Pseudoarchaeology

Pseudoarcheology is a pseudoscience focused on the study or promotion of archaeology in ways which do not meet the basic standards of the scientific method. Pseudoarcheology often involves the study of real archeological objects such as pyramids and the Stonehenge monument, but ascribes alleged mystical powers or supernatural origins to them. Belief in ancient astronauts, or in mythological locations such as Atlantis, are sometimes part of pseudoarcheology. Indigenous Aryans theory propagated by Hindutva advocates is an example of pseudoarchaeology.Witzel, Michael (2006), "Rama's realm: Indocentric rewritings of early South Asian History", in Fagan, Garrett, Archaeological Fantasies: How Pseudoarchaeology Misrepresents the Past and Misleads the Public, Routledge, ISBN 0-415-30592-6.
==Biblical archaeology==
While — in modernity — the archeology of the Near and Middle East has become a serious and respectable academic field in itself, without which our understanding of the spurious and man-made nature of various religious texts would be severely diminished, prominent scholars in the field of "biblical archaeology" such as Professor of Ancient History and Archaeology , author of Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (published by Oxford University Press and winner of the 2011 Biblical Archaeology Society's "Best Popular Book on Archaeology"),Dr. Eric Cline Wins 2011 Biblical Archaeology Society Publication Award - Best Popular Book on Archaeology takes the time to warn and warn again of the rampant interest in the field from well-funded pseudoscientific cranks out to prove whichever of the abrahamitic myths they happen to subscribe to personally, stating:Biblical Archaeology: A Very Short Introduction (2009), ISBN 0-19-534263-1, page 71-72.
Eminent biblical scholar and author of The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction (published by Oxford University Press) also chimes in to underscore the inherent fail in pursuing pseudo-archaeology to try and prove the patently false myths recorded in scripture:The Old Testament: A Very Short Introduction (2008), ISBN 978-0195305050, page 31.
A textbook example of this exact crankery is the slow but steady stream of nonsensical Noah's Ark sightings every few years.
==Hoaxes==
A related area of pseudoarcheology consists of hoaxes claimed to be new archaeological finds. Among the most infamous of these hoaxes was the Kensington runestone "found" in Minnesota.
==Selective use==
The selective use of archaeological data to support pre-existing religious beliefs (while ignoring data that contradicts their claims) also falls under pseudoarcheology. This can include, for example, the use of archaeology to support creationism and other kinds of biblical literalism, the claims of British Israelism, or to support the Book of Mormon claims about the ancestry of the American Indians. The finding of Kennewick Man in eastern Washington state in the late 1990s caused a round of pseudoarcheological speculation about his origins, with Mormon apologists believing that the find backed up their claims about ancient inhabitants of the Americas, while a neopagan "Asatru" group believed it backed up their beliefs that ancient Viking explorers had once thrived in what is today the U.S. (as opposed to "discovering" eh?, and buggering off back to Greenland).
==Ancient astronauts==
The idea that such artifacts as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, the statues of Easter Island, Mayan hieroglyphs and the Nazca lines are all evidence of ancient extraterrestrial visitors to Earth was popularized by Erich von Däniken, who wrote the pseudoarcheological book Chariots of the Gods in 1968.
==Hyperdiffusionism==
Diffusion, the influence of one culture on another, undoubtedly happens. But "hyperdiffusionism" extends this phenomenon beyond reasonable bounds to "explain" how "primitive" societies could achieve things. For example, hyperdiffusionists rationalise the pyramids of Mesoamerica as being built by immigrants from Egypt, some two thousand years earlier, by unknown means, leaving no traces, when the Mesoamerican pyramids differ in shape and in purpose from Egyptian ones. Such theories may stem from the belief that the indigenous peoples of the Americas (for example) were incapable of such achievements on their own.
==See also==
*Pseudohistory
*Nationalist pseudohistory
*Ancient astronauts
*Solutrean hypothesis
*Bosnian pyramids
*Yonaguni Monument
==External links==
*Pseudoarchaeology Research Archive (PARA)
*Fake Archaeology Wiki
==Notes==
==References==
Category: Pseudoscience
Category:Pseudohistory
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