Pseudoarcheology

From RationalWiki

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.

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.

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, 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, among both Mormon apologists who believed the find backed up their claims about ancient inhabitants of the Americas, and among a neopagan "Asatru" group who believed it backed up their beliefs that ancient Viking explorers had once been to the Americas.

The author Erich von Däniken, who wrote the pseudoarcheological book Chariots of the Gods, popularized the idea that such artifacts as the Egyptian pyramids, Stonehenge, the head statues of Easter Island, Mayan hieroglyphics and the Nazca lines in Peru are all evidence of religious concepts and advanced technology to which ancient civilizations were exposed by extraterrestrial visitors to Earth. He claims that there are architectural, metallurgical and other artifacts left by these cultures that are unexplainable except by recourse to close encounters of the third kind. Such claims tend to discount the fact that ancient civilizations had sophisticated technologies based on materials such as stone, wood and rope, as well as a great deal of time and manpower to draw on.

[edit] Misuse of history

Historical documents are misused in a similar way. A good example is the text on Jesus found in Josephus. This text is clearly the work of a Christian scribe but is claimed to “prove” that even a pagan acknowledged Jesus.