Throughout history, many pseudoarchaeological claims have been made that potentially could have changed science forever. Luckily, these hoaxes were debunked and discredited but, had they not have been where would we be now? This question alone should be enough to realize that yes, it is the responsibility of all archaeologists to confront and counteract pseudoarchaeology and pseudoarchaeologists.  If Piltdown Man had not been questioned by David Waterson in 1913 then again by Franz Weindenreich in 1943, there is no telling how much science and research would be held and based on that one archaeological find thought to be the ‘missing link’. We check everything in science because if we believed the first results how often would mistakes and error be included? If the same standard is not held to archaeologist, we would be piecing together and analyzing human history completely wrong.

             Implementing this may be a different story. I would propose to begin an organization of archaeologists whose purpose is to record and spectate all archaeological sites that are active. In the occasion of a breakthrough find, they would then review and assist in the processing of this find in order to verify its authenticity and context. I feel this is not too overbearing, and it’s well worth it to ensure we are not building upon false information. Since freedom of speech and press may cause some of these claims to gain traction in the media, this organization would then state they have no affiliation with said claim or label it as pseudoarchaeology.  

The way I see it, it should be the responsibility of archaeologists to keep their field free of error and false claims, the same way clinical science debunked the claim that vaccines cause autism. Plus, no one would know how to go about reviewing a pseudoarchaeological find/claim better than an archaeologist or related scientist, so it makes sense to leave them responsible. Leaving the responsibility to others leaves the possibility that someone may believe or accept these claims open. For example, if the media were in charge of reviewing and confronting these pseudoarchaeologists a news outlet whose world view skews conservative or liberal may have different opinions and findings about the claims that fits their agenda. This is especially important since some claims are made in order to fit religious beliefs or racists’ agenda.

As an outsider to the archaeology community, the stories of aliens, ancient astronauts, and giants seems, a bit odd to some, but believable to others. It is important that the false information these claims spread isn’t taken seriously without true evidence and internal regulation is the only way to ensure that. Archaeologists should want to defend their science-based claims and hypotheses because, if they are truly possible based from real research they have nothing to worry about.