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WANTED: New Claims, New "Evidence," and a New Nemesis(?)

8/7/2018

11 Comments

 
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Summer is winding down and I'll be back in the classroom in just a couple of weeks. This fall, I'm teaching Forbidden Archaeology again. In this second iteration, I'll be making some significant changes from the way I structured the course the first time around. As the rubber begins hitting the road (i.e., it's time to start working on the syllabus) I'm looking for ways to keep the course fresh and interesting for both me and the students.
Our topical focus this year will be "Cataclysm and the Lost World." I tried to cover three topical areas the first time around, and it felt like too much. So I decided to go with a single theme this year and use that as a lens to explore the social/political/historical threads that wind through various claims that (1) the cultural/natural world was a qualitatively different place in the ancient past; and (2) that "lost world" world was destroyed through some kind of incredible catastrophe.

As I start to think about what specific claims to focus on, I'm struck (again) by the overall staleness of the fringe world. There's plenty of "new" material out there, but much of it mixes around the same basket of stupid garbage that's been circulating since the mid-1800s. While there is still great value in going through these ideas and understanding (1) where they come from, (2) how they can be shown to be wrong, and (3) why people still cling to them, it would also be nice to explore something that's not essentially a re-casting of Victorian baloney. If you know of anything that really strikes you as a new claim based on new evidence that fits within the theme of the course, please let me know with a comment.


My wife thinks that finding a new nemesis would help to energize me. She may be right. It would fun to engage in a focused, prolonged analysis/debate of a specific claim or set of claims that revolve around material evidence. The key term here is "material evidence:" in order to have a meaningful back-and-forth, there has to be some kind of "thing" about which a claim/interpretation is made. One good artifact in archaeological context is all you really need to make a claim that actually has some teeth . . . so what have you got? What's the artifact that should change everything? (Note: discredited Roman sword advocates and rune stone apologists need not apply.) 
11 Comments
Bob Jase
8/8/2018 06:49:35 am

Well there are these https://www.skepticalscience.com/Earths-five-mass-extinction-events.html but they don't count because they actually happened and no aliens or deities were involved.

Damned shame though.

I guess that leaves https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crisis_on_Infinite_Earths

Reply
Dr. Greg Little
8/12/2018 04:15:48 pm

No other theoretically proposed event has the same influence on all us "alternative theorists" as does the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. In our writings it is asserted that it was responsible for the destruction of Plato's Atlantis, the Atlantis Edgar Cayce described, the destruction of the Clovis Culture, the demise of the megafauna, and more. It is sometimes hailed as the event that wiped out the evidence of an advanced maritime culture that was active in the Caribbean, parts of the west coast, the southeast, all the way to Europe. Since there are various professionals in several scientific fields that have provided evidence in one direction or another, there would be a lot of scientific publications citing evidence that students could research. That's the "artifact" or material evidence... There are archaeologists who have provided evidence on both sides of the proposed impact, geologists, physicists, and others. There are so many alternative theorists who use the scientific evidence as their basis, you can easily see how important the theory is. Graham Hancock, Robert Schoch, Andrew Collins, myself and a host of others utilize the basic idea and use it to provide support for our speculations.

Reply
Dr. Greg Little
8/12/2018 05:17:47 pm

Oddly, I just received this from Andrew Collins: https://www.healththoroughfare.com/news/apparently-our-civilization-exists-thanks-to-killer-comet/10891

Reply
Skip Tickle
8/13/2018 12:22:26 pm

Oddly, I just received all these hits when typing Greg Little into the search box on one of my favorite debunking sites. http://www.jasoncolavito.com/apps/search?q=greg+little

Reply
Dr. Greg Little
8/13/2018 12:44:03 pm

I'm not a secret. There are search engines that exist. If you search this site too you'll likely find my name somewhere. My comment beginning with "oddly" was relating that a brief article had just been published that uses the YDIH for an assertion that goes way, way out there. But this exchange shows why those of my ilk write our books, give our talks, and generally refuse to engage with the other professionals in the archaeology field.

Reply
Clete
8/17/2018 07:56:03 am

A word of warning about Jason Colavito's site. His reviews are fine and very informative, however his blog comments section has been hijacked by about eight to ten people who comment all of the time, then proceed to argue and insult each other. All of this while Jason Colavito does nothing to enforce the rules about posting to his site.

Reply
David Ulrich
8/16/2018 04:01:50 pm

I do admire the work of Greg Little...read a little of his work but since the brain right now is filled with the history of the Newport Tower, I hope soon to dive into his work along with Andrew Collin's new book "The Cygnus Key" (arrived today).

In answer to the university class in question, I think the physical sciences are being neglected for the more "softer" (more open to quess work) then I care to read about. I am a hard science guy...in other words...show me or direct me to your sites and physical evidence and lets have a "go".

Ignored in this discussion, of course, is the meteor history of this planet and the complete disruptions caused by such. I have listed a site below which, I think, should play very heavy in any class such as this. Enjoy and my 3 cents .....

http://barry.warmkessel.com/4related.html

http://barry.warmkessel.com/index.html

Reply
David Ulrich
8/16/2018 04:15:13 pm

just discovered your DVD about the caves this has got to be watched by me and soon......

https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Caves-Giza-Collin-Andrews/dp/B01MQMQ4JW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1534461145&sr=8-2&keywords=dr.greg+little

Reply
Dr Greg Little
8/16/2018 04:43:46 pm

The entire video is on YouTube free. I made the film, but it's not about me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTEVvkL-l3Q&frags=pl%2Cwn

Reply
D. Bunker
8/16/2018 04:20:29 pm

Here's an 'artifact' worth covering Andy. What these guys live under:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_foil_hat

Reply
Bob Weaver
8/16/2018 05:56:25 pm

Good idea, a new artifact. I guess however since there is nothing obvious and nothing new in crazy town, this is a good thing. All I see is the same old repetition repetition repetition with cries for attention. As the definition of insanity goes, keep trying the same thing over and over and over while hoping for a different result.

Anyways, speaking of artifacts and the one you refer to that has been devastatingly debunked, the fake Roman sword, I understand that Jovan has recently had his main Youtube account deleted, a Twitter account deleted, and one of his many Facebook accounts deleted. The reason: using racial hate speech to promote violence. Wow, to be one of his supporters and carry that stigma around with you every minute of every day.

Your students will be well served by the truth.

Reply



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