Pseudoarchaeology
Channel: The Archaeologist's Laboratory
Date: 07/01/2023

In the context of three common types of pseudoarchaeology - pyramidology, ancient aliens, and Atlantis-like pre-Neolithic societies - I draw attention to some of the main strategies that the proponents of these claims use to convince their audiences in an attempt to show that these are not real "evidence" at all. I then go on to some of the underlying motivations for making such outlandish claims in the first place.

CORRECTION: I just realized that the large Baalbek stones pictured in my video (an image I chose because it's public domain), are not actually the trilithons, although they are quite large. So my claim that the trilithons have "Lewis holes" (holes for pegs for attaching ropes) on their visible surface is incorrect. They may have some on surfaces that aren't visible, but we have no evidence for that. My apologies for the error. However, you'll note that Adam's 1977 paper on the subject shows how the builders could have attached lines without Lewis holes. Some of the videos listed below deal with the Baalbek site a lot better than I did anyway.

Chapters
Intro 00:08
Ancient Mysteries 01:00
Mysterious Numbers 03:42
Ancient Aliens 10:40
Popular Culture 12:08
It Looks Like a Duck 12:23
Atlantis & Pre-Holocene Civilization 18:02
Mathematical and Astronomical Knowledge 21:00
Rhetorical Questions 36:32
Veiled Racism 42:27
"Archaeological Conspiracy" 45:17
The Real Conspiracy 49:03
Conclusion 51:49

Here are some links to other videos that provide context or further information related to my video's content:

A great (and very amusing) definition of pseudoarchaeology:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnoImxaa69g 

Lectures on pseudoarchaeology:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W59CV66z9lQ 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmw51kjPjw 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6Y4igSZUOU

More on number games and the pyramids:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdpKTe-m7Jw 

Wally Wallington's single-handed raising of Stonehenge trilithons:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD5Lc3-5iDs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5pZ7uR6v8c 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mRrB33wvGk 

And a similar effort in UK, albeit with more people manning the levers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-J_6Jct_X8 

Temple of Jupiter at Baalbek:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUiNoAgijpc 

Antikythera Mechanism:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idVf2eJxcXU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv-zWbxm2lY

Critique of "Ancient Aliens":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9w-i5oZqaQ 

Atlantis & Plato's Dialogues:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqhMGVLUSB0

Racism in the "Ancient Aliens" theories:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htUgMDtqJQ8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmw51kjPjw 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htUgMDtqJQ8 

Critiques of "Ancient Apocalypse":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=341Lv8JLLV4
https://www.skeptic.com/reading_room/analysis-of-graham-hancocks-claim-that-ancient-apocalypse-erased-lost-civilization-of-atlantis/ 

A nice summary of why it's implausible that there was an advanced civilization before the Younger Dryas:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHeflRtrYUk 

Critiques of Zeccharia Sitchin's claims:
https://sitchiniswrong.com/

Data from White Sands footprints site:
https://www.sciencebase.gov/catalog/item/6036950cd34eb12031174c77

Excellent book on Pseudoarchaeology by Garrett Fagan:
https://www.routledge.com/Archaeological-Fantasies-How-Pseudoarchaeology-Misrepresents-the-Past-and/Fagan/p/book/9780415305938

My book, The Archaeologist's Laboratory: 
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-47992-3

#archaeology #pseudoscience #egyptology #ancientapocalypse #extraterrestrial