15 Ancient Artifacts That Turned Out to Be Worthless Garbage

Ancient artifacts always cause a buzz in the archaeology world, or at least we think so thanks to you know which movies. Indeed, really old timey-objects hold the promise of being as awesome as the Dead Sea Scrolls, or even as scientifically fascinating as the Antikythera mechanism. Other times, they’re just randy stuff, because we’re all sick. And other times they’re just creepy, like something you’d see in the first act of a horror movie.
In this Pictofact, we’re focusing on something different: baloney. Not, like, actually fossilized ugh (ew), but ancient artifacts that turned out to be useless stuff. And having treated this subject before, we know that we’ll inevitably have to deal with hoaxes. Because random stuff may be taken as priceless objects, but most of the time they’re just used by sketchy people desperate for attention. So we’re giving them attention right now, happy? Actually, wait, we are happy. After all, from finely made forgeries to truly random trash, you won’t believe the stuff that almost made the history books.
The Shroud of Turin

The Crystal Skulls

The Tucson Artifacts

Hobby Lobby's Dead Sea Scrolls

RozenskiP/Shutterstock, Ken and Nyetta/Wiki Commons
Sadly, The Hobby Lobby Dead Sea Scrolls Are All Crafty Fakes
The Tiara of Saitaphernes

5 Ridiculous Archaeological Frauds (That Fooled the World)
History
The AMV Runestone

Tim Post/Minnesota Public Radio
5 Ridiculous Archaeological Frauds (That Fooled the World)
Wikipedia
Archeaoraptor

Jonathan Chen/Wiki Commons, National Geographic
Baigong Pipes

The Piltdown Man

The London Hammer

Francis Drake's Brass Plate

The Coso Artifact

The Acámbaro Figures

The Fiji Mermaid

The Cardiff Giant

Martin Lewinson/Wiki Commons,
New York State Historical Association Library/Wiki Commons