Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Archaeology Conspiracy Theories

[bedlamsbard]

When I applied to college a few years ago, one of my application essays told in exacting detail how I believed in the lost city of Atlantis and its cousin, Lemuria, and how when I got my degree in archaeology, I was going to find it, and prove all the believers right. Whether or not that essay helped me get into college I don't know, but my grand plan of majoring in anthropology turned into a physics major, then back into an anthro major, then into an English major, then history, then medieval and early modern studies, and finally I've rolled back around to classical studies, where at least I'm likely to at some point in time go on an archaeological dig, although I'm coming up on my junior year and have yet to take an anthro class. My search for Atlantis has been pushed aside in favor of ancient Greece and medieval Europe. But that doesn't mean I'm any less interested -- in Atlantis, the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, or a thousand other pieces of history that might be lost or might never have existed at all. I call them Archaeology Conspiracy Theories, or ACTs.

ACTs are both familiar and popular. Like many people, I grew up with the Indiana Jones movies, the first and third of which feature a pair of pretty well known ACTs in the form of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. Atlantis, another ACT, has been featured all the time in books and movies; even Disney's taken an interest. The entire premise of Stargate and the TV series it spawned is based on an ACT. Lara Croft and The Mummy are both based on ACTs, real or imagined.

I put ACTs into a couple of different categories. The first one is archaeology-reality based, with sources from historical documents or structures. This includes the Ark of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, Atlantis, various Stonehenge theories, lost ancient civilizations, that sort of thing. The second one includes fictionalized ACTs: Lara Croft and The Mummy, fiction that's heavy on the adventure and light on whatever reality it's based on. Third is outer space: aliens built the Pyramids, Stargate.

Some conspiracy theories are less conspiracy-based than others: Stonehenge, the Sphinx, and the Pyramids clearly exist, although how in the world they were actually constructed is a question for the ages, and the Ark of the Covenant must have existed at one point, though who knows where it is now. Others, like suggesting that the Pyramids were landing pads for aliens, require a certain amount of willpower and belief to go along with. All of them make for a great story, though: just ask Lucas and Spielberg.

So what is it that's so fascinating about archaeology conspiracy theories? Well, I can't speak for anyone else, but I like the puzzle of them. It's fun, putting disconnected pieces together -- or rather, reading or watching someone else do the work -- and seeing what might pop out, however unlikely it is. And sometimes it is, indeed, very unlikely. I can't say that I always take what I read seriously, but a lot of the time, questions are raised that I didn't even know existed. Who mapped Antarctica? How and why were the Nazca Lines made? Where did the weathering on the Sphinx come from? What's up with the Oak Island Money Pit?

As a writer, I'm perfectly willing to take questions like that and run with them, the same way Hollywood does, although I tend to put them into fantasy. Sure, they're controversial; many things are. Sure, some of it is pretty crazy. But it's a hell of a lot of fun if you're into that kind of thing.

Book recs: I'm quite fond of Graham Hancock myself; he's a lot of fun and his books are extremely detailed. The three I've read are Fingerprints of the Gods: The Evidence of Earth's Lost Civilization, Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization, and The Sign and the Seal: The Quest for the Lost Ark of the Covenant.

While I generally don't actually read much beyond Hancock, other books I've read that I'd categorize in the same realm are The Coming Global Superstorm (inspiration for The Day After Tomorrow; Roland Emmerich apparently really likes ACTs) and God's Gold: A Quest for the Lost Temple Treasures of Jerusalem. While I haven't actually read it, Chariots of the Gods is a classic.

There's a fair amount of popular fiction that falls into ACT territory. Besides the movies mentioned above, Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child have a set of popular novels that tend to dance into the ACT realm. Clive Cussler and his Dirk Pitt novels fall definitely into ACT territory; the movie Sahara is based on the books. James Rollins appears to fall into the same realm, though I haven't read him myself. ACT fiction is generally strong on action and adventure and loose on historical accuracy; it tends to be male-dominated, but the characters are generally highly resourceful, competent, and intelligent. (Call me, Evie Carnahan! Rick can come too!) I wouldn't call it deep by a long shot, but it's a lot of fun.

Comments

[clanwilliam]

Check out Lionel Fanthorpe, who is a lovely lovely vicar in the UK; one of the most prolific authors still living (under assorted pseudonyms - everyone teases Lionel about his fiction books, which I've never actually dared read); and an expert in this sort of thing. I know about the Money Pit because he told me about it!

Also, I know why Stonehenge was built. A Wiltshire friend of mine told me that a bunch of lads several thousand years ago left the pub at closing time, weren't ready to go to bed and decided to build something to confuse everyone.

Having been in several rural Wiltshire pubs at closing time, I have no problem with this theory whatsoever.

[bedlamsbard]

Oooh! *looks up*

That sounds like a perfectly reasonable theory!

[isweedan]

GodDAMN this Oak Island money pit thing is interesting. I've never heard about it before and am reading up on it on wikipedia now.

Coconut fibre, metal pieces, all those different types of wood...SO COOL. It reminds me a lot of the insulation used between the two spheres in Abhorsen by Garth Nix - have you read?

*just got to the bit about Marie Antoinette* Dude. Dude. This is so cool.

And all the folkloric history surrounding it! Wow.

*sealclap of happy*

[sporky_rat]

omg omg omg someone else who knows Abhorson and Liriel and Sabriel and Nick and Touchstone and MOGGET....

[isweedan]

The Disreputable Dog!!! Paperwings! :D :D :D Hiiii.

where the hell is my abhorson icon?!

[sporky_rat]

Ahem. The Disreputable Bitch, if you want to get technical.

The Bells!! Waverly College! The Clayr!!! Mind if I subscribe?


OMG YOU'RE FROM MY AREA OF THE WORLD.

Re: where the hell is my abhorson icon?!

[isweedan]

I see you've already gone for it :D That's totes cool though.

[cesy]

I'm sure I have a couple of other people in my circle who are fans. staranise is familiar with the books, and aquaeri actually knows Garth Nix from way back when.

[bedlamsbard]

I almost didn't put the Oak Island money pit in the post, so I'm glad I did! I know Bones did an episode that used the Oak Island money pit (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) and there are a couple of novels that use the concept, if you like that sort of thing.

[snacky]

You would like Atlantis Rising, I bet. If you can find it at a library or get your hands on a used copy, give it a try!

[senmut]

Just so you know, I am subscribing to you on the basis of this post alone. I've not yet read Underworld, but I love the other two.

[bedlamsbard]

Underworld is one of my favorites -- I need to get around picking up his other books some time (I only actually Underworld and Fingerprints; my university library has The Sign and the Seal), but they're not that -- ooh, a quick search just revealed that my public library has The Message of the Sphinx. (Me: attention span of a gnat.)

[senmut]

I just finished Sphinx! It was a good read.

[jeanniemactavish]

I have a soft spot for ACT stories (Indiana Jones, The Mummy etc.; see also the Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters) because they often involve ostensibly mild-mannered or absent-minded academics who, when required, turn into superheroes! Whose special powers include the ability to do research, pay attention to details, and speak obscure languages! I am a historian by training... I never became one professionally, but still, some part of me will always be a scholar, and will always love this particular trope. :)

(You don't know me - I think I found this post via 3W4DW? I am new to DW and casting around for like-minded folk...we appear to have shared interests...mind if I subscribe?)

[isweedan]

Amelia Peabody!!! "Another year, another body..."

(Though I don't see AP as being particularly ACT. She's more just (hah! just?) an archaeologist!heroine to me? Unless I'm forgetting important things.)

[jeanniemactavish]

Oh no, you are probably right. It has been years since I read those books...I have vague memories of conspiracy-type plots involving cursed Egyptian tombs...and maybe Nazi spies at one point? Perhaps that is why I tend to think of them as similar to Indiana Jones & co... But yes, it is the fact that the main character was an archaeologist!heroine that has stayed with me. :)

[isweedan]

No wait - I just remembered! Nefret! Her and her culture and the whole book where they found her are so very delightfully ACT. Yay.

[bedlamsbard]

Oh, I know! And they are almost always so delightfully competent, too. Indiana Jones! Smart and intelligent and good at knocking heads together and able to MacGuyver just about anything. *happy sigh* I am in theory a historian in training, but for a long time there, I wanted to be an archaeologist, and I totally blame Indiana Jones.

Go ahead!

[debirlfan]

Having read quite a bit on it, I'm convinced Santorini is the remains of Atlantis. The volcano and tidal wave took it, and whatever is left is under 30 feet of ash. :(

[autumnia]

For the Preston/Child novels, are you referring to their Agent Pendergast series? I haven't read them in a while but they were quite addictive and some of the crazy plots do really lend themselves to what-ifs and conspiracies.

[bedlamsbard]

*nods* Some of the Pendergast stuff, especially Relic, but I was more specifically thinking of the non-Pendergast stuff like Riptide and Tyrannosaur Canyon, although it's been a while since I've read any of them. (On my mind, though, because my dad is on a tear through the latest Pendergast novels.)

[autumnia]

I'm trying to remember what Relic was about since it's been so long. I had been on a reading spree at the time and read all the books in the Pendergast series and one other novel that didn't feature Aloysius but had some of the same characters.

I think there's a new book out this month that's part of the series, but I haven't even read the last one out yet.

(I hope you don't mind, but I've friended you here since you're posting more on DW than on LJ these days.)

[scintilla10]

Oh this is so interesting! *starts clicking around all the links*

[lady_songsmith]

Ooh. *adds things to summer reading list*

Another good ACT fiction author is David Gibbins.

[the_wanlorn]

Oh man, this is all so cool. :D :D :D

[moizissimo]

OOOH! So cool! I love these mysteries - I did a class on the Archaeology of Ancient Egypt and Africa. It was so neat!

Also, one of these days I need to use the theory that the pyramids were made by crazy people wielding mammoths in 10,000 BC in a paper. :D

[bedlamsbard]

Oooh, that sounds like a fascinating class.

Roland Emmerich (who did 10,000 BC) is apparently very fond of ACTs -- between 10,000 BC, Stargate, and The Day After Tomorrow, well.

[moizissimo]

It was a super awesome class. Also really cool was the Archaeology of Religion. The prof wrote the book.

[bewize]

Lovely post!

Other movies/books would definitely include Dan Brown's Angels and Demons and The Davinci Code. National Treasure and a bunch of other mega-million dollar hits.


You've made me realize how much I like this genre!

[bedlamsbard]

Man, I have no idea why I never thought of Dan Brown or National Treasure! *facepalm* And I have read and/or seen them, too, although not very recently.

[carodee]

I grew up with Chariot of the Gods (Mayan astronauts \o/) and The Bible Was Right and Heinrich Schliemann and books on Atlantis and Mu and alien abductions in the family bookcases. My mom is completely convinced that aliens tinkered genetically with apes to create a worker race. It was a bit of a conversation killer during social dinner parties. *g*

I never thought to connect ACT as a fannish genre but it totally is and one that I love as well. It would make a fun com.