Pseudoarcheology itself disregards facts and studies done by many qualified scientists. Believing in lies can have a lot of effects on our understanding of the world and history. There are many reasons why believing in pseudoarcheology and taking it as facts can be harmful. Many of these we discussed in class this week. One of these being that some of pseudoarcheology is based on racism. Professor Watrall mentioned that the Nazi movement during WWII was influenced by pseudoarcheology. Looking more into this, I found in an article written someone from the University of New Hampshire. The article talks about how the Nazi’s just kind of made assumptions to further their racist agenda. These Nazi “archeologists” took a look at skull length and made ridiculous claims about how some races are inferior to others.  The Nazi’s also took over certain archeological sites and used them for their own political agenda (Basset, 2013). I had no idea that racist groups used archeological claims like this to fuel their argument. This is really problematic especially in today’s world. I feel like in our society today people feel like if they have something to back up their racism, they will feel more comfortable letting it out. I also feel like sometimes lesser educated people could be influenced by hearing these pseudoarcheological claims. Once people are told that their ideas have science backing them up, this can spark larger things like gatherings, protests, riots, and even attacks. Professor Watrall also mentioned that the Neo-Nazi movement that exists even today believes in the lost city of Atlantis, another popular pseudoarcheological focus. 

Broadcasting these claims is another hazard that we may face. Shows like “Ancient Aliens” can be harmful in spreading pseucdoarcheology and its implications to many people across America. People who are unaware of pseudoarcheology’s existence (much like myself before this class) could watch these shows and start to believe this as facts. People could also start spreading these fake facts to family members and take action. For example, the whole Area 51 movement that has been happening recently. There are so many people who claim a lot of sketchy things about Area 51, human experimentation, and alien existence there. Started as a joke but now taken a bit more seriously, a bunch of people online came together and decided to storm Area 51 to try and break in and get some answers. I do not think that anyone has actually broken in, but if they did, the media probably would not have broadcasted it. In conclusion, Psuedoarcheology is very harmful especially when it is being spread around with no basis of facts.

Link to article for reference: http://anthropology.msu.edu/anp364-fs19/2019/09/05/dangers-of-pseudoarchaeological-claims/