Archaeological Fantasies: How pseudoarchaeology misrepresents the past and misleads the public
Archaeological Fantasies: How pseudoarchaeology misrepresents the past and misleads the publicEdited by Garrett G. Fagan
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Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) Site Bibliography
The Tiahuanaco Site, which is currently called the “Tiwanaku Site”, is used to support various
Plant Evidence for Contact Between Africa and the New World
Claims for contact between the Old World and the New World often involve the diffusion
Review of 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl (by Daniel Pinchbeck)
I’ve had a longstanding interest in counterculture and pseudoscience, the legacy of a lifelong fascination
The Newport Tower and the Plowden Petition
Skeptical Intelligencer Vol. 7, 2004, pp 19-22Reproduced with permission Introduction Before 1492 at least one group
An Evaluation of the Geological Evidence Presented By “Gateway to Atlantis” for Terminal Pleistocene Catastrophe
The book Gateway to Atlantis, Collins (2000a), proposed that Atlantis originally lay in Hispaniola, specifically
Bimini Road
During an archive discussion on GHMB about the Bimini Wall (Pier), there were some comments
Grounding the Nazca Balloon
Is there evidence for a “Nazca smoke balloon” or is it all just hot air?
Multiculturalism, Cult Archaeology, and Pseudoscience
Abstract: Aspects of Afrocentrism have great similarity to cult archaeology and scientific creationism as described previously in this volume. This chapter will briefly describe some Afrocentric claims and discuss why they are erroneous. It will also describe the similarity of the authors’ techniques, methods, and motivations to those of “scientific” creationists and cult archaeologists and propose some reasons for why these claims persist and spread.
Von Däniken’s Chariots: A Primer in the Art of Cooked Science
Skeptical Inquirer Vol. 1, No. 1, Fall/Winter 1976, pp 58-68 Reproduced with permission I am not
Giza Before the Fourth Dynasty
Journal of the Ancient Chronology Forum (JACF) 9 (2002), pp. 5-21. Reproduced with the author’s
The Maritime Foundations of Andean Civilization: An Evolving Hypothesis
With the discovery of Caral, comes proof that the martime foundations led to civilization much earlier than previously thought.
Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico
Originally published in the American Historical Review; June 2003, Vol 108, Issue 3Reproduced with permission In
Review of Voyages of the Pyramid Builders
PSU Professor Garrett Fagan reviews “Voyages of the Pyramid Buiders”, a book by BU Associate Professor of Science Robert Schoch.
His verdict: “utterly useless”.
Afrocentrist Linguistics
This is an updated version of an article originally published in The Skeptic (Australia), Vol. 19:2, 1999,
The Stoned Age?
Did the discovery, in Egyptian mummies, of the chemicals found in cocaine and tobacco prove an ancient contact with the Americas?
The Tomb of Sabu and the Tri-lobed Ornamental Bowl
IntroductionThe Mastaba of Sabu (Tomb 3111, c. 3100-3000 BC) was excavated by Walter B. Emery
Stolen Legacy (or Mythical History?) Did the Greeks Steal Philosophy from the Egyptians?
The message of the book is sensational and revolutionary: “The Greeks were not the authors of Greek philosophy, but the Black people of North Africa, the Egyptians”
Fingerprints of the Gods: A Review
Graham Hancock maintains that the world’s ancient civilizations inherited their culture and knowledge from a now forgotten “hypothetical third party”, rather than developed independently. As he puts it, “our species could have been afflicted with some terrible amnesia and … the dark period so blithely and dismissively referred to as ‘prehistory might turn out to conceal unimagined truths about our own past”
Goodbye Columbus? The Pseudohistory of Who Discovered America
Egyptians, Phoenicians, Africans, Trojans, Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Irish, Welsh, Germans, Poles, and various groups of Jews such as the wandering Hebrews, one or more of the Ten Lost Tribes, and refugees from the Bar Kokhba revolt have all been proposed as having crossed the Atlantic before 1492.
The return of Ancient Astronauts; Zecharia Sitchin Rekindles an Old Pseudoscience
This essay is not intended to be an exhaustive critique of everyone who has ever proposed the existence of ancient astronauts. It evaluates instead one author who seems to inspire a continued following even though von Däniken has faded.
Comments on Pitfalls in Multicultural Science Education
All there many “ways of knowing”? Are magic and religon superior to science?
Invisible Visitors: Explaining Archaeological Skepticism
One common thread in the tapestry of “alternative” archaeology concerns the possibility of contact between
The New Atlantis and the Dangers of Pseudohistory
Investigation into the background of their “new” thoughts reveals that not a single element is original. In reality, they are a mosaic of retooled flotsam and jetsam from various speculative movements that have been with us since the 16th century.
Longing for Leo Or: Spin the Tale on the Zodiac
An important aspect of the so-called “Orion Correlation” is that the Great Sphinx at Giza