"I promise you, it’s not that." The Challenges of Conspiracism for Historic and Contemporary Archaeology

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "Critical Issues in Contemporary Archaeology & Historical Archaeology: Limits, Opportunities, Challenges", at the 2025 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

A significant challenge faced by archaeologists today is the proliferation of pseudoarchaeological conspiracist content across all sorts of media spaces, from television, to books, to digital and social media. Conspiracism creates challenges for archaeologists and communities, whose knowledge and histories are rewritten into mis- and disinformative narratives that can shape interpretations of the past and present. It can also lead to harm to both people and sites through harassment, vandalism, and illegal excavations. Conspiracism is fast-paced and constantly shifting, and it is a challenge for archaeologists to keep ahead of it, but that does not mean all hope is lost. Engagement is necessary and there are a variety of effective and practical methods for responsible engagement with pseudoarchaeology that I will share in this presentation. Because, as Bettina Arnold (2006:179) wrote, “Pseudoarchaeology may always be traveling with us, but we do not have to let it drive the train.”

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Critical Issues in Contemporary Archaeology & Historical Archaeology: Limits, Opportunities, Challenges   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2025

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Nicole Haddow