Pseudoarcheology allows for people to make sense of world phenomena for themselves. While archaeology uses logical thought and methods to interpret discoveries, pseudoarcheology tends to bypass the scientific process. These claims are broadcasted by means of television shows, such as Ancient Aliens, making it assessable to a large audience. I watched a fair share when I was a child with my father. The discovery of such things always kept me interested, which is probably what started my curiosity and lead me to pursue a career within archaeology honestly. Speaking for myself, I always thought those shows were ridiculous. They never showed and real data or how they came up with their interpretation. The issue is that they are spreading these claims of pseudoarcheology to a susceptible audience, because most people do not have a background in archaeology, making them more likely to believe what the “professionals” on television are saying. The harm in believing in pseudoscientific claims is that there is no logical process used to support these claims.

         As I said before, these claims come about because people want to make sense of the world around them. In most cases, people always point back to the myth of Atlantis and its inhabitants for the creation of larger monuments. The idea that ancient states were organized and powerful enough to create large monuments such as mounds and pyramids was crazy to most people. They would use Atlantis, or aliens, as a way to make the creation of these structures understandable for themselves. This thought process that ancient states couldn’t have been able to build these structures is very close minded. There is a massive amount of evidence behind the creation of the Egyptian pyramids by the Egyptians themselves. During lecture, Professor Watrall mentioned that pseudoarcheology was also used by Nazi Germany to gain support for the genocide of the Jews. I never knew that pseudoarcheology could even be used to help one’s personal agenda. I can’t believe that Hitler could shape a pseudoarcheological claim to move people in his favor. I couldn’t find any good articles on this so I’m hoping we go over it more during lecture. While learning about pseudoarcheology is interesting it is not good when people decide that it is logical. The belief in pseudoarcheology can be harmful. In some cases, such as Nazi Germany, it could turn fatal. In less extreme cases, it could lead to misinformed people.