04-22-2008, 01:08 AM
Quote:The odd coin can be explained a variety of ways: we know some were brought by early settlers and colonists, and others might have washed across the Atlantic after shipwrecks or in the bellies of fish.
Or a lot of these of these finds are deliberate fabrications. There is a lot of "cult archeology" that is not, and never was Archeology. These finds won't stand up to any objective scrutiny. People usually make money off this, or gain their "fifteen minutes". This is not a case of academics 'not having an open mind', but the inability of the proponent of the find in question being able to produce creditable (testable) evidence. The "it is so because I say so" has no academic merit.
What is the most probable: Here is a coin in my hand, as I type, from the reign of Trajan that can be obtained anywhere. It (1), must have come from a lost settlement of Romans who got here (near Roswell) because obviously because they had been transplanted by flying saucers since they didn't have the technology to be here otherwise, and therefore this had to from a from a time traveler, and this lost Roman (now) city has had it's entire record erased because the whole legion was lost and modern Archeology wants to cover "The Truth" up for reasons that are never explained. Or, (2), I made the whole thing up to get some publicity or money.
The fact is, anyone can claim to be an Archaeologist. You cannot make claims to being a an Engineer, or Doctor or any other profession without professional credentials, so why should Archeology be any different? There are some gifted and very knowledgeable amateurs to be sure. Yet they cannot hold professional positions because of the credential issue.
It would be cool if there was creditable evidence of some Trans-Atlantic contact. It would revitalize a growing stagnation of Archaeological thought and theory.
One of these days we must have a thread on science, hypothesis testing and the scientific method. This would have to include the various schools of development and thought in Archeology and History. This would, of course, probably degenerate into a brawl.
R. Izard
