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