Archaeology conspiracies involve covering up evidence of out-of-place artifacts. Moderating institutions and common-interest groups, are often surrounded in scandal when any evidence, that is contrary to the agreed upon, or mutually funded "official" record, is compromised—disregarded, destroyed, or disappears.
Conspiracies[]
The tampering or non-disclosure of out-of-place artifacts is a method used to conceal the accuracy of how old, or ancient, an archaeological find is,[1] especially if the artifact contradicts a moderating institution's "official" record (See also, Timeline). The official record is often based on the institution's cultural or ideological paradigm. For example, Egyptologists keep dates for the Giza pyramid complex, the Great Sphinx of Giza, and other monuments, within a historical date range that only supports the culture of the Egyptians no earlier than the First Dynasty of Egypt. Also, mainstream Sumerian historians, in support of their own ideology, dismiss pre-dynastic Sumer, given on the Sumerian King List, as Sumerian mythology. If an out-of-place artifact threatens an institution's paradigm, then action is often escalated to archaeological scandal, in the efforts to ensure either (1) heritage preservation or (2) ideological preservation.
- Heritage preservation
Out-of-place artifacts that suggest any periods or dates prior to the beginnings of a vested culture, threatens the heritage of the moderating institution. It forces an acknowledgement—that a questioned monumental archaeological find, within the jurisdiction of the institution, may belong to an earlier society or possibly another pre-civilization. Therefore, such claims that the Pyramids or the Sphinx at Giza are not of Egyptian origin, is considered insulting and inflammatory toward those entitled to Egyptian heritage.
- Preserving heritage at any cost
In regards the temples of Malta, these sites are subject to entitlement for Maltese culture, where preservation of heritage is more important than the preservation of the archaeological finds themselves. Graham Hancock gives an example of archaeological tampering in his book Underworld,[2] concerning the hybrid bison-bull scandal of the Ħal-Saflieni Hypogeum in Paola, Malta. An associate from the University of Malta, Anton Mifsud, disclosed that the directing institution over the Hypogeum had removed an out-of-place artifact of a wall painting, among others,[3] that depicted a half bison-half auroch (compare Higgs Bison) from the Hypogeum walls, in an effort to conceal any conjecture that the underground complex may be older than the history of the Maltese people.[4][5]
- Ideological preservation
Ideological preservation, whether religiously motivated or anti-religious, stems far back to the Middle Ages where the religious institutions of that age, made efforts to conceal anything that was not within their scope of religious teachings. Anti-paganism and the inquisitions ensued. The "Heathenising" of Native American culture resulted in the destruction of ancient temples, monuments, and writings throughout all of the Americas, in order to preserve the ideology of the times.
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ See also, how archaeological scandals impact the ancient history of mankind’s timeline.
- ↑ Hancock, G. Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization (2003)
- ↑ Jeni Caruana, Malta’s Megalithic Temples – an Artist’s View 4 Hypogeum, posted March 1, 2015
- ↑ Graham Hancock, Facebook post, October 24, 2016
- ↑ Richard Dullum, Graham Hancock forum post, September 16, 2011