Archaeology's Hoaxes, Fakes, And Strange Sites

Eight classic cases of hoaxes and fakes by the Archaeological Institute of America.

Why do fakes get made? Why do people fall for hoaxes? Greed, pride, revenge, nationalism, pranks, and gullibility mix in an archaeological setting. There's no avoiding it - fakes are everywhere. Jane Walsh of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History says, 'any museum - I don't care what museum it is - has fakes.'

While some hoaxes have humorous elements, this is a serious problem. Fakes pollute the archaeological record and skew our understanding of the past. The infamous Piltdown Man, which matched conceptions of what an early hominid should look like, misled scientists for decades. Crystal skulls were first faked in the later 19th century, when little was known about Mesoamerican religious practices. Today, they are still taken as real by many people.

(via Neatorama)