Hyperdiffusionism

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'''Hyperdiffusionism''' is the idea that when different [[culture]]s share a particular element, one culture ''must'' have adapted it from the other.  For a hyperdiffusionist, it would be unlikely that the same invention or innovation could arise in different places; this is a more definite position than that of straight-up {{wpl|diffusionism||,}} which just stresses that human [[societies]] tend to steal a lot of good ideas from their neighbors.<ref>{{wpa|Hyperdiffusionism in archaeology}}</ref>

In the mid-twentieth century hyperdiffusionism became somewhat popular amongst [[anthropology|anthropologists]], but it enjoys little support nowadays. [[History| Historians]], anthropologists and [[archaeology| archaeologists]] now argue that since human minds tend to work in a similar manner regardless of context, many discoveries ([[Alphabet |writing]], agriculture, the number zero) or cultural practices (building [[pyramid]]s, worshiping the [[Sun]], ball games) probably developed independently in various parts of the world.

Anyway, hyperdiffusionism doesn't explain why such popular vegetables as tomatoes, corn, potatoes and capsicum could still be exclusive to the New World until 1500 A.D.

==Usage==
Hyperdiffusionists will cite peoples such as the [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptians]], the [[Sumeria|Sumerians]], the Mayans or the [[Imperial China|ancient Chinese]] as foundational to "human civilization," but [[Nationalism|nationalists]] all around the world have often argued that their culture was the one to figure out all the important stuff first. Some particularly wacky people might even ascribe human civilization to made-up places like [[Atlantis]] (e.g. [[Lewis Spence]]), [[Mu]] or [[Lemuria]] or claim it comes from [[ancient astronauts|outer space]].

Perhaps the most famous proponent of hyperdiffusionism was the Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101107063043/http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2010/11/thor_heyerdahl_and_hyperdiffus.php Thor Heyerdahl and Hyperdiffusionism]. Archived from ScienceBlogs, 4 November 2010.</ref> Heyerdahl sailed from Peru to [[Easter Island]] on an Inca-style raft to prove Polynesia was settled from South America and crossed the Atlantic on an [[Egypt]]ian-style raft to prove the Egyptian origins of various [[Pre-Columbian contact hypotheses|pre-Columbian civilizations]]. Other notable hyperdiffusionists were {{wpl|Grafton Elliot Smith}} and {{wpl|W. J. Perry|William James Perry.}} Smith was a pioneering Egyptologist and the first to X-ray a mummy; he believed the human race and all civilization originated in Europe or the eastern Mediterranean (mainly Egypt but also Britain, the Levant, etc). Perry likewise believed that pretty much everything originated in Egypt (agriculture, pottery, baskets, domestic animals...).<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/W-J-Perry W J Perry], Encyclopedia Britannica Online, last revision Jan 1, 2020</ref>

Hyperdiffusionism has the nasty trait of being an easy way to justify belittling non-Western cultures or rob them of their history. A notorious example is {{wpl|Great Zimbabwe||,}} an urban center built by an indigenous Bantu kingdom around the eleventh century but which for centuries had been considered a [[Rome|Roman]] or Phoenician colony by European archaeologists (the white minority government of Rhodesia was keen to not attribute it to the native African peoples). Also, many [[Pre-Columbian contact hypotheses|pre-Columbian trans-Atlantic contact]] theories tend to be of the "Mayans were too stupid to have built that, so it must have been Egyptians/Chinese/[[Erich von Däniken|extraterrestrials]]" kind.

==See also==
*[[Nationalist pseudohistory]]
*[[Descent from antiquity]]
*[[Ten Lost Tribes]]
*''[[The Golden Bough]]'' (commonalities in folklore)
*[[Afrocentrism]] (the Black version)

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Pseudohistory]]
[[Category:Pseudoarchaeology]]

Categories: Pseudohistory, Pseudoarchaeology