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Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology By Kenneth Feder ( McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages )
Release Date: 2008-02-01
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Product Description
Ancient astronauts? Atlantis? Psychic archaeology? Pharaoh's curses? Committed to the scientific investigation of human antiquity, this indispensable supplementary text uses interesting archaeological hoaxes, myths, and mysteries to show how we can truly know things about the past through science. Examples of fantastic findings support the carefully, logically, and entertainingly described flaws in the purported evidence.
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 Cooler Stone Heads ( will138 )
Watching the "fringe" can be entertaining (though best from a safe position out of the line of fire). Many of our accepted tenets in science started on the fringe. A couple of the presently most accepted are still pretty fringy.
Kenneth L. Feder, a Professor at Central Connecticut State University, in his "Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology" looks at the various archaeological crazes of the past and present, both scientific and popular. Rather than merely stating some report is impossible because he says so (a very bad habit of some in science), Prof. Feder shows the numbers on which he bases his opinions and gives the references so the reader can look it up himself.
In a number of sections Prof. Feder attacks the "our ancestors were too stupid to have built that" thinking that underlies so much in the New Age section of most bookstores. This sort of thought suggests that because we use powered equipment for large scale construction, it would have been impossible for our ancestors to do the job without. Actually, I suspect they were just as bright as people now (looking at some of the stuff that blows by on the breeze from the liberal arts and social sciences departments, maybe a little brighter). An illustration of this, for me, was the recovery of a fighter aircraft from a swamp during the Pacific War. Having no heavy equipment to lift the plane, a bunch of Marines with bamboo poles did the job nicely.
Prof. Feder takes on the "everybody and his dog got to America before Columbus" silliness. He has a very good section on the Norse in America (I still say St. Brendan got here first -- he had a Bavarian navigator) and explains the Chinese anchor stones found off the California coast. He also points out the American Indians were most likely the moundbuilders and didn't need the help of Pre-Columbian Europeans (a particular sore point for me).
Throughout the book, hoaxes are dislayed and explained. The last section goes into some of the real life mysteries we haven't figured out (though the bread landing butter-side down wasn't addressed).
Definitely a good book and an aid to critical thinking.
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Ancient Astronauts, myths,mysteries ( casdon )
FROM THE BACK COVER:
Ancient astronuats?, Atlantis?, Psychic archaeology?, Pharaoh's curses?.
Committed to the scientific investigation of human antiquity, Ken Feder uses interesting archaeological hoaxes, myths and mysteries to show how we can truly know things about the past through science. He presents examples of fantastic findings and carefully, logically and entertaining describes the flawes in the purported evidence for each fantastic claim. The book covers everthing from story of the archaeological fraud of the Cardiff Giant, to a detailed discussion of Ryan and Pitman's hypothesis that the bibical flood story was inspired by a catastrophic, post Pleistocene infilling of the Black Sea, tio the claim made in a recent popular book that the Chinese discovered and settle the New World some seventy years before Columbus. Through such well-chosen examples,archaeology professor Feder demonstrates what is- and is not- scientific method. In the process, he clearly conveys why the veritable past is as exciting and intriguing as are the fantasies concocted by the purveyors of pseudoscience.
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Equal parts pesimism and truth
This book was a required text for an Anthropology class I took. I liked it a lot. I found it to be a bit pesimistic and a great deal true. Feder explores the archaeological finds that test reason, faith, and science.
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Scientific Literacy
This was one of the textbooks for an online Anthroplogy course that I took several years ago. It may be the most important book that I have read. While the myths that it addresses are interesting in their own right (ancient civilizations that preceded native Americans in the western hemisphere, druids and stonehenge, etc), the real impact of this book is how people ignore the facts when they don't support their ingrained beliefs. Every science student should read the first chapter. It explains the widespread scientific illiteracy in this nation. Every non-science student should be forced to read the entire book.
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Just What the Teacher Required
This fascinating book helps explore the world of archaeological mystery and the pseudoscience behind the myths that make it into popular culture. A must read for new students to the field of archeology.
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