Cryptoarchaeology

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Cryptoarchaeology a field of study which its proponents call a form of archaeology and its detractors label as a pseudoscience. Cryptoarchaeology is the scientific study of historic or prehistoric peoples and their cultures by analysis of their artifacts, inscriptions, monuments, and other such remains that do not adhere to orthodox theory and thought. As a result, such artifacts are typically minimally investigated. Cryptoarchaeology applies focus to the anomalous objects, in a similar way to Ethnoarchaeology applying focus to specific material remains created and discarded by societies, or Archaeoastronomy focuses on the astronomical aspects of ancient societies. Adherents claim it is a valid, although not fully accepted, form of archaeology, in that it does follow commonly accepted best practices, scientific method, though it focuses on anomalous discoveries, while adhering to the fundamental principals of processual archaeology. Critics point out that in claiming that it only studies items that do not adhere to orthodox theory, it is rejecting these theories without study, instead favoring unusual explanations.

Examples of cryptoarchaeological studies have included the survey, excavation, and analysis of contradictory sites such as the Black Pyramids Of Tenerife on the Canary Islands; the study of the Nazca culture and their relationship to the famous "lines"; the study of the Diquis Spheres of Southwestern Costa Rica; anomalous Pre-Columbian wheeled gold pieces from Panama; Petroglyphs from Nicaragua and Costa Rica; and even the formal analysis of the two possibly "genuine" crystal skulls (the BH & BM skulls). Even the legitimate study of Stonehenge falls under Cryptoarchaeology, though the fanciful speculation covering everything from UFO's to ancient super-cultures does not.

The origin of Cryptoarchaeology is believed to have first been coined and used by Professor of Archaeology, Dr. Luis Ferrero, of the Universidad de Costa Rica in a lecture in 1976. In a hand out paper, he defined cryptoarchaeology as the scientific study of objects and cultures conflicting with contemporary orthodoxy. Dr. Ferrero is best known for his exhaustive study of Central American archaeology, and specifically for his encyclopedic volume "Costa Rica Precolombina" published in 1979 by ECR (Editorial Costa Rica) as part of the Biblioteca Patria, considered the definitive text on the subject.

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