These articles are interesting and valuable because they are from professional scientists who are challenging pseudo-archaeology claims often made by Mormons.

Here is the link for the first of the Skeptical Inquirer articles. It is now available online.

Civilizations Lost and Found: Fabricating History - Part One: An Alternate Reality
http://www.csicop.org/si/show/civilizations_lost_and_found_fabricating_history_-_part_one_an_alternate_re/

This is the DVD
http://deseretbook.com/Lost-Civilization-North-America-Digital-Legend/i/5042376

Here are some links to background information about this and upcoming articles.

An earlier statement about the DVD "Lost Civilizations of North America"
http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2010/12/commentary-on-lost-civilizations-of.html

"As scholars committed to increasing public understanding of Native American history and archaeology, we want to make it clear that we do not support the theories presented in “The Lost Civilizations of North America” DVD. In our opinion, there is no compelling archaeological or genetic evidence for a migration from the Middle East to North America a few thousand years ago, nor is there any credible scientific evidence that Old World civilizations were involved in developing Native American cultures in pre-Columbian times."

Info about the Skeptical Inquirer articles
http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2011/08/civilizations-lost-and-found-response.html

"Perhaps the most important take-home message in the entire series of articles is that "…there is no scientific evidence whatsoever that the cultural developments exhibited in the archaeological record [of North America]… were in any way inspired by visitors or migrants from Africa, Europe, or Asia." And, in view of my recent appearance on the television program Ancient Aliens, we could have added "visitors or migrants from other planets" to that list!"

About the next Skeptical Inquirer article in the series
http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2011/10/responding-to-lost-civilizations-of.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/17/2011 05:24PM by Hoggle.

A good disclaimer is at the bottom of the article.

http://www.csicop.org/si/show/civilizations_lost_and_found_fabricating_history_-_part_one_an_alternate_re/

Disclaimer:
"We are well aware that a claim underlying the Lost Civilizations documentary—that the mound-building people of the American Midwest were migrants from the Middle East 2,000 years ago—may be informed by religious doctrine. It is our position in this paper, however, that whatever inspires this claim is not nearly as important as the fact that it is plainly wrong. As such, we will leave it to others to assess the role played, if any, by religion in shaping Lost Civilizations and focus instead on scientific evidence relevant to that claim."

Think of all the time wasted debunking this kind of crap.

Just because some people are gullible enough to believe it.

Unfortunately, from what I'm seeing, critical thinking and judgment is at a premium these days. The Internet has become a haven for liars and such, as well as those who genuinely believe their own crapola, and the values taught to young people are at stake.

Putting someone down for being gullible is a little unfair, however. Let me tell you about the guy who got me for a cab ride to Ogden one time...

There are some unscrupulous sorts out there...

Part Two is not available online at Skeptical Inquirer yet but a brief overview of it can be seen at this link.

http://business.highbeam.com/5799/article-1G1-271050472/civilizations-lost-and-found-fabricating-history-part

The Bat Creek Stone is mentioned.

Part Three will discuss DNA.

http://ohio-archaeology.blogspot.com/2011/12/responding-to-lost-civilizations-of.html

"it addresses the claim made in the documentary that the presence of the mitochondrial DNA haplogroup "X" in American Indian populations provides evidence for a pre-Columbian migration of Israelites to the Americas. It does not."

I don't know if it will mention the latest published research that included Dr. Perego's work. This one supports the Skeptical Inquirer article and goes against those who claim that Haplogroup x is any kind of evidence.

Mitochondrial haplogroup C4c: A rare lineage entering America through the ice-free corridor?
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.21614/abstract

"The similarities in ages and geographical distributions for C4c and the previously analyzed X2a lineage provide support to the scenario of a dual origin for Paleo-Indians. Taking into account that C4c is deeply rooted in the Asian portion of the mtDNA phylogeny and is indubitably of Asian origin, the finding that C4c and X2a are characterized by parallel genetic histories definitively dismisses the controversial hypothesis of an Atlantic glacial entry route into North America."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/29/2011 07:08PM by Hoggle.