JASON COLAVITO
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Skeptical Xenoarchaeologist Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search

Thoughts on America Unearthed, Ethnocentrism, and Religion

12/15/2013

25 Comments

 
As I’m sure most of you saw, I managed to complete my review of last night’s America Unearthed just two minutes after the show ended last night. I admit that I pushed myself to get it done especially fast because here in upstate New York we were in the throes of a snowstorm, and I correctly assumed that I would spend most of the morning digging out. With nearly a foot of snow on the ground, it took me a long time to dig the house out this morning, and with the snow continuing to fall, I’ll probably have to shovel again later this afternoon.

In short: Don’t expect me to be able to complete future reviews that fast. It was a one-time deal, made possible because I had already written about the history of the Rockwall rock wall and because the show was exceptionally light on facts. The first season was daffy, but at least it had enough going on each hour to keep the viewer’s attention. Last night’s episode was painfully boring and repetitive.

One thing that struck me is that the episode almost seemed to bend over backward to address my criticisms of the content season one, while somehow creating more problems in terms of style. This week Scott Wolter actually relied on an academic (!) to find the “truth,” and he came to the correct scientific conclusion. He expressed doubt about a wacky religious theory about Biblical giants (albeit without ever mentioning the Bible), and he attempted, however halfheartedly, to acknowledge the existence of native peoples, though not without adding the Chinese into the mix. The show purposely avoided mentioning any Europeans even though the most prominent “theories” about who built the wall prior to the modern creationist flare up about giants made the builders the Romans, the Phoenicians, and the Carthaginians.

But as a geologist Scott Wolter obviously recognized that the wall was natural long before he ever got to Rockwall. There was never any doubt about that—I was confident enough about the scientific consensus that I wrote two-thirds of my review of the episode before the show even aired.

I can’t help but think that the producers made those halfhearted stabs at “investigating” (i.e. “speculating”) about Chinese, Caddo, or Paleoindian builders as a way of cynically creating a video trail of evidence that they are not obsessed with white European visitors to America. By manipulating claims made for the wall to emphasize Native Americans (Wolter even called the “giants” large-framed Native people) at a site they already knew was not a genuine ancient construction, it becomes all the easier for the production team to spend the remainder of the season looking for white people. Indeed, the two future episodes teased during the hour promised adventures in search of (a) medieval Viking colonies in New England and (b) Templar-Freemason goddess worship cults from the colonial period to today.

And that bothers me: The production team purposely manipulates even fringe claims to tell a story they want to tell. Count Byron de Prorok declared the site “Carthaginian” in 1925, but the show elided this as mere a prehistoric civilization, purposely leaving out the specific identity. The giants are mentioned, but their Biblical association is swapped out for claims that they were Native American giants. Other claims—such as the speculation that the wall was built by survivors of Atlantis—were never mentioned at all.

This was really a missed opportunity. Rather than waste so much time endlessly repeating the same information, the show could have done something interesting and explored why so many are so invested in so many mutually contradictory theories about which group of white people really built the wall. But the show isn’t comfortable with the questions of why and wherefore. That road leads to the uncomfortable truth that almost no one who advocates an artificial origin for the wall actually attributes it to Native Americans. My literature review found no claims for either Caddo or Paleoindian builders, or even a mention of Chinese builders, though perhaps Gavin Menzies might have said something about that of which I am unaware.

I knew when writing my review that I’d be criticized for mentioning Megyn Kelly’s comments about the skin color of Santa Claus and Jesus, and I think it’s important to address two criticisms head on:

  • that I am an anti-Christian bigot
  • that I am inventing a racist master plan for cable TV that doesn’t exist

The first point is the easier one to address. I have never criticized anyone’s sincere commitment to belief in a higher power, or anyone’s devotion to or love of Jesus Christ. Whatever faith one chooses to practice, or to practice or believe in none, is not and never will be the subject of any criticism or critique. Instead, I have criticized specific truth claims, mostly derived from evangelical fundamentalism but also Mormonism, such as the claim that the Fallen Angels’ children were giants with physical bodies who left behind archaeologically-detectable remains, or the claim that Jesus had children whose Holy Bloodline is genetically traceable and the subject of a vast conspiracy, or the claim that the Lost Tribes of Israel colonized America. Criticizing truth claims made in the name of religion is not the same as attacking the concept of faith (that’s the New Atheists, not me).

It remains a fact that evangelical fundamentalism is a minority not just of the U.S. population but also within Christianity. In the United States, according to Pew Research, 78% of the population self-identifies as Christian, and only 26% of the population (one-third of U.S. Christians) identify as evangelical. A smaller subset of this number espouse extremist archaeological claims. Holy Bloodline believers are a still smaller set, and that belief is nominally incompatible with fundamentalism or with mainstream Christianity, although in practice many believers subscribe to more than one irreconcilable set of beliefs. Another small subset, a minority within the 7% who identify with Historically Black Churches, espouse Afrocentrism, another doctrine I have criticized.

At very best you could make the case that I am opposed to the fringe of evangelicalism, though I would say that my opposition is to specific truth claims at odds with science. Since I have also criticized the truth claims of Hindu fundamentalism, I think the problem may be the fundamentalism rather than its flavor.

This actually gets directly at the second claim. Ever since Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority, the third of American Christians who identify as evangelical have taken their faith to be both the majority of Christian views and also as the dominant cultural force in the United States. This was never the case, but the myth promotes ethnocentrism, which involves the idea that one’s own culture is the norm, average, and natural.

This is where we connect to the second claim. There is no racist master plan for cable TV shows. But there is ethnocentrism from people who are slapping together slipshod products based on cursory research, sensationalism, and their own beliefs. Because they don’t do real research, shows like America Unearthed promote an ethnocentric view that implicitly normalizes the upper middle class white American culture. When they envision history, they envision their history and see in it their own reflection. Note, however, that this is not limited to fringe thinkers. I have also criticized Sam Harris, the atheist writer, for his attempt to universalize upper middle class white American values as a “natural” and “scientific” form of ethics endorsed by the very laws of physics.

It is unconscious ethnocentrism born from a lack of real insight, perspective, or research into viewpoints other than their own that leads fringe thinkers to promote ideas that read as racist even though the individuals involved are not racists themselves. Judging by the broadcasted product and Scott Wolter’s written work, so far as America Unearthed is concerned it is simply a given that Europeans are active participants in history while Native Americans are the passive recipients of European actions. (Wolter, for example, makes Europeans the dominant force in the Mississippian collapse.) This may derive from outdated 1960s-era textbooks that normalized Euro-American culture as dominant or from the American broader culture that still devalues the voices of those who are not part of the dominant culture, and especially voices from outside the Anglophone world. I can’t claim to read their minds, but it is very obvious that they see European intervention as the essential force in American prehistory.

This is implicit in the idea of AMERICA Unearthed and its nationalist opening narrative, with its implicit acceptance of American exceptionalism (confirmed in the opening narration of S02E02 about the greatness of America), either out of conviction or the assumption that the audience wants to be told as much. Contrast, for example, with Chinese Sinocentrism; I will bet you dollars to doughnuts that America Unearthed will never conclude that the Chinese made a valid medieval land claim that warrants turning over much of the continent to Beijing the way Wolter advocates Templar land claims and implies that America is the God-chosen land of the Templars. It is not a coincidence that in America the U.S. is usually placed in the middle of the world map, while in China, the Middle Kingdom, whose very name proclaims it the center of the world, takes the honored spot.

In anthropology, overcoming ethnocentrism is one of the hardest of tasks, and in many ways the entire goal of modern anthropology is to challenge ethnocentric assumptions by seeing how people from other places and other times have done things. But this is also problematic because as a discipline anthropology was born of colonialism and imperialism and is tarred by the sins of its first practitioners, who, essentially, treated non-white people as animals and even exhibited Africans and Native Americans in cages alongside zoo animals. The long-standing joke was that anthropology was the “history of people without clothes.” The discipline worked hard after the 1960s to overcome the legacy of racism it inherited; in fact, it was only in the last few decades that anthropologists even began studying “civilized” (read: rich and white) people the same way they did the poor and brown.

So if Scott Wolter, with a bachelor’s degree in geology, and producer Maria Awes, a former TV news producer, can claim that their “expertise” qualifies them to expose hidden history, then my bachelor’s degree in anthropology and broadcast journalism qualifies me to identify ethnocentrism when and where I see it.

I hope that this explanation shows that when I make a comment about a TV show’s emphasis on Eurocentric ideology, or when I point to the uncritical use of imperialist, colonialist, or even fundamentalist religious claims there is more to it than “bigotry,” that I have in fact thought long and hard about the assumptions that all of us make in our daily lives and how those assumptions can seem natural unless and until they are challenged.

25 Comments
titus pullo
12/15/2013 07:46:11 am

Jason,

Ethnocentrism is part of being human. When the Saar region had an election to see if they wanted to reunite with Germany, I think something like 90% voted yes..despite the area being a well known socialist/catholic region. Ethnicity trumps rational thinking...that is just the way it is.

That said, in defense of Ms. Kelly, she was responding to a person who was practicing ethnocentrism, Santa Claus is a Dutch creation based on a Greek saint who maybe gave free stuff to kids....by the "diversity" police today..if your from Europe, Central Asia or North Africa..you are white...Ms. Kelly was just saying the obvious. That said no reason why you can't have a black santa at the mall..but the claim that you need to get rid of santa because he represents white previledge (whatever that is) is slightly waco.

Do we all view things based on ethnicity..some more that others..this past summer I wasn't surprised by the blogs on some running sites regarding the performance of a young 17 year old middle distance runner from Bronxville NY..she set a bunch of under 20 year old records that stood for 20 years or more and made the finals of the womens 1,500 meters finals at the world championship in August. A great many of the "negative" blogs had to do with the view that since she was white she was getting too much press. The point that all of a sudden a white runner was very good and outrage was she was getting to much press...based on the pictures of the person blogging it was a view almost totally held by blacks. You might see "white" enthocentrism everywhere but can't one be a little too sensitive and be looking for it? Instead of celebrating people regardless of skin color...we have created a more hyper sensitive society..of self serving grevience groups who feel that society is "cheating" them based on race or gender or whatnot. Both my grandparents came over from Italy, both my parents lost their Dads during the Great Depression and faced discrimination at times...but that doesn't mean I have to look at every slight, ever promotion I believe I should have gotten, every story covered by the media where an Italian American is the "bad" guy is due to some society driven plan to keep my people down.

For most Americans this thankfully isn't the case but for black Americans..there is a willingness to accept that everyone is against you..see cause Santa is white...I find it funny why some 'group" is screaming underrepresentation..they never ever discuss areas where they predominate. Reminds me a liberal jewish girl I was friends with for years..she was a huge diversity pusher..govt had the right to interfer with free association and force people who to do business with and who to hire and who to promote. One day we were watching some sit coms and I suggested we needed some diversity in Hollywood as almost all of the writers, producers, directors of the shows we watched were jewish...she didn't get the point...

Honestly there is not a cabal of "white" folks trying to keep everyone down...I'm not even sure what "white" is...

That said..the AE episodes are getting worse and worse..the show won't get renewed...then again there is a new Oak Island show coming on H2...so it never ends...

Cheers,

Mike

Reply
titus pullo
12/15/2013 08:35:12 am

Sorry I should have given more context on the Saar refererence...the Saar region was controlled by France for about 20 years after WWI..in 35 they had an election to see if the region wanted to reunite with Germany or stay a separate country..the Nazi's were in power at the time of the election..and that was my point..here you had an area of Germany which by all accounts was the least pro Nazi...and they voted overwhelmingly to reunite with a nation run by the Nazi party...

Reply
Harry
12/15/2013 01:49:40 pm

Mike,

I think you misunderstand Jason. As I understand it, he is not saying that ethnocentrism is unnatural. On the contrary, was he is saying is that a careful, scrupulous researcher would overcome any ethnocentric notions that conflict with the evidence. However, when one really does not care about proving one's case, it is easy to let prejudice govern ones conclusions.

Reply
titus pullo
12/16/2013 12:29:16 am

Harry,

Point taken. I do think the use of Ms. Kelly's comment was not really appropriate for making his point though. Perhaps I'm guilty of the same thing making this bigger than it is as it deals with race...

Mark L
12/16/2013 01:17:32 am

Titus, do you think Megyn's comments were right or wrong? If wrong, why do you care where they get mentioned? And what parts of Jason's justification for using it where he has do you disagree with?

Varika
12/16/2013 02:01:59 am

I will say this, Titus--if Ms. Kelly was trying to be sarcastic or joking, she should be censured for being so piss-poor BAD at it.

Also, Jason is not the only one who concluded from the Megyn Kelly scandal that it wasn't really about Santa at all, it's about ethnocentrism or even outright racism: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/115938/megyn-kelly-scandal-and-santa-claus-race-not-religion

I would also like to add that if Ms. Kelly had said, "Santa Clause should be portrayed as white because he was the invention of a white culture and to change that would be to take away from the culture that created him in the same way that portraying, say, the Shinto goddess Amaterasu as a white woman would take away from Japanese culture," I would totally be on her side--and I say that KNOWING the full history of the creation of Santa Claus, which is not nearly as straightforward as "There was this Turkish St. Nicholas." But she didn't try to address the issue that European cultures have a right to have their own valid culturally-unique icons without being robbed just as much as minority groups do, she just went "he JUST IS white," which isn't a reasoned and rational response, it's a knee-jerk reaction that deserves censure even if she's responding to someone else who's "wacko" as you phrased it. After all, I'm sure you must have heard as a kid (I did, often enough), "Two wrongs don't make a right."

An Over-Educated Grunt
12/16/2013 01:38:18 am

The problem I see with this is that it's kind of like the response to your Ancient Aliens reviews versus the response to your America Unearthed reviews. I see where you're going with this, and I'm totally on board with you, and I expect for a lot of people here, you're preaching to the choir. It's the people who file in once a week to fill the pews, stick around for 30 seconds to fling their horse-apple, and then go right back out the door, that this post is directed toward, and I'm unsure any of them will read it.

Even so, were any of H2's shows to engage in a serious look at the topics they discuss, that'd be an improvement over what we see right now. I realize it's an hour a week, but in that hour, we get "aliens exist because of Ireland" and "is it possible to tunnel in Colorado?" When "America Unearthed" first started, and when I realized it WASN'T going to be the visual equivalent of Robert Caro's arresting "it was a trap laid in soil" passage from the first volume of his LBJ biography, I'd hoped they would cover things like the Trail of Tears, events in American history that, even when briefly acknowledged, are swept under the rug, and could be explored, perhaps not in a satisfying manner, but at least in a manner that opened people's eyes to their existence. Having a viewer walk away going "huh, never knew about that" would be so much better than what we have now, and by acknowledging some of those parts of our past that we might not be so proud of, a lot of this discussion could be sidestepped.

Reply
Varika
12/16/2013 02:13:38 am

Yes! Grunt, I agree, I was totally hoping America Unearthed would be like the history class that I had in college, where my prof challenged the high-school view of Pilgrims-Manifest Destiny-poor, uncivilized Natives with "The Puritans survived largely by grave-robbing, the Cherokee sued the Federal government to keep their land in the Carolinas AND WON (and were promptly shafted by a bigoted president Jackson), and the Apache got inoculated against smallpox before even the white 'settlers' did." (I think it was the Apache. I could easily have the wrong tribe, it's been a couple years.) The could even have kept the tagline "This history we all know is wrong," because they'd be addressing the myths that are still repeatedly taught in schools. I shudder every Thanksgiving with all the "Pilgrims" crap, for instance.

Reply
Factfinder
12/16/2013 02:56:40 am

Ethnocentrism represents human evolutionary success. Just look at the poverty and squalor in Eastern Europe - forget about non-whites.

An Over-Educated Grunt
12/16/2013 04:28:18 am

That's part of where I was headed, but there's plenty of little-known "white" history to go in there as well, some of which even fits the background of a forensic geologist. There's the work of James Eads at New Orleans, where silting was a serious problem that the Corps of Engineers spent years trying to address before he came up with the channel control strategy. There's the actual difficulty of building DC, which is built in a swamp a hundred miles from the nearest source of building materials - and for that matter, the fact that DC had to be rebuilt. There are plenty of hidden gems of history in the United States that a geologist could have addressed... but instead, it's the Templars, the Templars, the Templars... none of which even impacted "American" history, because accepting even the broadest definition of "American," the first settlement in the United States that stuck was at St. Augustine. Even there, he could have traced all the failed attempts to settle in the United States, and it would have been fascinating. There's a perfect AU open in La Salle's settlement, where his own first mate betrayed him. Looking for evidence of conspiracy and skulduggery? Look no further, it's all there! And there's even room for a geologist who wants to pretend to be an archaeologist, because that site's been found!

Instead, we got this mess.

Gunn link
12/16/2013 03:15:53 am

"I can’t claim to read their minds, but it is very obvious that they see European intervention as the essential force in American prehistory."

I was just thinking that maybe "they" concentrate on European intervention because their ancestors came from Europe, and it would be a natural choice to concentrate on. Myself, I like to look at all aspects of American prehistory and as a young man I studied Native American history more than anything else. I shifted to gaining more knowledge about "whitey's" contribution to American history as a result of moving to MN about 15 years ago. Eventually, I heard about the Scandinavians who came here back in medieval times, and now I'm "hooked" on the subject.

At some point/s, we look at history through the eyes of our ancestors, but where is the "ethnocentric harm" in doing so? Oh, we ignore others? I don't think it is so much ignoring others as it is concentrating on one's own racial background. Our Country has grown and adapted in modern times to try to avoid harmful ethnocentricity, but ethnocentricity will still exist...because it existed in the past and that past is still a part of us, collectively. It's called the Melting Pot.

But there's nothing wrong with looking back at the ingredients used. If I like black pepper a lot, I may look into the history of black pepper. Look at our American diversity of food now compared to the Colonial period, for instance. But there's nothing wrong with looking back at the available foods from the Colonial period. No harm done, as long as we can still eat from the modern table. Pizza, anyone?

Reply
Coridan Miller
12/16/2013 03:21:13 am

I agree with your post, save that every world map I have ever seen places the prime meridian at the center.

Reply
Jason Colavito link
12/16/2013 03:54:33 am

Here's a link to some of the different world maps: http://lifesanonion.blogspot.com/2009/10/omphalos-syndrome.html

Most scholarly maps use the prime meridian, but a lot of political maps choose a different center point. The version with the U.S. at the center isn't as common as it used to be during the Cold War.

Reply
factfinder
12/16/2013 04:10:33 am

The facts speak for themselves. It's left up to the individual how to treat them.

Coridan Miller
12/16/2013 08:40:15 am

Wow. Granted I started kindergarten in 1989 so maybe they had just recently gotten all new maps and such but I never saw that US-centric one. What a terrible map design to have the split go straight through the middle of Asia.

The Sinocentric one though is certainly just as valid a map as the prime meridian one is.

Only Me
12/16/2013 05:02:05 am

I went to IMDB.com earlier and found an interesting subject in the message boards for America Unearthed. The heading was, "This program starts with racist assumptions and tries to prove them".

I've said before that Wolter is not a racist, but that discovery proved to me that there are viewers who walk away with the impression he his.

For those who insist on taking the leather to Jason for uncovering the darker nature behind some of the ideas that have been used in the past, go read that message board post. If only one percent of AU's viewers have the same impression as the poster, that's roughly 10,000 people who feel the show, and by association, Wolter are racist.

Sometimes, there are unintended consequences, even in a medium that's supposed to be "entertainment".

Reply
Jason Colavito link
12/16/2013 05:11:59 am

I hope it's clear that Scott Wolter isn't a racist. His program, however, is so uncritical in its use of old racist and ethnocentric claims (and new ones, too) that it creates a narrative that systematically devalues Native American history and heritage in favor of an imagined European history, if for no other reason than by telling viewers that Euro-American experiences and perspectives are the only ones worth investigating.

Reply
Gunn
12/16/2013 07:08:45 am

Maybe it's a matter of partial misunderstanding. I can't help wondering whether the program may be using aspects of old and new racist and ethnocentric claims (your words) in ways that may be different than the ways they were used before--if they are in fact guilty of being uncritical of using such claims. In other words, are "claims" being made in the same way, and for devious purposes, as earlier in history? If not, maybe the harm isn't as great as one might imagine. I don't think Wolter deserves the punishment you seem to want for him. For what? And do you want side-by-side Native American input with every episode? How far should one go with this political correctness, or else be scorned?

But this is where angst comes into play, from entertaining the notion that someone is being WAY too insensitive about racial matters, as the charge seems to be against Wolter. But again, if one is merely concentrating on certain aspects of a claim, why should he need to be inclusive of other races at all? Isn't this an unreasonable expectation? There's only so much room for each story.

I guess Wolter could have a show examining where specific Native American Tribes originated from. I would be curious to know about certain Asian influences, such as what countries contributed to the specific DNA of certain Tribes.

Of course, the term "Native American" is actually a misnomer, as everyone came here from somewhere else. The name Native American could be applied to anyone born in America, properly done. Indigenous? "First Arrivers" would work better, for bragging rights, and this would be based on DNA and earliest archaeological presence. I would like to see a future show about the most recent DNA findings on the descendants of some of these First Arrivers, to see migration patterns, for instance.

In the meantime, I guess something else will have to do. I hope talking about Vinland in the next show won't be construed as opening another door to our racist past to be examined here.

(By the way, for something extreme, Wikipedia does indicate a previous consideration of Vinland possibly being Martha's Vineyard.)

Only Me
12/16/2013 04:17:32 pm

Perhaps if he included possible racial or political influences behind the claims he investigates, it would further highlight the need to investigate them in the first place. "What reasons led people to believe _____? Did these reasons help to blur the truth behind such claims?"

He wouldn't need Native American input for each investigation, no, but in the episodes about the Maya in Georgia, the missing copper in the Great Lakes area and the petroglyph resembling the Ark, talking to the descendants of the local tribes might have offered some insight that may not have been considered. Their stories may have strengthened his case, but we don't know. If you wanted to prove any chance of impact on their culture due to European contact, why not talk to them?

Gunn Sinclair link
12/17/2013 05:23:06 am

"If you wanted to prove any chance of impact on their culture due to European contact, why not talk to them?"

Exactly, Only Me. I guess if we steer away from discussing "lukewarm-ness within Christianity," and attending subjects such as how much power the Devil has, we can come together, happy and full-circle again while searching for history truth here.

I have advocated for study concerning the Chippewa migration. I find it fascinating because the voices of the descendants of some of the First Arrivers are telling us what happened. They are talking to us, just as surely as some have already been talking with Wolter and others interested in Native American matters. Looking back, I have seen that Wolter has interacted with Native Americans, and it doesn't appear to me that he's avoided working with them.

One of the curious things about story-telling is that it can be done in so many ways. I mean, it can be shortened or lengthened. Many people would like to be directors, too, not just actors or curious bystanders. In the present case, I think Jason would like to be a director for some future episodes of America Unearthed. He could make sure everyone who should be represented is adequately represented. They would pay him, of course--a sort of pay-off, really, to keep everyone happy.

Only Me
12/17/2013 06:08:22 am

Any discussion with religion as the topic, just like politics, will invariably lead to strong opinions from either side. Still, both are intricately dove-tailed with history, so the discussion will have its place. The important thing is to not let the opinions stifle valid input from the participants.

I just wish Wolter would include more interaction with Native Americans, as I feel it would lend more to the story. As I pointed out in my original post, there are some who detect a racist vibe from the show right now. Unintended or not, as the face of the show, Scott will inevitably feel the repercussions.

However, as with any program, it won't be to everyone's taste. His conclusions aside, he and the production company should be mindful of how perceptions can easily overrule what they have set out to accomplish.

J.A. Dickey
12/16/2013 05:26:56 am

I managed to see the East Texas trek Finding Bigfoot's team took.
They had tracker dogs in a woodland area only to be rained on after
hearing crashing noises in the nearby bushes & thickets. The show
has them halfway to tracking something down, and usually not very
close to something tangible & unique. The U.K's Channel 4 has a
short series where Brian Sykes the geneticist was testing the hairs
said to be Bigfoot or quite similar. In the three BIGFOOT FILES eps
to this point in time, the hairs often tend to come from varieties of
bear. Are people seeing animals like grizzlies and then thinking
they saw a large 7 foot to 9 foot Great Ape that disappears as the animal drops down from the two hind legs to all fours? BoBo tends
to be a "yardstick" in the field for the eyewitnesses when they do a
reconstruction. Scott Wolter's giants are like FB + BF + bear hairs.

Reply
J.A. Dickey
12/16/2013 05:35:35 am

correction --- BRYAN SYKES

https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/content/884-bryan-sykes-dna-usa-genetic-portrait-america

http://www.bigfootlunchclub.com/2012/05/its-official-oxford-universitys-bryan.html

https://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/bryan-sykes

Reply
D.Shaw
12/24/2013 04:27:08 am

I will first start by saying that Mr. Wolters theories are just that. Theories. Every theory should rightly be open to skepticism and conjecture. Also it is my humble opinion that most of American history is ethno/eurocentric. I do not believe that Mr. Wolter is anymore ethnocentric than any other American history scholar or theorist. He also in fact worked with the Eastern Cherokee in obtaining the Bat Creek artifacts from the Smithsonian, stating (I am paraphrasing) "These artifacts are part of your history. They rightfully belong to you." Here is a link to his presentation on the Bat Creek Stone. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gro6BtNlmeo

Reply
Jason Colavito link
12/24/2013 04:50:27 am

He did in fact do that. He then said that the Bat Creek Stone was Paleo-Hebrew and that the Lost Tribes of Israel were involved. In his view, today's Native Americans are the result of "intermarriage" between Israelites and early Native peoples and then between Knights Templar and later Native peoples.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Blog
    Picture

    Author

    I am an author and researcher focusing on pop culture, science, and history. Bylines: New Republic, Esquire, Slate, etc. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.

    Become a Patron!
    Tweets by JasonColavito
    Picture

    Newsletters

    Enter your email below to subscribe to my newsletter for updates on my latest projects, blog posts, and activities, and subscribe to Culture & Curiosities, my Substack newsletter.

    powered by TinyLetter

    Blog Roll

    Ancient Aliens Debunked
    Picture
    A Hot Cup of Joe
    ArchyFantasies
    Bad UFOs
    Mammoth Tales
    Matthew R. X. Dentith
    PaleoBabble
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative Archaeology
    Alternative History
    Alternative History
    America Unearthed
    Ancient Aliens
    Ancient Astronauts
    Ancient History
    Ancient Texts
    Ancient Texts
    Archaeology
    Atlantis
    Conspiracies
    Giants
    Habsburgs
    Horror
    King Arthur
    Knights Templar
    Lovecraft
    Mythology
    Occult
    Popular Culture
    Popular Culture
    Projects
    Pyramids
    Racism
    Science
    Skepticism
    Ufos
    Weird Old Art
    Weird Things
    White Nationalism

    Terms & Conditions

    Please read all applicable terms and conditions before posting a comment on this blog. Posting a comment constitutes your agreement to abide by the terms and conditions linked herein.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    RSS Feed

Picture
Home  |  Blog  |  Books  | Contact  |  About Jason | Terms & Conditions
© 2010-2023 Jason Colavito. All rights reserved.

  • Home
  • Blog
  • Books
    • Legends of the Pyramids
    • The Mound Builder Myth
    • Jason and the Argonauts
    • Cult of Alien Gods >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Foundations of Atlantis
    • Knowing Fear >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Hideous Bit of Morbidity >
      • Contents
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
    • Cthulhu in World Mythology >
      • Excerpt
      • Image Gallery
      • Necronomicon Fragments
      • Oral Histories
    • Fiction >
      • Short Stories
      • Free Fiction
    • JasonColavito.com Books >
      • Faking History
      • Unearthing the Truth
      • Critical Companion to Ancient Aliens
      • Studies in Ancient Astronautics (Series) >
        • Theosophy on Ancient Astronauts
        • Pyramidiots!
        • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • Fiction Anthologies >
        • Unseen Horror >
          • Contents
          • Excerpt
        • Moon Men! >
          • Contents
      • The Orphic Argonautica >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • The Faust Book >
        • Contents
        • Excerpt
      • Classic Reprints
      • eBook Minis
    • Free eBooks >
      • Origin of the Space Gods
      • Ancient Atom Bombs
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Ancient America
      • Horror & Science
  • Articles
    • Skeptical Xenoarchaeologist Newsletter >
      • Volumes 1-10 Archive >
        • Volume 1 Archive
        • Volume 2 Archive
        • Volume 3 Archive
        • Volume 4 Archive
        • Volume 5 Archive
        • Volume 6 Archive
        • Volume 7 Archive
        • Volume 8 Archive
        • Volume 9 Archive
        • Volume 10 Archive
      • Volumes 11-20 Archive >
        • Volume 11 Archive
        • Volume 12 Archive
        • Volume 13 Archive
        • Volume 14 Archive
        • Volume 15 Archive
        • Volume 16 Archive
        • Volume 17 Archive
        • Volume 18 Archive
        • Volume 19 Archive
        • Volume 20 Archive
      • Volumes 21-30 Archive >
        • Volume 21 Archive
        • Volume 22 Archive
    • Television Reviews >
      • Ancient Aliens Reviews
      • In Search of Aliens Reviews
      • America Unearthed
      • Pirate Treasure of the Knights Templar
      • Search for the Lost Giants
      • Forbidden History Reviews
      • Expedition Unknown Reviews
      • Legends of the Lost
      • Unexplained + Unexplored
      • Rob Riggle: Global Investigator
    • Book Reviews
    • Galleries >
      • Bad Archaeology
      • Ancient Civilizations >
        • Ancient Egypt
        • Ancient Greece
        • Ancient Near East
        • Ancient Americas
      • Supernatural History
      • Book Image Galleries
    • Videos
    • Collection: Ancient Alien Fraud >
      • Chariots of the Gods at 50
      • Secret History of Ancient Astronauts
      • Of Atlantis and Aliens
      • Aliens and Ancient Texts
      • Profiles in Ancient Astronautics >
        • Erich von Däniken
        • Robert Temple
        • Giorgio Tsoukalos
        • David Childress
      • Blunders in the Sky
      • The Case of the False Quotes
      • Alternative Authors' Quote Fraud
      • David Childress & the Aliens
      • Faking Ancient Art in Uzbekistan
      • Intimations of Persecution
      • Zecharia Sitchin's World
      • Jesus' Alien Ancestors?
      • Extraterrestrial Evolution?
    • Collection: Skeptic Magazine >
      • America Before Review
      • Native American Discovery of Europe
      • Interview: Scott Sigler
      • Golden Fleeced
      • Oh the Horror
      • Discovery of America
      • Supernatural Television
      • Review of Civilization One
      • Who Lost the Middle Ages
      • Charioteer of the Gods
    • Collection: Ancient History >
      • Prehistoric Nuclear War
      • The China Syndrome
      • Atlantis, Mu, and the Maya
      • Easter Island Exposed
      • Who Built the Sphinx?
      • Who Built the Great Pyramid?
      • Archaeological Cover Up?
    • Collection: The Lovecraft Legacy >
      • Pauwels, Bergier, and Lovecraft
      • Lovecraft in Bergier
      • Lovecraft and Scientology
    • Collection: UFOs >
      • Alien Abduction at the Outer Limits
      • Aliens and Anal Probes
      • Ultra-Terrestrials and UFOs
      • Rebels, Queers, and Aliens
    • Scholomance: The Devil's School
    • Prehistory of Chupacabra
    • The Templars, the Holy Grail, & Henry Sinclair
    • Magicians of the Gods Review
    • The Curse of the Pharaohs
    • The Antediluvian Pyramid Myth
    • Whitewashing American Prehistory
    • James Dean's Cursed Porsche
  • The Library
    • Ancient Mysteries >
      • Ancient Texts >
        • Mesopotamian Texts >
          • Atrahasis Epic
          • Epic of Gilgamesh
          • Kutha Creation Legend
          • Babylonian Creation Myth
          • Descent of Ishtar
          • Berossus
          • Comparison of Antediluvian Histories
        • Egyptian Texts >
          • The Shipwrecked Sailor
          • Dream Stela of Thutmose IV
          • The Papyrus of Ani
          • Classical Accounts of the Pyramids
          • Inventory Stela
          • Manetho
          • Eratosthenes' King List
          • The Story of Setna
          • Leon of Pella
          • Diodorus on Egyptian History
          • On Isis and Osiris
          • Famine Stela
          • Old Egyptian Chronicle
          • The Book of Sothis
          • Horapollo
          • Al-Maqrizi's King List
        • Teshub and the Dragon
        • Hermetica >
          • The Three Hermeses
          • Kore Kosmou
          • Corpus Hermeticum
          • The Asclepius
          • The Emerald Tablet
          • Hermetic Fragments
          • Prologue to the Kyranides
          • The Secret of Creation
          • Ancient Alphabets Explained
          • Prologue to Ibn Umayl's Silvery Water
          • Book of the 24 Philosophers
          • Aurora of the Philosophers
        • Hesiod's Theogony
        • Periplus of Hanno
        • Ctesias' Indica
        • Sanchuniathon
        • Sima Qian
        • Syncellus's Enoch Fragments
        • The Book of Enoch
        • Slavonic Enoch
        • Sepher Yetzirah
        • Tacitus' Germania
        • De Dea Syria
        • Aelian's Various Histories
        • Julius Africanus' Chronography
        • Eusebius' Chronicle
        • Chinese Accounts of Rome
        • Ancient Chinese Automaton
        • The Orphic Argonautica
        • Fragments of Panodorus
        • Annianus on the Watchers
        • The Watchers and Antediluvian Wisdom
      • Medieval Texts >
        • Medieval Legends of Ancient Egypt >
          • Medieval Pyramid Lore
          • John Malalas on Ancient Egypt
          • Fragments of Abenephius
          • Akhbar al-zaman
          • Ibrahim ibn Wasif Shah
          • Murtada ibn al-‘Afif
          • Al-Maqrizi on the Pyramids
          • Al-Suyuti on the Pyramids
        • The Hunt for Noah's Ark
        • Isidore of Seville
        • Book of Liang: Fusang
        • Agobard on Magonia
        • Book of Thousands
        • Voyage of Saint Brendan
        • Power of Art and of Nature
        • Travels of Sir John Mandeville
        • Yazidi Revelation and Black Book
        • Al-Biruni on the Great Flood
        • Voyage of the Zeno Brothers
        • The Kensington Runestone (Hoax)
        • Islamic Discovery of America
        • The Aztec Creation Myth
      • Lost Civilizations >
        • Atlantis >
          • Plato's Atlantis Dialogues >
            • Timaeus
            • Critias
          • Fragments on Atlantis
          • Panchaea: The Other Atlantis
          • Eumalos on Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Gómara on Atlantis
          • Sardinia and Atlantis
          • Santorini and Atlantis
          • The Mound Builders and Atlantis
          • Donnelly's Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Morocco
          • Atlantis and the Sea Peoples
          • W. Scott-Elliot >
            • The Story of Atlantis
            • The Lost Lemuria
          • The Lost Atlantis
          • Atlantis in Africa
          • How I Found Atlantis (Hoax)
          • Termier on Atlantis
          • The Critias and Minoan Crete
          • Rebuttal to Termier
          • Further Responses to Termier
          • Flinders Petrie on Atlantis
        • Lost Cities >
          • Miscellaneous Lost Cities
          • The Seven Cities
          • The Lost City of Paititi
          • Manuscript 512
          • The Idolatrous City of Iximaya (Hoax)
          • The 1885 Moberly Lost City Hoax
          • The Elephants of Paredon (Hoax)
        • OOPARTs
        • Oronteus Finaeus Antarctica Map
        • Caucasians in Panama
        • Jefferson's Excavation
        • Fictitious Discoveries in America
        • Against Diffusionism
        • Tunnels Under Peru
        • The Parahyba Inscription (Hoax)
        • Mound Builders
        • Gunung Padang
        • Tales of Enchanted Islands
        • The 1907 Ancient World Map Hoax
        • The 1909 Grand Canyon Hoax
        • The Interglacial Period
        • Solving Oak Island
      • Religious Conspiracies >
        • Pantera, Father of Jesus?
        • Toledot Yeshu
        • Peter of les Vaux-de-Cernay on Cathars
        • Testimony of Jean de Châlons
        • Rosslyn Chapel and the 'Prentice's Pillar
        • The Many Wives of Jesus
        • Templar Infiltration of Labor
        • Louis Martin & the Holy Bloodline
        • The Life of St. Issa (Hoax)
        • On the Person of Jesus Christ
      • Giants in the Earth >
        • Fossil Origins of Myths >
          • Fossil Teeth and Bones of Elephants
          • Fossil Elephants
          • Fossil Bones of Teutobochus
          • Fossil Mammoths and Giants
          • Giants' Bones Dug Out of the Earth
          • Fossils and the Supernatural
          • Fossils, Myth, and Pseudo-History
          • Man During the Stone Age
          • Fossil Bones and Giants
          • American Elephant Myths
          • The Mammoth and the Flood
          • Fossils and Myth
          • Fossil Origin of the Cyclops
          • Mastodon, Mammoth, and Man
        • Fragments on Giants
        • Manichaean Book of Giants
        • Geoffrey on British Giants
        • Alfonso X's Hermetic History of Giants
        • Boccaccio and the Fossil 'Giant'
        • Book of Howth
        • Purchas His Pilgrimage
        • Edmond Temple's 1827 Giant Investigation
        • The Giants of Sardinia
        • Giants and the Sons of God
        • The Magnetism of Evil
        • Tertiary Giants
        • Smithsonian Giant Reports
        • Early American Giants
        • The Giant of Coahuila
        • Jewish Encyclopedia on Giants
        • Index of Giants
        • Newspaper Accounts of Giants
        • Lanier's A Book of Giants
      • Science and History >
        • Halley on Noah's Comet
        • The Newport Tower
        • Iron: The Stone from Heaven
        • Ararat and the Ark
        • Pyramid Facts and Fancies
        • Argonauts before Homer
        • The Deluge
        • Crown Prince Rudolf on the Pyramids
        • Old Mythology in New Apparel
        • Blavatsky on Dinosaurs
        • Teddy Roosevelt on Bigfoot
        • Devil Worship in France
        • Maspero's Review of Akhbar al-zaman
        • The Holy Grail as Lucifer's Crown Jewel
        • The Mutinous Sea
        • The Rock Wall of Rockwall
        • Fabulous Zoology
        • The Origins of Talos
        • Mexican Mythology
        • Chinese Pyramids
        • Maqrizi's Names of the Pharaohs
      • Extreme History >
        • Roman Empire Hoax
        • American Antiquities
        • American Cataclysms
        • England, the Remnant of Judah
        • Historical Chronology of the Mexicans
        • Maspero on the Predynastic Sphinx
        • Vestiges of the Mayas
        • Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel
        • Origins of the Egyptian People
        • The Secret Doctrine >
          • Volume 1: Cosmogenesis
          • Volume 2: Anthropogenesis
        • Phoenicians in America
        • The Electric Ark
        • Traces of European Influence
        • Prince Henry Sinclair
        • Pyramid Prophecies
        • Templars of Ancient Mexico
        • Chronology and the "Riddle of the Sphinx"
        • The Faith of Ancient Egypt
        • Spirit of the Hour in Archaeology
        • Book of the Damned
        • Great Pyramid As Noah's Ark
        • Richard Shaver's Proofs
    • Alien Encounters >
      • US Government Ancient Astronaut Files >
        • Fortean Society and Columbus
        • Inquiry into Shaver and Palmer
        • The Skyfort Document
        • Whirling Wheels
        • Denver Ancient Astronaut Lecture
        • Soviet Search for Lemuria
        • Visitors from Outer Space
        • Unidentified Flying Objects (Abstract)
        • "Flying Saucers"? They're a Myth
        • UFO Hypothesis Survival Questions
        • Air Force Academy UFO Textbook
        • The Condon Report on Ancient Astronauts
        • Atlantis Discovery Telegrams
        • Ancient Astronaut Society Telegram
        • Noah's Ark Cables
        • The Von Daniken Letter
        • CIA Psychic Probe of Ancient Mars
        • Scott Wolter Lawsuit
        • UFOs in Ancient China
        • CIA Report on Noah's Ark
        • CIA Noah's Ark Memos
        • Congressional Ancient Aliens Testimony
        • Ancient Astronaut and Nibiru Email
        • Congressional Ancient Mars Hearing
        • House UFO Hearing
      • Ancient Extraterrestrials >
        • Premodern UFO Sightings
        • The Moon Hoax
        • Inhabitants of Other Planets
        • Blavatsky on Ancient Astronauts
        • The Stanzas of Dzyan (Hoax)
        • Aerolites and Religion
        • What Is Theosophy?
        • Plane of Ether
        • The Adepts from Venus
      • A Message from Mars
      • Saucer Mystery Solved?
      • Orville Wright on UFOs
      • Interdimensional Flying Saucers
      • Flying Saucers Are Real
      • Report on UFOs
    • The Supernatural >
      • The Devils of Loudun
      • Sublime and Beautiful
      • Voltaire on Vampires
      • Demonology and Witchcraft
      • Thaumaturgia
      • Bulgarian Vampires
      • Religion and Evolution
      • Transylvanian Superstitions
      • Defining a Zombie
      • Dread of the Supernatural
      • Vampires
      • Werewolves and Vampires and Ghouls
      • Science and Fairy Stories
      • The Cursed Car
    • Classic Fiction >
      • Lucian's True History
      • Some Words with a Mummy
      • The Coming Race
      • King Solomon's Mines
      • An Inhabitant of Carcosa
      • The Xipéhuz
      • Lot No. 249
      • The Novel of the Black Seal
      • The Island of Doctor Moreau
      • Pharaoh's Curse
      • Edison's Conquest of Mars
      • The Lost Continent
      • Count Magnus
      • The Mysterious Stranger
      • The Wendigo
      • Sredni Vashtar
      • The Lost World
      • The Red One
      • H. P. Lovecraft >
        • Dagon
        • The Call of Cthulhu
        • History of the Necronomicon
        • At the Mountains of Madness
        • Lovecraft's Library in 1932
      • The Skeptical Poltergeist
      • The Corpse on the Grating
      • The Second Satellite
      • Queen of the Black Coast
      • A Martian Odyssey
    • Classic Genre Movies
    • Miscellaneous Documents >
      • The Balloon-Hoax
      • A Problem in Greek Ethics
      • The Migration of Symbols
      • The Gospel of Intensity
      • De Profundis
      • The Life and Death of Crown Prince Rudolf
      • The Bathtub Hoax
      • Crown Prince Rudolf's Letters
      • Position of Viking Women
      • Employment of Homosexuals
      • James Dean's Scrapbook
      • James Dean's Love Letters
      • The Amazing James Dean Hoax!
    • Free Classic Pseudohistory eBooks
  • About Jason
    • Biography
    • Jason in the Media
    • Contact Jason
    • About JasonColavito.com
    • Terms and Conditions
  • Search