Download - Week 3 fakes and frauds
Today’s topic--a “controversy”:
Archaeological Fakes
Science
--is a method--is self correcting--uses full context of evidence--tests hypotheses with new data--tests are repeatable, verifiable--is objective: uses information from the world--critical about the source of information--scientists are flexible, they change ideas when wrong
Pseudo-science
--is a set of beliefs disguised as science--no self-correction, just repetition of beliefs--ignores context of evidence--no testing, no data gathering--ignores most evidence--uses out of date information--relies on mistaken ideas--pseudo scientists are inflexible
Feder says that science is about creating laws that will explain past action and predictfuture action, regardless of when and where it takes place.
This may be the case for physical sciences, but is usually not the case for social sciences becausehumans are complex beings…explaining and predicting human behavior can be impossible.
A fake is an object claimed to be much older than it actually is.
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“The truth is that when forgeries go unnoticed we are all victims. When a modern object istaken to be a historical artifact, the past is misrepresented, and hence it is likely to bemisunderstood.” --Kenneth Lapatin
“And because successful forgeries are successful to the degreethat they appeal to our modern ideas and ideals about the past,forgeries can contribute significantly to our tendency tore-create the past in the manner most attractive to our modernneeds and desires.” --Kenneth Lapatin
Fake snake goddessclaimed to be from Crete,
1500 BC
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Brian Reinhardt:known to have madeand sold thousandsof stone artifacts tocollectors whoassumed the artifactswere ancient.
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Ancient Chinese Bronzes,Zhou dynasty, 1000-250 BC
Fake snake goddessclaimed to be from Crete,
1500 BC
Smithsonian Museumof Natural History,Washington D.C.
British Museum,London
Musée de l’Homme, Paris
1) Provenience
What clues suggest that an artifact is a fake?
1) Provenience2) Provenance
-History of ownership of an artifact
What clues suggest that an artifact is a fake?
1) Provenience2) Provenance
-History of ownership of an artifact3) Style
What clues suggest that an artifact is a fake?The Michigan relic
1) Provenience2) Provenance
-History of ownership of an artifact3) Style4) Materials analysis
What clues suggest that an artifact is a fake?
Temple of the Inscriptions, Palenque, Mexico
Crystal Skull,on display at The British Museum, London
National Museum of the American IndianNew York City
Mitchell Hedges Crystal Skull
New Smithsonian National Museum of theAmerican Indian, Washington DC
Frederick Mitchell Hedges(Left: at ruin of Lubaantun, Belize)
Anna Mitchell Hedges(daughter of Frederick Mitchell Hedges)
--Provenience--Provenance--Style--Manufacturing Technology
Thomas Gann:discoveredLubaantun
in 1903
Mitchell Hedges:taken to Lubaantun
in 1924 by Gann,then claims HEdiscovered it!!
Frederick Mitchell Hedges(Left: at ruin of Lubaantun, Belize)
Anna Mitchell Hedges(daughter of Frederick Mitchell Hedges)
Anna Mitchell Hedges(daughter of Frederick Mitchell Hedges)
Ruins of Lubaantun, Belize, Central America
Jane Walsh: debunker of Mitchell Hedges Skull
--Provenience--Provenance--Style--Manufacturing Technology Sotheby’s auction catalogue
--Provenience--Provenance--Style--Manufacturing Technology
British Museum SkullMitchell Hedges Skull, superimposed on theyellow outline of the British Museum skull
--Provenience--Provenance--Style--Manufacturing Technology
Jane Walsh: debunker of Mitchell Hedges Skull
Cut mark madeby a stone tool
Cut mark made bya diamond drill
Electron microscopeimage of a cut mark
from the MitchellHedges skull
Cut mark madeby a stone tool
Cut mark made bya diamond drill
Getty Kouros
Hairstyle:Corinthian,600 BC
Getty Kouros
Feet:Attic,525 BC
“Greek, about530 BC, or
modernforgery”
displaytag says:
Getty Kouros as it is displayed in the Getty Museum
Jane Walsh: debunker of Mitchell Hedges Skull
Slides beyond here not presented in class
Initial glyph
God N
Atole(maize gruel)
Drinkingvessel
Name (notdeciphered)
title (notdeciphered)
The text is a “name tag”, identifying function and owner of the pot