Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology
, by Feder, Kenneth
- ISBN: 9780197757796 | 0197757790
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 3/28/2025
Kenneth L. Feder is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Central Connecticut State University. He is the author of several books, including The Past in Perspective: An Introduction to Human Prehistory,Ninth Edition (OUP, 2024), and Linking to the Past: A Brief Introduction to Archaeology, Second Edition (OUP, 2007).
Preface
Acknowledgements
Pseudoscience Cheat Sheet
Chapter 1. Science and Pseudoscience
1.1 Spoiler Alert: It's Not a Conspiracy
Alternative Facts
Belief in the Unbelievable
Touched by the Paranormal xxx
1.2 The Morning of the Magicians
1.3 Pseudoscience and Archaeology
1.4 Expertise: It's Not a Guarantee, But It Sure Beats the Alternative
1.5 Why I Wrote This Book
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 2. Epistemology: How You Know What You Know
2.1 Knowing Things
Collecting Information: Seeing Isn't Necessarily Believing
Collecting Information: Relying on Others
2.2 Science: Playing by the Rules
There Is a Real and Knowable Universe
The Universe Operates According to Understandable Laws
The Laws Are Immutable
The Laws Can Be Understood
2.3 The Workings of Science
2.4 Childbed Fever: A Case Study in the Application of the Scientific Method
2.5 Science and Nonscience: The Essential Differences
1. Hypotheses Must be Testable
2. Don't “Multiply Tour Entities”
3. Ensure Not to Work With Confirmation Bias
4. Don't Confuse Absence of Evidence as Absence of Sense?
5. Hey Scientist! I Challenge You to Disprove It!
6. Okay, You're Skeptical, But Isn't It at Least Possible?
7. “But I'm only asking questions!”
2.6 The Art of Science
Where Do Hypotheses Come From?
Testing Hypotheses
Skeptics, Not Cynics; Doubters, Not Deniers
The Human Enterprise of Science
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercises
Chapter 3. GIANTS! Anatomy of an Archaeological Hoax
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Cardiff Giant: The Goliath of New York
Setting the Stage for the “Cardiff Giant” xxx
The Beginning of the End
Hull's Confession
The End of the Giant
3.3 Why Did They Do It?
Lesson Learned
3.4 Real Deal Archaeology: How We Recognize Frauds When We See Them
The Rules for a Successful Archaeological Hoax
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercises
Chapter 4. Dawson's Dawn Man: The Hoax at Piltdown
4.1 The Skeleton-More Precisely, the Cranium-in the Closet
4.2 The Evolutionary Context
The Brain-Centered Paradigm
4.3 A Remarkable Discovery in Sussex
4.4 The Piltdown Enigma
4.5 Unmasking the Hoax
4.6 Whodunnit?
Suspect: Charles Dawson
Were There Co-conspirators?
4.7 The Lesson of Piltdown
4.8 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about Human Evolution
A Rising Hominin Star
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 5. Who Discovered America?
5.1 America's First People
A New World-To Europeans
Biblical Exegesis and American Indians
Native Americans: From Israelites to Atlanteans
Tracing the Source of Native Americans
Out of Asia
The Beringian Pathway
5.2 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Earliest Human Settlement of America
Tracing People by Their Morphology
Tracing People by Their DNA
Tracing People by Their Archaeology
Follow the Footprints
But Wait, There's More!
5.3 Pre-Pre-Clovis?
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 6. Who's Next? After Indigenous Peoples, Before Columbus
6.1 Artifact Trails: Evidence of Visitors to the New World
The New England Model
The Archaeology of Columbus
The Spanish Entrada into the American Southeast
African People in Ancient America?
Other Europeans in the New World before Columbus?
A Chinese Discovery of the New World?
6.2 America BCE?
America's Stonehenge
Wait. What?
The Archaeological Verdict
Inscriptions
6.3 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Norse Discovery of America
A New-Found Land
Norse Discovery of America: The Physical Evidence
Other Evidence of The Viking Presence?
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 7. The Myth of the Mound Builders
7.1 An Indigenous American Civilization
7.2 The Myth of a Vanished Race
7.3 Who Were the Mound Builders? Identifying the “Vanished” Race
The Archaeology of the Myth
Squier and Davis
7.4 The Mound-Builder Mystery Solved
7.5 Rationale for the Myth of a Vanished Race
7.6 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Mound-Building People of America
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 8. Lost: One Continent-Reward
8.1 Atlantis: Where Are You?
8.2 Atlantis: The Source of the Legend
The Timaeus Dialogue
The Critias Dialogue
The Source and Meaning of Timaeus and Critias
Who Invented Atlantis?
Where Did Plato Get the Details of the Story? A Minoan Source?
8.3 After Plato
Ignatius Donnelly: The Minnesota Congressman
8.4 The Admission
8.5 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about Atlantis
Ancient Greece
Archaeological Evidence in the Atlantic: The Bimini Wall
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 9: Atlantis 2.0: Comets, and Glaciers, and Floods, Oh My
9.1 The Lost Continents of Theosophy xxx
9.2 Atlantis: And the Beat Goes On xxx
9.3 Atlantis 2.0
Fingerprints of the Gods xxx
9.4 Convincing People About an Ancient Apocalypse: A Primer in Alternative Archaeology xxx
9.5 The Admission
9.6 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know About Gobekli Tepe xxx
The Secret Truth About Mountains: They're Pointy on Top and Bigger on the Bottom xxx
Frequently Asked Questions xxx
Critical Thinking Exercise xxx
Chapter 10. Prehistoric E.T.: The Fantasy of Ancient Astronauts
10.1 Ancient Astronauts: The Source of the Idea
10.2 Gods in Fiery Chariots
The Inkblot Hypothesis
The Horny Astronaut Hypothesis
The “Our Ancestors, the Dummies” Hypothesis
Extraterrestrial Aliens in the Pacific?
10.3 Robbing Graves for Fun and Profit
H. P. Lovecraft, Ancient Aliens, and the Cthulhu Connection
10.4 I'm Not Saying It's Aliens, Or That They're Ancient, But They're Aliens, And They're Ancient
A Real Mystery
10.5 Real Deal Archaeology: The Bias Inherent in The Ancient Astronauts Hypothesis
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 11. Okay, So How Did People Really Get So Smart?
11.1 Spoiler Alert: It Wasn't Atlantis or Atlantis 2.0 or Ancient Astronauts
11.2 Ancient Egypt
11.3 How Could Mere People Build A Pyramid?
School of (Moving) Rock
Build Me A Pyramid
11.4 The Civilization of The Maya
Explaining the Maya
11.5 Stonehenge
Explaining Stonehenge
An Ancient Astronomy
Why Was Stonehenge Built
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 12. Good Vibrations: Psychics and Archaeology
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Psychic Archaeology
Psychic Site Location
Psychic Cultural Reconstruction
Psychic Archaeology: A Test
Psychic Archaeology: The Verdict
12.3 Dowsing for Diggers
12.4 Real Deal Archaeology: How We Can Investigate Sites without Digging in the Dirt
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 13. Old-Time Religion, New Age Visions, and Paranormal Predictions
13.1 Scientific Creationism and the Claim of Intelligent Design
Creationist Strategies in Education
Intelligent Design
Noah's Ark
Footprints in Time
13.2 Real Deal Archaeology: Shaligrams
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 14. Epilogue: A Past We Deserve
14.1 Ken Feder, Media Monster
Final Words
References
Index
Acknowledgements
Pseudoscience Cheat Sheet
Chapter 1. Science and Pseudoscience
1.1 Spoiler Alert: It's Not a Conspiracy
Alternative Facts
Belief in the Unbelievable
Touched by the Paranormal xxx
1.2 The Morning of the Magicians
1.3 Pseudoscience and Archaeology
1.4 Expertise: It's Not a Guarantee, But It Sure Beats the Alternative
1.5 Why I Wrote This Book
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 2. Epistemology: How You Know What You Know
2.1 Knowing Things
Collecting Information: Seeing Isn't Necessarily Believing
Collecting Information: Relying on Others
2.2 Science: Playing by the Rules
There Is a Real and Knowable Universe
The Universe Operates According to Understandable Laws
The Laws Are Immutable
The Laws Can Be Understood
2.3 The Workings of Science
2.4 Childbed Fever: A Case Study in the Application of the Scientific Method
2.5 Science and Nonscience: The Essential Differences
1. Hypotheses Must be Testable
2. Don't “Multiply Tour Entities”
3. Ensure Not to Work With Confirmation Bias
4. Don't Confuse Absence of Evidence as Absence of Sense?
5. Hey Scientist! I Challenge You to Disprove It!
6. Okay, You're Skeptical, But Isn't It at Least Possible?
7. “But I'm only asking questions!”
2.6 The Art of Science
Where Do Hypotheses Come From?
Testing Hypotheses
Skeptics, Not Cynics; Doubters, Not Deniers
The Human Enterprise of Science
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercises
Chapter 3. GIANTS! Anatomy of an Archaeological Hoax
3.1 Introduction
3.2 The Cardiff Giant: The Goliath of New York
Setting the Stage for the “Cardiff Giant” xxx
The Beginning of the End
Hull's Confession
The End of the Giant
3.3 Why Did They Do It?
Lesson Learned
3.4 Real Deal Archaeology: How We Recognize Frauds When We See Them
The Rules for a Successful Archaeological Hoax
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercises
Chapter 4. Dawson's Dawn Man: The Hoax at Piltdown
4.1 The Skeleton-More Precisely, the Cranium-in the Closet
4.2 The Evolutionary Context
The Brain-Centered Paradigm
4.3 A Remarkable Discovery in Sussex
4.4 The Piltdown Enigma
4.5 Unmasking the Hoax
4.6 Whodunnit?
Suspect: Charles Dawson
Were There Co-conspirators?
4.7 The Lesson of Piltdown
4.8 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about Human Evolution
A Rising Hominin Star
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 5. Who Discovered America?
5.1 America's First People
A New World-To Europeans
Biblical Exegesis and American Indians
Native Americans: From Israelites to Atlanteans
Tracing the Source of Native Americans
Out of Asia
The Beringian Pathway
5.2 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Earliest Human Settlement of America
Tracing People by Their Morphology
Tracing People by Their DNA
Tracing People by Their Archaeology
Follow the Footprints
But Wait, There's More!
5.3 Pre-Pre-Clovis?
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 6. Who's Next? After Indigenous Peoples, Before Columbus
6.1 Artifact Trails: Evidence of Visitors to the New World
The New England Model
The Archaeology of Columbus
The Spanish Entrada into the American Southeast
African People in Ancient America?
Other Europeans in the New World before Columbus?
A Chinese Discovery of the New World?
6.2 America BCE?
America's Stonehenge
Wait. What?
The Archaeological Verdict
Inscriptions
6.3 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Norse Discovery of America
A New-Found Land
Norse Discovery of America: The Physical Evidence
Other Evidence of The Viking Presence?
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 7. The Myth of the Mound Builders
7.1 An Indigenous American Civilization
7.2 The Myth of a Vanished Race
7.3 Who Were the Mound Builders? Identifying the “Vanished” Race
The Archaeology of the Myth
Squier and Davis
7.4 The Mound-Builder Mystery Solved
7.5 Rationale for the Myth of a Vanished Race
7.6 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Mound-Building People of America
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 8. Lost: One Continent-Reward
8.1 Atlantis: Where Are You?
8.2 Atlantis: The Source of the Legend
The Timaeus Dialogue
The Critias Dialogue
The Source and Meaning of Timaeus and Critias
Who Invented Atlantis?
Where Did Plato Get the Details of the Story? A Minoan Source?
8.3 After Plato
Ignatius Donnelly: The Minnesota Congressman
8.4 The Admission
8.5 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about Atlantis
Ancient Greece
Archaeological Evidence in the Atlantic: The Bimini Wall
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 9: Atlantis 2.0: Comets, and Glaciers, and Floods, Oh My
9.1 The Lost Continents of Theosophy xxx
9.2 Atlantis: And the Beat Goes On xxx
9.3 Atlantis 2.0
Fingerprints of the Gods xxx
9.4 Convincing People About an Ancient Apocalypse: A Primer in Alternative Archaeology xxx
9.5 The Admission
9.6 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know About Gobekli Tepe xxx
The Secret Truth About Mountains: They're Pointy on Top and Bigger on the Bottom xxx
Frequently Asked Questions xxx
Critical Thinking Exercise xxx
Chapter 10. Prehistoric E.T.: The Fantasy of Ancient Astronauts
10.1 Ancient Astronauts: The Source of the Idea
10.2 Gods in Fiery Chariots
The Inkblot Hypothesis
The Horny Astronaut Hypothesis
The “Our Ancestors, the Dummies” Hypothesis
Extraterrestrial Aliens in the Pacific?
10.3 Robbing Graves for Fun and Profit
H. P. Lovecraft, Ancient Aliens, and the Cthulhu Connection
10.4 I'm Not Saying It's Aliens, Or That They're Ancient, But They're Aliens, And They're Ancient
A Real Mystery
10.5 Real Deal Archaeology: The Bias Inherent in The Ancient Astronauts Hypothesis
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 11. Okay, So How Did People Really Get So Smart?
11.1 Spoiler Alert: It Wasn't Atlantis or Atlantis 2.0 or Ancient Astronauts
11.2 Ancient Egypt
11.3 How Could Mere People Build A Pyramid?
School of (Moving) Rock
Build Me A Pyramid
11.4 The Civilization of The Maya
Explaining the Maya
11.5 Stonehenge
Explaining Stonehenge
An Ancient Astronomy
Why Was Stonehenge Built
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 12. Good Vibrations: Psychics and Archaeology
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Psychic Archaeology
Psychic Site Location
Psychic Cultural Reconstruction
Psychic Archaeology: A Test
Psychic Archaeology: The Verdict
12.3 Dowsing for Diggers
12.4 Real Deal Archaeology: How We Can Investigate Sites without Digging in the Dirt
Frequently Asked Question
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 13. Old-Time Religion, New Age Visions, and Paranormal Predictions
13.1 Scientific Creationism and the Claim of Intelligent Design
Creationist Strategies in Education
Intelligent Design
Noah's Ark
Footprints in Time
13.2 Real Deal Archaeology: Shaligrams
Frequently Asked Questions
Critical Thinking Exercise
Chapter 14. Epilogue: A Past We Deserve
14.1 Ken Feder, Media Monster
Final Words
References
Index
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