Episode 10

Back to School Special: Archaeological Hoaxes

This week, we fake it til we make it, tackling four archaeological hoaxes. Even when things aren't what they seem...they aren't what they seem. What's the deal with that stone giant in some guy's field? How can that mummified Persian princess be neither Persian nor a princess? Did someone stumble upon the final resting place of Jesus' little brother? Did Vikings inhabit Oklahoma in the 11th century? No. No, they did not.

If you want to read more about these hoaxes and maybe-hoaxes, check out:

Bogus! An Introduction to Dubious Discoveries (Archaeology)

The Cardiff Giant Was Just a Big Hoax (Smithsonian)

Ten Lost Tribes of Israel (Wikipedia)

The Cardiff Giant (Farmers’ Museum)

Special Report: Saga of the Persian Princess (Archaeology)

Princess of Persia: 17 Years Ago, a Woman’s Mummy Was Rescued from the Antiquities Black Market. 21 Years Ago She Actually Died. (Reddit)

A Mummy Hoax Might Be Wrapped up in a Modern Murder (Atlas Obscura)

Alleged Forger of Holy Land Antiquities Held (Haaretz)

Trial sheds light on shadowy antiquities world (Boston Globe)

The art of authentic forgery (Haaretz)

Jehoash Inscription (Wikipedia)

Photos: The Bone Boxes of the 'Jesus Family Tomb' (Live Science)

After 7-year saga, a surprising end to antiquities fraud case (Times of Israel)

Israeli Antiquities Collector Talks About His Trial – and His Acquittal (Haaretz)

Heavener Runestone (Atlas Obscura)

Next Episode All Episodes Previous Episode

About the Podcast

Show artwork for The Dirt Podcast

The Dirt Podcast

Archaeology, Anthropology, and our shared human past.

Listen for free

RSS Feed

About your host

The Dirt Podcast

As science communicators in anthropology and archaeology, we hosts of The Dirt acknowledge that we hold a position of considerable privilege and opportunity, and commit ourselves to continuous learning, unlearning and reflection. We recognize that our disciplines, as well as our own lives, are rooted in and propped up by settler colonialism, white supremacy, and dispossession.

We now reside on the stolen ancestral territory of the Shawnee and Haudenosaunee and on the lands of the Muscogee and Cherokee Nations, but over its lifetime, The Dirt has also been produced on the unceded traditional territory of the Piscataway Conoy and Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians, as well as that of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, Patwin and Miwok peoples and all those dispossessed by Cession 296. We offer our show as a platform for Indigenous scholarship, history, and cultural expression, through citation and conversation, and we welcome the opportunity to host and compensate Indigenous scholars of archaeology and anthropology as interview guests.

Likewise, we encourage all listeners who reside in settler-colonial states to learn about on whose land they reside, their place in the ongoing process of colonization, and how to contribute materially to reparations and Indigenous sovereignty.