Top Ten Pseudo-Archaeological Subjects of 2008

A lot of sites have been putting together their top tens for 2008, so I thought I would offer up the top ten pieces of news concerning pseudo-archaeology in 2008.

Archaeologists as Looters

Kent Flannery once likened the archaeological process to ethnographic work where the informant is killed after fieldwork so that no one else could get to the information. It is because of this that archaeologists are so protective of the material record to which they have access. In recent years, perhaps because of the current condition of Iraq, the issue of looting has come to the forefront of these concerns.

Know Your Archaeoporn: Impossible Knowledge Part III

In the last post on Impossible Knowledge, I looked at Graham Hancock and Robert Bauval’s attempt to develop a reasoning behind the arrangement of for the Giza Pyramids, and its failures. This was, however, not Hancock’s only attempt to develop a source for ancient African societies. In his novel, Sign and the Seal, [...]

Know Your Archaeoporn: Impossible Knowledge Part I

Archaeology is also afflicted with similar ideology, coming from a variety sources on the fringe of the scientific community.  Just as in the case of biology and the other physical sciences, the intelligent design of archaeology is specious, unscientific, and many times suffers from a similar logical impossibility to the intelligent design of biological creationists.  [...]

Ancient Astronauts Finally Discovered

For years, individuals from Eric Von Daniken to Graham Hancock have been preaching the message of ancient astronauts as the progenitors of all human society. A variety of recent archaeological discoveries are on the verge of proving these individuals right, and rewriting human history in a way never thought of by stogy old academics [...]

Why Take the Long Road?

I am a huge fan of Skeptic Magazine, and am always sure to pick up every issue. Needless to say I was quite ecstatic to see that the latest issue promised an article concerning “ancient astronauts & lost civilizations. These are some of the key myths and false histories embraced by pseudo-archaeologists [...]

What’s In a Name

It used to be the case that any man could get a fast horse, head to the holy land, purchase a wonderful item used by Christ in his ministry, and bring it back to Europe to ensure a heavenly afterlife. Thankfully, we live in a more rational time today, or [...]

Breitenwinner Cave Skeletons Update

My recent post on Breitenwinner Cave and the associate skeletal remains has been drawing quite a few people to the site, and as some may have seen, comments from one of the people in the video. From this, I do have a few updates to make.

Breitenwinner Cave Giant Skeletons a Hoax

Three people claiming to be members of the US Army shot this Video where they go into Breitenwinner Cave in Germany, apparently part of a live fire range on a US military base. While inside, they find a large number of skeletal remains, including some larger peices they claim are giant human skeletons. [...]

Looted Seal Draws Famous Conclusions

Recently, a seal purchased on the antiquities marked was attributed to Queen Jezebel of biblical fam by Marjo Korpel. Like many looted objects, the seal seems to have drawn a conclusion of biblical identification much too soon. ASOR has two good articles calling it into quest, here and here, by Christopher A. [...]