I saw two items today that have convinced me that the PaleoBabble blog needs to begin awarding the PhD in Non Sequitur Thinking for ancient astronaut theorists. The first is this wonderful post from the Skeptophilia blog. Please read it. It is an uncannily accurate...
pseudoscience
The Fictional Roots of the Ancient Astronaut Myth
All of those interested in PaleoBabble should be aware of the work of Jason Colavito. Jason has done a lot of work tracing the common ancient astronaut motifs back through science fiction of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His primary focus is H.P. Lovecraft....
PseudoScience and the Ohio Serpent Mound
An interesting discussion on this over at the "Hot Cup of Joe" blog, which focuses on archaeology and anthropology. Check it out for some holiday PaleoBabble!
Irrationality and Popular Archaeology
This is the title of an old (1984) journal article I recently came across. The article is from American Antiquity 49:3 (1984): 525-541. Here is the abstract: An important aspect of archaeology is communicating the significance of data and research results to a fasci-...
Pyramid Inches and Pyramidiots
In preparing for the ancient Egypt class I'll be teaching in a couple weeks, I came across this article on John Greaves, a mathematician who was obsessed with ancient metrology (measurements) and the pyramids. The article is about him and his pursuits. Editor's note:...
Dr. Mike Brown Tells People the Truth About the Hebrew Alphabet and Of Course Pays For It
Back in March I posted a link to the video below, which was created and posted by Dr. Michael Brown. The video is about how Hebrew is not to be read / translated / interpreted according to the shapes of the original picture-script ("pictographic") from which the...
Did the Times of India Just Endorse the Ancient Astronaut Theory?
Kind of . . . sort of . . . well, not really . . . maybe. Actually, it depends on what one wants to read into what's said and isn't. I can hardly wait for the ancient astronaut crowd to think this means something. They are truly desperate for validation. But let's be...
Ancient Aliens Malpractice
Jason Colavito just posted a review of the Ancient Aliens episode "Alien Operations." As usual, the review is informed and insightful, while the episode was disturbingly dumb --another ode to incoherence. My favorite paragraph: Tsoukalos adopts Thomas Aquinas’s...
Has a UK Scientist Discovered Extraterrestrial Life?
The news of the recent experiment by Prof. Milton Wainwright of the University of Sheffield has been making news of late. In case you haven't read about it, here's a synopsis of the experiment (from the provided link) and why it has garnered interest: British...
Alien Dentists
Who will be the first ancient alien drone to claim that this report of a dental filling from 6,500 years ago speaks of alien influence? I wonder. Maybe the History Channel can start a new spin-off series. Giorgio! Giorgio! Wherefore art thou, Giorgio? More to the...
Shock: Baltic Sea ‘Underwater UFO’ not an Alien Spaceship
Another blow to the faith of thousands.
Baghdad Battery, the Saqqara Plane, and Other Not-So-Mysterious Artifacts
I just discovered the Archaeological Fantasies blog, a site that warmed my PaleoBabbling heart. The author has a short series entitled, "The 10 Most Not-So-Puzzling Ancient Artifacts" in which many of you will be interested. Two caught my eye right away: 1. The...
Ancient Aliens: Keeping the Fantasy Channel Afloat One Inane Episode at a Time
Fans of critical thinking are bound to enjoy this post over at the Bad Archaeology blog entitled, "I remember why I’ve never wanted satellite television." It's a "review" of the Fantasy Channel's Ancient Aliens show. As funny as parts of it are, I especially liked the...
Scientific Proof for Parallel Universes
Pretty cool article on a recent experiment at Cal-Santa Barbara. Obvious implications for what we talk about here. Editor's note: broken link removed; see here, instead: https://www.foxnews.com/science/freaky-physics-proves-parallel-universes-exist
MUFON and Its Credibility Gap
Jack Brewer has posted the thoughts of those who have contributed to his request for opinion on whether MUFON should ban the parties associated with the Roswell Slides fiasco: The UFO Trail: UFO Community Members Weigh in on Dubious MUFON Speakers It's worth your time...