Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

by Michael A. Cremo and Richard L. Thompson

Book Overview

Discover an alternate history to the human race as the authors of Forbidden Archeology challenge one of the most fundamental components of the modern scientific world view. Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson discuss the work of researchers who, over the past 2 centuries, have found bones and artifacts showing that people like ourselves existed on earth millions of years ago. They explain how the scientific establishment has ignored these remarkable...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0892132949
• ISBN13: 9780892132942
• Release Date: January 1998
• Publisher: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust
• Length: 914 Pages
• Weight: 3.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.2" x 6.5" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

History you won't see taught in school...

...which in itself should tell you everything you need to know about modern "education"... After having spent best part of the last 6 months reading this juggernaut and cross-checking references, I can only say that the authors have done a tremendous job of proving that the evidence for the great antiquity of man is at least as strong as much of the evidence commonly accepted today as proof of human history. Those reviewers who claim the authors do not know their subject, or that they employ junk science or bad archaeology, quite simply have not read the book. Those claims are based more upon the (often very impressive) ignorance and preconceptions of the reviewers; do not be put off by them. Examine the evidence and judge for yourself. Not only do they present a very strong case that we should either open our minds or discard most, if not all, of the commonly accepted evidence of human antiquity, but they demonstrate very clearly how the process of knowledge filtration works to preserve orthodox beliefs and bury contradictory evidence. This is a very important part of the discussion because it needs to be understood why a lot of evidence which was once widely accepted is now widely regarded as mythical or having never existed at all (look at some of the early reviews for this book, mostly from Mr. A Customer, which show how widespread that view is). I started reading this book with no preconceptions at all except for a nagging suspicion that large parts of the history we are asked to uncritically swallow are wrong and known to be wrong by certain small groups of people. It strikes me from the evidence discussed that not only is the accepted version of human history inaccurate, it is almost completely wrong! A note of caution: the above does not mean that I believe that every artefact uncovered is unequivocal proof that human beings were around millions, and hundreds of millions, of years ago. Nor do I believe every piece of evidence the authors present. Indeed, they make it abundantly clear that they themselves do not. As in all such situations, the point is that ALL of the evidence should be publicised, examined and analysed - evenhandedly. In too many walks of life there is a dogmatic and dangerously arrogant attitude that all there is to know has already been discovered. This is rarely true; this book is yet more evidence of that. Those who insist that works such as this should be consigned to the scrap heap are blissfully unaware of a very basic fact; that their ignorance is total.

Great book.

If you're only interested in the politically correct version of human history, don't read this book. If, on the other hand, you are willing to explore evidence that contradicts the current history books, read on. The research done in this book is extremely comprehensive and hard to refute. The one-star reviews for this book don't get the big picture, and try to point out embellishments within the material that make it sound fishy, when it's really not. It's just their attempt to try and refute the real evidence which contradicts established canon. The current scientific viewpoint concerning the origins of human history has turned into a dogma, resembling that of the Inquisition, where any attempt to bring up an alternative viewpoint to history is met with a venomous assault. Scientists generally find what they are looking for, which only reinforces their current theories, and they tend to ignore evidence that doesn't fit into their belief systems. This is essentially what this book is all about.

An Enormous Amassing of Anomalous Evidence.

_Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race_, published by the Bhaktivedanta Institute, by historian and philosopher of science Michael A. Cremo and researcher Richard L. Thompson first appeared in 1993. This book called into question the most widely accepted account of the origin of mankind by bringing to light an enormous amount of anomalous evidence. Such evidence would seem to indicate that mankind (as Homo sapiens sapiens) existed on this planet long before the accepted date for man's origins (believed to be 100,000 years ago in Africa after evolving from an ape-like ancestor). However, were the evidence presented in this book to be accepted, then it would call into question the most widely held theory of man's origins, the Darwinian account of evolution by means of natural selection. The book relies on a certain understanding of the scientific enterprise itself, emphasizing the role that social forces play in the scientific endeavor. As such, the authors admit their debts to such philosophers of science as Thomas Kuhn, Steven Shapin, and Paul Feyerabend. The ideas of these philosophers are controversial (particularly among scientists) because they seem to show that sociological (and even political) factors play a greater role in the scientific endeavor than is usually admitted. (Long ago, others such as Charles Fort also amassed anomalous evidence that called into account many widely accepted theories of the time.) Throughout the book the authors will maintain that such anomalous evidence presents a challenge to the orthodox scientific account of mankind's origins. They also maintain that while much of the evidence appears in older journals and publications from the Nineteenth century that it was too casually dismissed by scientists of a later generation when the Darwinian account became the orthodox theory. The authors maintain that there is really no good reason to reject such older evidence, provided that one also accepts the modern evidence which lends support to the Darwinian account of mankind's more recent origins. Thus, one can choose to either accept both forms of evidence (for the older account of mankind's origins) or to reject both. Either way, the results do not look good for the standard Darwinian account. Since the beginning however, reactionary scientists have scoffed at such evidence, largely attributing it to fraud, improper data collection, memory distortions, etc. - basically any excuse to reject it. This can be seen in the reactions of many scientists to the ideas presented in this book. When this book did appear, with few exceptions, it was uniformly greeted with a negative reaction from the scientific community. Some maintained that the book amounted to a conspiracy theory, was thus unfalsifiable, and could not be taken seriously. However, this objection cannot be used against it, because science itself has been found to contain many unfalsifiable theories. However, even more importa

The scientific method is not dead yet.

"Forbidden Archeology" is a superb, well-documented compendium of both the evidence favoring the conventional picture of human evoluton, and the anomalous evidence that casts this picture into doubt. Its larger significance, however, lies in its detailed documentation and analysis of one particular exampe of a disturbing phenomenon that has increasingly crippled mainstream science: the establishment of a new scientific orthodoxy, i.e. a quasi-religious belief by leading scientists in the absolute and unquestionable validity of the basic theories of their field. These theories are then elevated to "facts" of which any dissenter is accused of being ignorant, which makes for a convenient, easy dismissal of any anomalous evidence. Since any such evidence is thus automatically ineligible for publication in the proper journals, this lack of documentation is then in turn taken by researchers in the field as proof that the evidence must be of low scientific value.With "Forbidden Archeology", Cremo and Thompson have attempted to break through this self-perpetuating cycle of ignorance and denial. The many angry dismissals by "experts" one can read on this page shows that they have done their job well. A truly educational book that will open the eyes of many who are searching for the true origins of humankind. Those who don't have the time or patience to peruse this 900-page tome should consider reading the abridged version instead. Either way, they will come to appreciate one of the fundamental tenets of true science: theory never overrides evidence.

Prompted me to reassess my archaeological education.

Years after drifting away from my background in archaeology, I started playing catch-up with some current works. This book made me take a hard look at what I was taught in college. In retrospect I see how archaeology can be highly unscientific. For example, I was told in one lecture that a certain site in Wisconsin (Aztalan State Park) used to be a great site, but it had been paved over years before. Well, I've been to Aztalan three times with friends, and it's an honest-to-goodnes ancient city with earth pyramids. Did that professor purposely lie to the class? Did he think no one would ever actually visit the place? What other complete fabrications have I been taught? Cremo and Thompson are very brave for taking on the establishment, but they have a lot of allies like me out here. Let's bring on SCIENCE and some TRUTH to our origins.