The Citizens' New Archaeology - Without a Spade (Para-Archaeology I) [UPDATED]

The evidence we've compiled so far
strongly indicates that the ancient aliens hypothesis is correct.

[Updated: this rather long post continues in a second, which was written later but I have posted below this one. A third is planned in which I hope to make some more general points, but I have a big translation project on at the moment, so have to use my spare time on that]

I was prompted to write something more substantial on this aspect in connection with the claims by its supporters that artefact collecting is some kind of 'citizen archaeology'. It started with a perfectly sensible Twitter thread by David S. Anderson (Radford University, Virginia USA) about 'Pseudooarchaeology', a subject I have long been interested in and concerned about (though I think the term is incorrect, 'Para-archaeology' or 'fringe archaeography' seem better to me). here's what Anderson said:

Archaeologists, it is time to admit that our discipline is at a point of crisis. Belief in #pseudoarchaeology claims is rampant and rising, and yet I’m repeatedly confronted by professionals who tell me this is no big deal, or not worth our time. We need to act now!  For the third year in a row, the @ChapmanU survey of American Fears has shown a rising rate of belief in #AncientAliens, we are now at 41%. To put it another way, that’s more then 133 million people! And 57% of Americans now believe Atlantis, or something like it is real. This rise in belief has been fueled by conspiracy theory driven television shows like @AncientAliens and America Unearthed. These shows are not just silly fun, they are undermining people’s abilities to tell truth from fiction. We need to stand up for cultural heritage. We should be talking to our students about these claims, we should be talking to the public about these claims. We should be seeking out media platforms to address these claims. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand, and assume there’s no harm in these claims. [...] We need to save our heritage from those who would sell it up stream for a quick buck.

Chapman University survey of American fears

 While I am sure making money from lunatic fringe writing is one aim (hotelier Von Daniken raising money to pay off his debts with Chariots of the Gods is one example), I am not sure that is the whole explanation. There were a number of replies/comments from people agreeing in principle with Anderson, and then...  along came this guy, and quite oblivious to what the thread was about jumped in (18 October 2018) with a multiple series of posts illustrating perfectly exactly the sort of material Anderson was talking about. The writer was John R. Clevenger @GQuestJohn, Santa Barbara - Manager of "Genesis Quest"  ("Genesis Quest: The Hunt for the Global Maritime Empire") . This is what he posted there [my hyperlinks]

Hello. If Genesis Quest can get team expeditions going, we will open-mindedly assess these matters, as archaeology--which should indeed change--should, too.
1. I don't think spirits, telekinesis, or psychics are valid, but I'm open-minded about these matters. As for the others:
2. Atlantis, as such, almost certainly did exist. It was a transatlantic Bronze Age metal-trading empire, probably seated on an Atlantic Island that sank. It mined copper in Upper Michigan and tin in what is now highland Bolivia (then a seaport). I can and will prove this.
3. I was totally opposed to the Ancient Aliens theory when I started on this endeavor 8 years ago. But the evidence actually very strongly points to not only contact with aliens in ancient times, but also the likelihood of hybridization or even seeding of humanity by aliens. A startling twist to this will be revealed in my film series on this, if I can get it into production. I've finished my Atlantis trilogy and may get to pitch it to studios in early 2019. But there is another, very startling twist that you may as well be aware of: We have good reasons to believe that aliens still exist on Earth and are hiding out in remote areas of Latin America. Not only do we know one such location, we've been offered land on it. Our chief Latin American researcher helped recover one of their bodies. [Atacamba foetus PMB]  So: Archaeologists need to be open to the possibilities of (1) pervasive ocean-crossing in ancient times, the evidence for which is overwhelming; and (2) visitation by aliens in both modern and ancient times, as well as hybridization and even seeding of humanity. I now believe that an antigravity technology facilitated building of the megaliths, and this tech was a subset of an ancient alien star-jump technology, based on torsion physics. We think we know how it worked, and hope eventually to help replicate it. 
4. Metal-trading Amorite giants were part of the phenomena remembered as Atlantis. We have some of their bones, and permission to dig in a cemetery where others are buried. They may have been hybridized by aliens, and they were the original mound builders. There is a chain of evidence which strongly suggests that relict Amorite giants are Bigfoot. The kicker: A special forces squad was killed by a relict Amorite giant in the Afghanistan War. Goliath was an Amorite, by the way. [...]  Equally interesting are the gnomes. The evidence suggests they're aliens. [...]

Further: My basic intent here is not to troll; I revere the discipline of archaeology. But it should no longer be so inflexibly doctrinaire. Most of the points I've made here, and other related ones, can very likely be proven without much difficulty, and not for a quick buck, either. I've been working on this full-time for years and have yet to be paid a dime. If my film series sells and then takes off, I'll funnel proceeds into this research, inviting archaeology grad students to our research center in South America, which we intend to build on said land and - for which we have second financing aligned. This is extremely difficult and may never happen. But I rather self-importantly prefer to call what we're trying to do the New Archaeology. The first script in my series has been compared to Avatar and Star Wars. So it may happen.

Wow. So layer upon layer of misconstrued and misleading (misled) reasoning ) I use the term loosely) to construct an 'alternative past' of the writer's own. The key problem here is the opposition between two views of how we construct an argument. the first sees a pile of - at first sight - mutually supportive 'facts' that can be put together to construct a picture - and that picture is the result. The second approaches a depicted situation (such as giants in Atlantis) and looks to see if there is anything that falsifies it. I belong to the second group - and so questioned the 'giant killed in Afghanistan' nonsense - which turned out to be a non-fact, Mr Clevenger's theory about the giants as presented still has no supporting evidence. It seems to me as an archaeologist that it is enough to look for material evidence that could either support or falsify the suggestion and (since I have never come across any evidence of the existence of non-mythical in giants and gnomes), a non-discovery of any 'Atlantis' is just negative evidence. It seems to me, giving it some consideration, that (at least) one problem with all this is the actual archaeological evidence of that metal trade, so far there are no papers showing that the tin and copper in European bronzes have an isotopic footprint corresponding to Michigan and Bolivian origins of the raw metal traded by 'Amorite Atlanteans', and in the Andes themselves tin bronzes did not appear in pre-Tiwanaku times, only being first attested c.1000AD under the Incas - which would be odd if Bolivian tin was going to fuel the European Bronze Age from 3300BC.

I think the para-archaeologists also show the degree to which they are out of their depth by assuring us they can help to replicate the 'antigravity technology' they surmise 'facilitated building of the megaliths', and they suppose was 'a subset of an ancient alien star-jump technology, based on torsion physics', and which they imagine they 'know how it worked'. I think one can safely assume that probably about as much as they know about the process of archaeological reasoning.


Update 22.10.2018
Seen on Facebook while looking into what's behind these claims. Their Facebook page bills itself as 'educational' (sic) and has 5.5 thousand followers. There we find (5th August 2018) another version of the main claims of this group:

I [adding in a comment: ' I being John Clevenger, and the foundations of this work having already been laid by truer giants of this renegade research than I myself will ever be.'] am considering publishing as a companion tome to my brewing novel, The Flood, a preliminary presentation of our research findings. This includes some very wild stuff that we no longer publicize for various compelling reasons. When one combines results derived from extremely detailed assessments of published materials (such as my compendium about Tiahuanaco, which includes major revelations) with a bunch of unpublished and very sensational stuff (such as what I now regard as proof that relict Amorite metal-trading half-human giants inspired Indian legends of Sasquatch and almost certainly explain many current Bigfoot sightings), the picture that is drawn will simply shock the world. Obviously, we're not yet in a position to undertake the indicated ambitious program of research, and perhaps we never will be in a position to do it. Yet merely formulating these hypotheses could virtually change the world, and this may be a workable way for me to do it. [...] with perhaps this adjunct volume outlining these sensational research results, which are so sensitive that I've had no other way to publish them so far, even though their implications are truly astounding (some things I can't even allude to here, yet). Such a companion volume, which could become a series of nonfiction studies (very possibly with group authors under the auspices of GQ, as we've long planned), may be that first logical vehicle to start getting this material out into the world.

There is also a You Tube video 'Genesis Quest Intro: Genesis Quest's Ecuador Project' (82 views):

Published on YouTube by GenesisQuest 20th July 2014

Highlights I noted in this video:
(soundtrack from after 0:22  - reminiscent of Zimmer's Chevaliers de Sangreal from the Da Vinci Code):

(0:25) "we believe that myths are often rooted in fact and the Scriptures can be history" and "conventional dogma should never stop us from looking truth right in the eye" (0:33) [shot here is the 'giant discoverer' in Ecuador]

(0:45) "we believe that what happened in prehistory was far different from what mainstream views allow".

(1:16) "GQ is on the verge of proving that a global maritime empire laid the foundations of civilization before being wiped out in worldwide catastrophe"

(1:27) "to prove it, we've acquired permits to explore the mountains of Southern Ecuador where bizarre gold relics recovered from the surrounding jungle  [photos of Crespi Collection objects] seem to reveal connections to Mesopotamia, Egypt and Minoa (sic)"

(1:55) "In a burial place of giants (sic) near a sacred mountain (sic) there, a twenty foot tall female skeleton was reportedly unearthed in the 1960s. We have some of her bones* [2:08 shot of a model femur in Mt Blanco Museum, Texas, created on basis of Turkish reports  - original has never been produced]. We'll apply DNA testing and carbon dating to find out if senora gigante was human** and if so where she came from and how long ago she lived. If a skeleton three times the size of modern people proves human and especially if her DNA reveals ancestral links to the British Isles, which is where we believe the giants originated (2:29), our proof will be complete, and just imagine the fear that would ensue (sic) if we found senor gigante"

 The film ends with showing in quick succession mug shots of (alleged) 'members of the team', mostly from the US, in which one can recognize several people involved in 'fringe archaeography'.  There is a promise that for 'support' of 'this initial investigation', 'you will be rewarded with campaign perks such as free (sic) e-books', so privileged access to the revelations of this new vision of the past concocted by "Genesis Quest", and 'some of you may even join the team [free of charge? PMB] and appear in a documentary series for cable TV' ("Join our quest, together, let's make history!")

How to even begin to discuss this with these people? Why is this happening, and why does so much of it seem to centre around misunderstandings of the archaeology of Mesoamerica and South America?

* the bones shown between 2:14-21 and the second set to 2:22-2:40 are shown in this film. The first lot are father Carlos Miguel Vaca Alvarado's collection. There is a huge amount of uncritical internet waffle from creationists and biblical fundamentalists about these bones, and I cannot find anything easily that refers to anyone who's actually identified the species of megafauna they come from but they are clearly not parts of any human skeleton, oversized or not. 

** in the film, we see the bones handled by people without gloves and in one case (2:27-2:37) the guy seems to be wiping spit on one of them. As anyone who knows even a little about forensics would say, it'd be difficult NOT tto find human DNA on those items - DNA that would suggest a link to modern populations of the region where they were dug up. But this would be a false result from contaminated material.