Preface Acknowledgements Pseudoscience Cheat Sheet Chapter 1. Science and Pseudoscience 1.1 Spoiler Alert: It''s Not a Conspiracy Alternative Facts Belief in the Unbelievable Touched by the Paranormal xxx 1.2 The Morning of the Magicians 1.3 Pseudoscience and Archaeology 1.4 Expertise: It''s Not a Guarantee, But It Sure Beats the Alternative 1.5 Why I Wrote This Book Frequently Asked Question Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 2. Epistemology: How You Know What You Know 2.
1 Knowing Things Collecting Information: Seeing Isn''t Necessarily Believing Collecting Information: Relying on Others 2.2 Science: Playing by the Rules There Is a Real and Knowable Universe The Universe Operates According to Understandable Laws The Laws Are Immutable The Laws Can Be Understood 2.3 The Workings of Science 2.4 Childbed Fever: A Case Study in the Application of the Scientific Method 2.5 Science and Nonscience: The Essential Differences 1. Hypotheses Must be Testable 2. Don''t "Multiply Tour Entities" 3. Ensure Not to Work With Confirmation Bias 4.
Don''t Confuse Absence of Evidence as Absence of Sense? 5. Hey Scientist! I Challenge You to Disprove It! 6. Okay, You''re Skeptical, But Isn''t It at Least Possible? 7. "But I''m only asking questions!" 2.6 The Art of Science Where Do Hypotheses Come From? Testing Hypotheses Skeptics, Not Cynics; Doubters, Not Deniers The Human Enterprise of Science Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercises Chapter 3. GIANTS! Anatomy of an Archaeological Hoax 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The Cardiff Giant: The Goliath of New York Setting the Stage for the "Cardiff Giant" xxx The Beginning of the End Hull''s Confession The End of the Giant 3.
3 Why Did They Do It? Lesson Learned 3.4 Real Deal Archaeology: How We Recognize Frauds When We See Them The Rules for a Successful Archaeological Hoax Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercises Chapter 4. Dawson''s Dawn Man: The Hoax at Piltdown 4.1 The Skeleton-More Precisely, the Cranium-in the Closet 4.2 The Evolutionary Context The Brain-Centered Paradigm 4.3 A Remarkable Discovery in Sussex 4.4 The Piltdown Enigma 4.5 Unmasking the Hoax 4.
6 Whodunnit? Suspect: Charles Dawson Were There Co-conspirators? 4.7 The Lesson of Piltdown 4.8 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about Human Evolution A Rising Hominin Star Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 5. Who Discovered America? 5.1 America''s First People A New World-To Europeans Biblical Exegesis and American Indians Native Americans: From Israelites to Atlanteans Tracing the Source of Native Americans Out of Asia The Beringian Pathway 5.2 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Earliest Human Settlement of America Tracing People by Their Morphology Tracing People by Their DNA Tracing People by Their Archaeology Follow the Footprints But Wait, There''s More! 5.3 Pre-Pre-Clovis? Frequently Asked Question Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 6. Who''s Next? After Indigenous Peoples, Before Columbus 6.
1 Artifact Trails: Evidence of Visitors to the New World The New England Model The Archaeology of Columbus The Spanish Entrada into the American Southeast African People in Ancient America? Other Europeans in the New World before Columbus? A Chinese Discovery of the New World? 6.2 America BCE? America''s Stonehenge Wait. What? The Archaeological Verdict Inscriptions 6.3 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Norse Discovery of America A New-Found Land Norse Discovery of America: The Physical Evidence Other Evidence of The Viking Presence? Frequently Asked Question Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 7. The Myth of the Mound Builders 7.1 An Indigenous American Civilization 7.2 The Myth of a Vanished Race 7.3 Who Were the Mound Builders? Identifying the "Vanished" Race The Archaeology of the Myth Squier and Davis 7.
4 The Mound-Builder Mystery Solved 7.5 Rationale for the Myth of a Vanished Race 7.6 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about the Mound-Building People of America Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 8. Lost: One Continent-Reward 8.1 Atlantis: Where Are You? 8.2 Atlantis: The Source of the Legend The Timaeus Dialogue The Critias Dialogue The Source and Meaning of Timaeus and Critias Who Invented Atlantis? Where Did Plato Get the Details of the Story? A Minoan Source? 8.3 After Plato Ignatius Donnelly: The Minnesota Congressman 8.4 The Admission 8.
5 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know about Atlantis Ancient Greece Archaeological Evidence in the Atlantic: The Bimini Wall Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 9: Atlantis 2.0: Comets, and Glaciers, and Floods, Oh My 9.1 The Lost Continents of Theosophy xxx 9.2 Atlantis: And the Beat Goes On xxx 9.3 Atlantis 2.0 Fingerprints of the Gods xxx 9.4 Convincing People About an Ancient Apocalypse: A Primer in Alternative Archaeology xxx 9.5 The Admission 9.
6 Real Deal Archaeology: What We Know About Gobekli Tepe xxx The Secret Truth About Mountains: They''re Pointy on Top and Bigger on the Bottom xxx Frequently Asked Questions xxx Critical Thinking Exercise xxx Chapter 10. Prehistoric E.T.: The Fantasy of Ancient Astronauts 10.1 Ancient Astronauts: The Source of the Idea 10.2 Gods in Fiery Chariots The Inkblot Hypothesis The Horny Astronaut Hypothesis The "Our Ancestors, the Dummies" Hypothesis Extraterrestrial Aliens in the Pacific? 10.3 Robbing Graves for Fun and Profit H. P.
Lovecraft, Ancient Aliens, and the Cthulhu Connection 10.4 I''m Not Saying It''s Aliens, Or That They''re Ancient, But They''re Aliens, And They''re Ancient A Real Mystery 10.5 Real Deal Archaeology: The Bias Inherent in The Ancient Astronauts Hypothesis Frequently Asked Question Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 11. Okay, So How Did People Really Get So Smart? 11.1 Spoiler Alert: It Wasn''t Atlantis or Atlantis 2.0 or Ancient Astronauts 11.2 Ancient Egypt 11.3 How Could Mere People Build A Pyramid? School of (Moving) Rock Build Me A Pyramid 11.
4 The Civilization of The Maya Explaining the Maya 11.5 Stonehenge Explaining Stonehenge An Ancient Astronomy Why Was Stonehenge Built Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 12. Good Vibrations: Psychics and Archaeology 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Psychic Archaeology Psychic Site Location Psychic Cultural Reconstruction Psychic Archaeology: A Test Psychic Archaeology: The Verdict 12.3 Dowsing for Diggers 12.4 Real Deal Archaeology: How We Can Investigate Sites without Digging in the Dirt Frequently Asked Question Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 13. Old-Time Religion, New Age Visions, and Paranormal Predictions 13.
1 Scientific Creationism and the Claim of Intelligent Design Creationist Strategies in Education Intelligent Design Noah''s Ark Footprints in Time 13.2 Real Deal Archaeology: Shaligrams Frequently Asked Questions Critical Thinking Exercise Chapter 14. Epilogue: A Past We Deserve 14.1 Ken Feder, Media Monster Final Words References Index.