Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries

Bol

. A common goal in virtually all social science courses is to teach students to think critically. Most students who sign up for this "fun" archaeology course have not been asked to think deeply about how we know what we know. Clearly, it is important for anyone interested in the human past to know, for example, that there is no evidence for a race of giant human beings, and no broken shards of alien's laser guns under Egyptian pyramids. Debunking such nonsense is fun and useful in its own way, but of much greater importance is the process we employ to determine that such claims are nonsense. Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries uses archaeological hoaxes, myths, and mysteries to show how we can truly know things about the human past through science. Frauds is not just a book about how we know what isn't true about the human past; it's also about how we know what is true.

Bol Partner

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. The text presents examples of fantastic findings, and carefully, logically, and entertainingly describes the flaws in the purported evidence for each fantastic claim; readers can hone their own evaluative skills by example.