IN THE BEGINNING. Welby Thomas Cox, Jr.

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СКАЧАТЬ archaeology can be motivated by nationalism, cf. Nazi archaeology, using cultural superiority of the ancient Aryan race as a basic assumption to establish the Germanic people as the descendants of the original Aryan 'master race') or a desire to prove a particular religious (cf, religious intelligent design), pseudohistorical, political or anthropological theory. In many cases, an a priori conclusion is established, and fieldwork is undertaken explicitly to corroborate the theory in detail.

      Archaeologists distinguish their research from Pseudo archaeology by pointing to differences in research methodology, including recursive methods, falsifiable theories, peer review, and a generally systematic approach to collecting data. Though there is overwhelming evidence of cultural connections informing folk traditions about the past, objective analysis of folk archaeology—in purely anthropological terms of their cultural contexts and the cultural needs they respond to—have been comparatively few. However, in this vein, Robert Silverberg located the Mormon's use of Mound Builder Culture within a larger cultural nexus and the voyage of Madoc and "Welsh Indians" was set in its changing and evolving sociohistorical contexts by Gwyn Williams.

       Religious motivations

      Religiously motivated Pseudo archaeology theories include the young earth theory of some Judeo-Christian fundamentalists. They argue which the Earth is 4,000-10,000 years old, with figures varying, depending on the source. Some Hindu pseudo archaeologists believe the Homo sapiens species is much older than the 200,000 years it is generally believed to have existed. Archaeologist John R. Cole refers to such beliefs as "cult archaeology" and believes them to be Pseudoarchaeology. He went on to say which this "Pseudoarchaeology" had "many of the attributes, causes, and effects of religion".

      A more specific example of religious Pseudoarchaeology is the claim of Ron Wyatt to have discovered Noah's Ark, the graves of Noah and his wife, the location of Sodom and Gomorrah, the Tower of Babel, and numerous other important sites. However, he has not presented evidence sufficient to impress Bible scholars, scientists, and historians. Answers in Genesis propagates many pseudoscientific notions as part of its creationist ministry.

      Description

      Pseudo archaeology may be practiced intentionally or unintentionally. Archaeological frauds and hoaxes are considered intentional pseudo archaeology. Genuine archaeological finds may be unintentionally converted to Pseudo archaeology through unscientific interpretation.

      Especially in the past, but also in the present, Pseudo archaeology has been motivated by racism, especially when the basic intent was to discount or deny the abilities of people of color to make significant accomplishments in astronomy, architecture, sophisticated technology, ancient writing, seafaring, and other accomplishments generally identified as evidence of “civilization”. Racism can be implied by attempts to attribute ancient sites and artefacts to Lost Tribes, Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact, or even extraterrestrial intelligence rather than to the intelligence and ingenuity of indigenous peoples.

      Practitioners of Pseudo archaeology often rail against academic archaeologists and established scientific methods, claiming which conventional science has overlooked critical evidence. Conspiracy theories may be invoked, in which "the Establishment" colludes in suppressing evidence.

      Countering the misleading "discoveries" of Pseudo archaeology binds academic archaeologists in a quandary, described by Cornelius Holtorf as whether to strive to disprove alternative approaches in a "crusading" approach or to concentrate on better public understanding of the sciences involved; Holtorf suggested a third, relativist and contextualized approach, in identifying the social and cultural needs which both scientific and alternative archaeologies address and in identifying the engagement with the material remains of the past in the present in terms of critical understanding and dialogue with "multiple pasts". In presenting the quest for truths as process rather than results, Holtorf quoted (Eine Duplik, 1778):

      If God were to hold in his right hand all the truth and in his left the unique ever-active spur for truth, although with the corollary to err forever, asking me to choose, I would humbly take his left and say "Father, give; for the pure truth is for you alone!"

      "Archaeological readings of the landscape enrich the experience of inhabiting or visiting a place," Holtorf asserted. "Those readings may well be based on science, but even non-scientific research contributes to enriching our landscapes." The question for opponents of folk archaeology is whether such enrichment is delusional.

      In history

      In the mid-2nd century, those exposed by Lucian's sarcastic essay “Alexander the False Prophet,” prepared an archaeological "find" in Chalcedon to prepare a public for the supposed oracle they planned to establish at Antiochus in Paphlagonia (Pearse, 2001).

      [I]n the temple of Apollo, which is the most ancient in Chalcedon, they buried bronze tablets which said Asclepius, with his father Apollo, would move to Pontus and take up his residence at Antiochus. The opportune discovery of these tablets caused this story to spread quickly to all Bithynia and Pontus, and to Antiochus sooner than anywhere else.

      At Glastonbury Abbey in 1291, at a time when King Edward I desired to emphasize his "Englishness", a fortunate discovery was made: the coffin of King Arthur, unmistakably identified with an inscribed plaque. Arthur was reinterred at Glastonbury in a magnificent ceremonial attended by the king and queen.

       Nationalistic pseudo archaeology

       The assertion which the Mound Builders were a long vanished non-Native American people thought to have come from Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.

       The Kensington Runestone of Minnesota held to prove Nordic Viking primacy in discovery of the Americas.

       Nazi archaeology the Thule Society, and expeditions sent by the Ahnenerbe to research the existence of a mythical Aryan race. The research of Edmund Kiss at Tiankai would be one example.

       The Black Egyptian hypothesis – A hypothesis rooted within Afrocentric thought, alleging which Ancient Egypt was a predominantly black civilization.

       The Bosnian pyramids project, which has projected several hills in Visoko, Bosnia as ancient pyramids.

       The theory by British Israelites that the Hill of Tara in Ireland contained the Ark of the Covenant. They excavated the hill in an attempt to prove the Irish were part of the Lost Tribes of Israel which proved to be wrong.

       Piltdown Man

       Neolithic Hyper Diffusion from Egypt being responsible for influencing most of the major ancient civilizations of the world in Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and particularly the ancient Native Americans.

       Jovan I. Dereck’s Serb centric claims in the ancient history of the Old World.

       Romanian Photochromism also uses Pseudoarchaeology interpretations.

       Slav Macedonian nationalists view which ancient Macedonians were people unrelated to Greeks and which contemporary Slav Macedonians are their cultural, historical and linguistic descendants.

       The theory which New Zealand was not settled by the Maori people, but by a pre-Polynesian race of giants.

      Academic archaeological responses

      Pseudo archaeology theories СКАЧАТЬ