Last week's discovery of some tombs of the pyramid builders in Egypt left me a bit confused. The archaeologists triumphantly claimed the tombs prove the builders were hired workmen, not slaves. Slaves wouldn't have been buried in proper tombs right next to the Pyramids, the resting place of the pharaohs.

I used to be an archaeologist and couldn't understand what they were crowing about. Archaeologists have long known that hired labor built Egypt's temples and monuments. During the annual flooding of the Nile the farmers didn't have much to do because their fields were underwater, so the pharaoh hired them to keep them out of trouble and glorify himself. In fact, a similar set of tombs was discovered in 1990. So what's the big deal?

Then I remembered. If archaeologists don't keep repeating the facts, the BS will bury the truth.

I've been to a lot of ancient sites, and even more annoying than the touts trying to sell me cheap trinkets are the "spiritual travelers" spouting gibberish about ancient astronauts and Atlantis. You've heard the theories. The local people couldn't possibly have built these impressive remains so they got a helping hand from aliens. Another spin is that all the great archaeological sites are survivals of an ancient civilization. It doesn't matter that there's not a shred of real evidence to back these claims; these First World fantasies are much more alluring than the simple truth--dark people speaking strange languages built the most impressive monuments in human history.

These ideas aren't new. Fingerprints of the Gods, Chariots of the Gods, America B.C., The Lost Continent of Mu, all recycle the same old half-truths, out-of-context "facts", and outright inventions in their quest to peddle nonsense to a public that should have been given a better education in the first place. New Age archaeology tours have become big business. There's nothing more annoying than having to elbow your way through one of these wide-eyed herds when in the presence of something truly great like Machu Picchu or Giza.

What many New Agers would be shocked to realize is that their ideas are rooted in colonial racism. Early European explorers and scholars couldn't believe that "natives" were capable of building the great monuments in places like Egypt, Zimbabwe, and Peru and explained them away by thinking up lost white civilizations or wandering tribes of Europeans. Some modern writers have replaced Aryans with aliens, but the Great White Civilization idea still persists. Do a Google image search on "Atlanteans" and you'll see what I mean.

So please, throw away the crystals and read some real archaeology books. The archaeologists don't have all the answers, but at least they're trying. And I can tell you from ten years in the business that despite what New Agers say, archaeologists aren't conspiring to hide the truth. Repeat: there is no grand conspiracy.

But I would say that, wouldn't I? Got to go, Venus is calling.

Filed under: Africa, Egypt