Fantastic Archaeology: The Wild Side of North American Prehistory

by Stephen Williams

Book Overview

The landscape of the nineteenth century, Williams asserts, is dotted with fakes, frauds, and humbugs whose fantastic claims of purported findings would make even P. T. Barnum blush. In Fantastic Archaeology, Williams takes them all on with gusto--illuminating, debunking, and instructing on the modes, methods, manners, and manifestations of American archaeology through the past two centuries.

The author begins his walk on the wild side of...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812213122
• ISBN13: 9780812213126
• Release Date: May 1991
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Entertaining and informative

The book is entertaining, enlightening, and an eye-opening deconstruction of many outlandish claims. It reveals how junk science is sometimes used to attempt to rewrite the past. A must-read for anyone interested in valid history.

Excellent!

An excellent introduction to the history of American archaeology, starting from the decidedly crackpot side. This book fascinated me because the first half took place in my home state -- Ohio -- and involved sites within easy driving distance! I had no idea the lengths to which people would go in order to "prove" one theory or another.

An excellent book on pseudoarcheaology

This is a great book on the area of pseudoarchaeology in North America. It is one of only 2-3 on this subject, and with the various wild claims of prehistory, such books need to be read. I do wish the author would do an updated edition, as it is a little dated.