Digging Up a New Past

Carnes Lord with a review essay on alternative theories of pre-history

"and the two major limitations of this literature. The first is, indeed, amateurism. Though many of these authors have done an impressive amount of homework, and often manage to master a much wider range of materials than the average academic archeologist, they tend to lack method and discipline, and they can be cloying in providing ambient color and the personal element. The second is their tendency to drift off into the fever swamps, from global conspiracy theory to New Age fascinations of various kinds to Dan Brown-style excursions into Freemasonry. This is too bad, because I'm pretty sure they are onto something."