4 Addressing pseudoarchaeology There was a time when well-behaved, responsible, professional archaeologists did not engage with pseudo-archaeology and its claims. For the few who did, “it is quite common for us to receive a negative response from our colleagues; We are often asked why we waste our energy thinking, researching, and writing about nonsensical claims”…
A further chunk of the (eventual) practical guide to addressing pseudoarchaeology
Note: This project is now a few months late, but given the circumstances, things are going well. Regular readers of this blog will have seen most of this material in one form or another, but it is now re-ordered, reworked and revised to some extent. This part is the opening. 1 Teaching against pseudoarchaeology Many…
My encounter with pseudo-archaeology
There was a used bookstore downtown, in a barely renovated nineteenth century warehouse. It was five floors of dense, rickety shelves, piled high with jumbled paperbacks in various states of decay. To say that they were sorted in any kind of order would have been a gross exaggeration, but there was a certain thematic geography…
Oak Island archaeology update: What is the paved area, and how old is it?
In the season 7 finale of Curse of Oak Island, the team reveals that wood recovered by Ian Spooner just below the stone pavement in the swamp area gave a radiocarbon date in the 13th century. A number of hypotheses have formed around the paved area, both on the show and in fan communities. Some…
Oak Island archaeology update : Samuel Ball’s secret tunnel
On S07E22 (Marks X the Spot), following a tip from the ground penetrating radar survey of Samuel Ball’s property, the team uncover what they describe as a tunnel, which they speculate may have been related to the hiding of treasure near Ball’s house, or perhaps even to the Money Pit itself. Jack Begley of the…
ArcheoThoughts 