10 Most puzzeling ancient artifacts

[Byakuya]

I did a bit of looking into these artifacts and one thing I noticed is that there is no ongoing research into them, and if there is then it is taking one hell of a long time!

They have either been debunked in some way, discredited or left to the readers imagination by saying "the authenticity of which has neither been proved nor disproved".

 

[rwenzori]

Its the language, manner and nature of the art of debunking, that despicable pastime employed by the closed minded conventional thinking masses who believe so emphatically in their "facts" that nothing may be allowed to intrude upon the tranquil truth they have created and fashioned to their own belief structures.

Quite. But if the f*cking thing is a "1920s-era Champion spark plug" then that's what it is, mate.

Would you care to "re-bunk" any of the 10 bs artifacts?

 

[JBFRobisher]

In the investigation of anomolies one finds it insiduously and subconsciously implanted in articles, the carefully chosen wording and language of debunking:
I.E. From the article on the Klerksdorp Spheres


Take the wording of the first line "cited by alternative researchers and reporters in books" , then compare to "Conventional geologists, who have personally studied"
Who do we naturally believe?
We believe the conventional, because it denotes authority and the use of personally denotes having individualism, so we are left with the image of the "Authorotative knowledgable scientist"
As opposed to the alternative researcher, as alternative denotes different, strange, odd and non-conventional, therefore shouldnt be taken seriously.

There is an endless procession of idiots and scamsters offering up bogus 'theories' in efforts to become well-known and take your dollar. The advent of the internet has multiplied this throng many times over. It is quite impossible but happily unnecessary to apply one's mind to all of this rubbish. Most are shown up to be unworthy of one's time by those who practice honest science in trusted, reviewed ways and are therefore 'conventional'. Very little radical or anomalous but true is missed. If you want the 'strange, odd and non-conventional' I suggest studying a lot of modern science, quantum physics in particular. On the other side, the 'alternative' side, you have crowds of charlatans, 'mystics', 'spiritualists' and 'swamis' peddling spurious 'New Age' rubbish that has little, if any, foundation in reality. Your argument against 'debunking' is thus also spurious.


Regarding those Klerksdorp rocks that are so 'mysterious' - have you ever seen a cracked-open amethyst? Why not go gaga over that then?


http://www.crystal-journey.com.au/images/Amethyst Large Geode.JPG

 

[Nanfeishen]

Quite. But if the f*cking thing is a "1920s-era Champion spark plug" then that's what it is, mate.
Would you care to "re-bunk" any of the 10 bs artifacts?

I dont doubt that certain artifacts turn out to be found to be fake, one item here or there is resonably easy to fake,but many on the other hand aren't

I.E. The Ica Stones, if they really are a hoax, why would anybody want to produce over 15000 of the things? ,who would have the time? I cant see a generation or more of peasants sitting around carving or painting thousands of detailed inscriptions on rocks for fun or even simply to pass the time. And recreate images of creatures and scenes they would have no knowledge of ?
Since it has been filled under hoax, this enigmatic issue has never had to nor will it probabily ever have to be dealt with again , very convenient.
http://www.xenophilia.com/zb0021.htm

WRT a few of the other artifacts, and some not mentioned by the OP,the following link has IMO more detailed info and links on them:
http://www.world-mysteries.com/new_sar.shtml

For a fairly extensive list of Archeological Oddities, I would suggest the following link , go nuts:
http://www.science-frontiers.com/cat-arch.htm

The Morien Institute is also worth it and carries some very well documented and researched articles:
http://www.morien-institute.org/anomalies.html
With a nice section on Marine Archaeology
http://www.morien-institute.org/uwnewsarchive.html

Some interesting reading
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/User:Vuara/Ancient_Anomalies

It is quite impossible but happily unnecessary to apply one's mind to all of this rubbish. Most are shown up to be unworthy of one's time by those who practice honest science in trusted, reviewed ways and are therefore 'conventional'. Very little radical or anomalous but true is missed. If you want the 'strange, odd and non-conventional' I suggest studying a lot of modern science, quantum physics in particular. On the other side, the 'alternative' side, you have crowds of charlatans, 'mystics', 'spiritualists' and 'swamis' peddling spurious 'New Age' rubbish that has little, if any, foundation in reality.

How dull and sadly very boring life would be if we only stuck to the facts of science and followed conventionality.
Where would we be if it werent for the alternative thinkers and non-conventionist practitioners in their fields?
Heinrich Schliemann must be turning in his grave.

WRT silencing /debunking
This from a session at Stanford:

Still, in practice, to be underlined as process of transformation and documentation, certain interactions with, and aspects of, these pasts are manifest while others fall through the sieve into silence. Whether particular understandings of local ‘heritage,’ the more ineffable qualities of human relations with archaeological locales, or peculiar qualities of things (i.e. the abject textures of detritus or whatever) a great deal is overlooked. Silenced in translation many voices, relations, and qualities are all too often ignored, treated as background noise, and are utterly (re)forgotten. Why do archaeologists speak of some pasts while at the same time they silence others?

http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/archaeolog/2006/11/archaeology_and_science_studie.html

Also try:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hueyatlaco

A little research offers many instances of things and out of place artifacts being swept inder the rug, buried or even destroyed, to keep the 2 opposing versions of mans history in their corrrect time lines.

Don't think you're on the right road just because it’s a well-beaten path.

 

[Geriatrix]

... I.E. The Ica Stones, if they really are a hoax, why would anybody want to produce over 15000 of the things? ,who would have the time? I cant see a generation or more of peasants sitting around carving or painting thousands of detailed inscriptions on rocks for fun or even simply to pass the time. And recreate images of creatures and scenes they would have no knowledge of ?
Since it has been filled under hoax, this enigmatic issue has never had to nor will it probabily ever have to be dealt with again , very convenient.
http://www.xenophilia.com/zb0021.htm

That ica stone one is interesting!
But a google search revealed some ones with gay pron om them

And Brontosaurs carved the way we(out of ignorance) thought they walked years ago, where their neck go straight up in the air and their tails curled by their feet, where we know now that the head/tail relationship was more like a suspension bridge and not like a giraffe.
But still, interesting.

 

[JBFRobisher]

WRT silencing /debunking
This from a session at Stanford:

http://traumwerk.stanford.edu/archaeolog/2006/11/archaeology_and_science_studie.html

Also try:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hueyatlaco

Is it not amazing that a mainstream "conventional" institution such as Stanford can be self-critical and seek to ensure that its researchers cover all the bases? Perhaps your little conventional/alternative classification is too limited? Perhaps, in fact, what you term "conventional" is quite willing and able to deal with the strange, as I suggested to you before?

Your wiki link on Hueyatlaco contains no references so is hard to evaluate in any way. But it does seem that the work was published in what appears to be a "conventional" publication, though the whole thing appears to be surrounded by controversies of attribution and science. It is also still being studied by "conventional" archaeologists, one of whom states "Studies undertaken in 2004, revise the stratigraphy and dating of the site."


The "conventional" is not necessarily the "well-beaten path" - though it makes use of thorough scientific method so as not to be fooled too often by the speculative quackery you seem to prefer.

 

[rwenzori]

For a fairly extensive list of Archeological Oddities, I would suggest the following link , go nuts:
http://www.science-frontiers.com/cat-arch.htm

< snip etc etc >

No doubt the "alternatives" can trot out an endless string of these things. I have shown how most of the most popular of these are bovine excrement and I have no desire to walk through any more fields covered in cow-pats, delicately and studiously demonstrating each one to be exactly that - a cow-pat.

I am quite sure that other "alternative" "anomalies" will be one of:

1. A hoax.
2. Untrue.
3. True but not mysterious.
4. Incorrectly analysed.
5. Not yet explained by science, but will be, given time.


Maybe someone else feels like a bit of [-]cr@p detecting[/-] debunking?

 

[Nanfeishen]

That ica stone one is interesting!
But a google search revealed some ones with gay pron om them

You will often find what you term "Gay porn" on many pieces of ancient art, including pieces from the Greco -Roman era as well.
The act of sodomy was often the final humiliation imposed upon a vanquished foe.

speculative quackery

No doubt the "alternatives" can trot out an endless string of these things.

Most of those "string of things" that you attribute to Alternatives were actually drawn from mainstream science journals.
The author : William R. Corliss

Since 1974, Corliss has published a number of works in the "Sourcebook Project". Each volume is devoted to a scientific field (archeology, astronomy, geology, et cetera) and features articles culled almost exclusively from scientific journals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_R._Corliss

Further reading on the actual study of anomolies:

Anomalistics: defined as being "...serious and systematic study of all phenomena that fail to fit the picture of reality provided for us by common sense or by the established sciences.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anomalistics

The Perspective of Anomalistics
http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/anomalistics/perspective.htm