Explore the diversity of archaeological misconceptions, mistakes and distortions. http://www.badarchaeology.net Since the sixteenth century, there have been stories circulating that a Welsh prince of the late twelfth century CE discovered new lands on the western side of the Atlantic and led an expedition to settle a group of his followers there. According to the legends, their descendants intermarried with native Americans and influenced the language and culture of the Mandan people of the Missouri valley. Did Madoc ap Owain really exist and should he be credited with the European discovery of North America? http://www.badarchaeology.net/controversial/madoc.php A typical Jewish tomb of the first century CE discovered in 1980 contained six inscribed ossuaries (bone boxes) that are claimed to have contained the very mortal remains of Jesus of Nazareth and other members of his family, inlcuding his wife and son. How reliable are these claims? http://www.badarchaeology.net/bibical/talpiot.php A small artifical cavern hollowed out of the chalk in the centre of the medieval market town of Royston (Herts, UK) is widely accepted as a shrine used by the Knights Templar, possibly continuing on in secret after the order was suppressed early in the fourteenth century. Meanwhile, conspiracy theories concerning Freemasonry, the supposed bloodline descended from Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdalene and other fashionable nonsense are linked with the cave. What are the facts about the cave and what can we reasonably deduce about its origins? http://www.badarchaeology.net/conspiracy/royston_cave.php Pseudo-archaeologists claim that revolutionary new theories abound within the garish covers of their books. Meanwhile, mainstream archaeology trundles along as usual, with archaeologists continually re-assessing their data and refining their interpretations as a result (sometimes in fundamental and radical ways). Such self-critical evolution is non-existent within the realm of the self-styled revolutionaries of pseudo-archaeology. Archaeologists evolve while the cranks just revolve. But what does it take for a change in the predominant archaeological paradigm? How much evidence is needed to reach the tipping-point where old theories become indefensible or irrelevant? What is the best way to deal with the unexpected? This page offers a few tentative suggestions. This page was originally a paper delivered at TAG in York in Dec 2007. http://www.badarchaeology.net/bad/sceptical.php We are dedicated to exposing Bad Archaeology wherever we find it, naming and shaming, pulling no punches in exploring all its shameless horror. http://www.badarchaeology.net/index.php This page looks at the boundaries of what archaeologists can say about life in the past. Thankfully, archaeology is an ever-expanding discipline, with an ever-increasing set of theories and methods used to say something about the human past. However, we can never get at the past in its totality. The past may be a foreign country but not even Ryan Air offers return flights to an airport twenty miles from the capital of Then. This being so, archaeologists have to make do with the scientific analysis of surviving material remains. We use the various bits of information (housing distribution from site layout, foodstuffs from organic remains, health and fitness from skeletal remains, etc.) to say something about life in the past. Can we really experience this past by somehow travelling back in time? The answer is a resounding: No. Earlier this month (Nov 2007) an extraordinary gathering of archaeologists, artists, storytellers, healers and various others took place in Malta. It was called Metageum. The small island of Malta, tucked away in the Mediterranean off the south coast of Sicily, is home to an amazing range of neolithic temples. It is a worthy setting for any archaeological conference, and these sites rightly evoke much inquiry and a sense of wonder. Something quite special was going on in late prehistory in Malta to create these uniquely wonderful sites. These have attracted a great deal of archaeological research but also large numbers of Pagans and ragbag spiritualists seeking to extract meaning from these sites of ancient significance. http://www.badarchaeology.net/method/experiential.php Some people have always claimed to have psychic powers that can bring them into contact with the dead. It has taken some time for archaeologists to realise the potential of these "psychic" investigators. If their powers really work then why bother with those time-consuming and expensive excavations? Egyptologists have finally woken up to this potential and found themselves a new scholar of the ancients: TV "psychic" Derek Acorah. http://www.badarchaeology.net/method/psychic.php For over nine hundred years, people have been seeking the truth about King Arthur. Has archaeolog finally found him? We don't think so. http://www.badarchaeology.net/controversial/arthur.php The publication of a report by the Archaeological Survey of India into a supposed bridge built by the Hindu god Lord Ram and a troop of monkeys has caused controversy among religious fanatics. http://www.badarchaeology.net/political/ram.php An aticle by conspiracy theorist Philip Coppens in Nexus magazine accuses the archaeological establishment of arrogance and jealousy over the site at Glozel. http://www.badarchaeology.net/controversial/glozel_2.php Is the 'Lost City of Apollo' located in Wiltshire, UK? http://www.badarchaeology.net/news/latest.php Is there really evidence that Offa's Dyke was built by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus? http://www.badarchaeology.net/confused/wall_of_severus.php