Fantastic Arch pg 39-43
2/15/05
9:51 PM
Page 39
The Peculiar Phenomenon of Pseudoarchaeology WHAT IS THE APPEAL OF PSEUDOARCHAEOLOGY? WHAT PROBLEMS DOES ITS POPULARITY POSE? By Kenneth L. Feder
TIM BARKER
A
vast and splendid civilization is tragically destroyed more than 10 millennia ago in a natural cataclysm of imponderable proportions. Extraterrestrial aliens from a world inconceivably distant and different from our own, land on earth, share knowledge with our ancestors and, in so doing, instigate the evolution of the world’s first civilizations. Are these and other equally intriguing tales little more than fantasy, or might they reflect a secret and repressed ancient history of humanity, a past denied by stodgy archaeologists? To be sure, they are compelling and entertaining, filled with adventure, romance, tragedy, and triumph. They are, perhaps above all else, deliciously american archaeology
surprising; we didn’t learn any of this in history class. Maybe that’s why so many people believe them. These intriguing possibilities about the ancient world provide the raw material for stories far more interesting than the dreary research concerning projectile points and potsherds done by archaeologists. However, though they don’t lack for drama, these stories do lack for evidence. The attempt to support these notions with dubious or fake archaeological evidence is pseudoarchaeology. How pervasive is pseudoarchaeology today? The television listings give some indication. In any given week a viewer can likely find ostensible documentaries that, at the very least, sensationalize human antiquity. Atlantis, pharaoh’s 39
