We are sorry to announce that this event has been CANCELLED.

White Civilizers, Conspiracy Theories, Ancient Apocalypses, and Q-anon: The Weirdness of Archeology in 2023

A lecture by Kenneth Feder, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, Central Connecticut State University

The twenty-first century has been marked by an explosion in the use of archaeology to support claims of a human past very different from what archaeologists ordinarily present. Those claims include a precociously advanced ancient culture of white people, maybe from Atlantis, maybe not, who brought civilization to the benighted people of the Americas. The advanced society, it is said, was wiped out utterly in a natural cataclysm and, therefore, the lack of any archaeological evidence for its existence is perceived as evidence for its existence. If that hurts your head, yeah, me too. Archaeology is claimed to be a closed club of ivory-tower academics who might know the truth but are committed to hiding it. In the weirdest element of popular archaeology resides the notion that at least some archaeological sites are centers of deep-state, demonic activities and vandalism is viewed as a potent strategy to negate the power of this evil. Yikes!
The story told here is entertaining. And terrifying.

Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.

100 Donald P. Corbett Bldg,
University of Maine, Orono
Free and open to the public

With generous support from the Alton ‘38 and Adelaide Hamm Campus Activity Fund