to intrigue us, but there are many reasons for rejecting the artifacts as authentic. Those given by Cummings when he recommended that the University of Arizona not purchase them hold up well today:

1. Planting could be duplicated.

2. A cutting edge cannot be made on lead, and there is no archaeological or historical evidence that weapons were ever made of lead.

3. The weapons show signs of having been modified with some tool such as a rasp or pliers and a hammer.

4. One of the crosses weighs sixty-four pounds and is too heavy to have been carried through an arduous military campaign.

5. The crosses and other artifacts were made of a lead with a composition similar to that of common pot metal.

6. There is no evidence of burials or a battle in the area.

7. In one instance a hole had been created in the vertical wall of the trench for the insertion of a lead shaft.

8. The inscriptions say nothing of any real meaning.

9. Most of the inscriptions are identical to material in three common contemporary Latin grammars.

10. The artifact site is part of a Pleistocene deposit, and anything under the surface would have to be at least 10,000 years old.