Cremo, Michael A.

Michael A. Cremo (1948- ) together with Richard L. Thompson are the authors of Forbidden Archaeology (FA) ^[1703]. This is a huge work of over 900 pages.

To be candid, I have not read all of it, but usually use it as a reference work. Both authors are Vedic creationists with a core belief that mankind has existed on Earth for millions if not billions of years. Consequently, readers can be forgiven for expecting that this book is primarily intended to promote a creationist agenda.

FA is greatly concerned with archaeological anomalies, but one reviewer found it odd that “FA devotes 400 pages to analyzing anomalous stone tools depicted in obscure literature over the past 150 years. Worse, these specimens no longer exist. So FA compensated by providing page after page of drawings taken from their original sources. But in his reprinted review on page 103, Kenneth Feder frets that these illustrations are absolutely useless because it is impossible to determine whether these Paleolithic tools are drawn to scale or accurately rendered.”^(a)

>A more jaundiced review of Cremo’s work can be found on the Rationalwiki website^(b). Two of the best-known refutations of Cremo’s book are on offer from Wade Tarzia^(c)  and Bradley Lepper^(d) to whom Cremo responded and in turn had his response reviewed by Tom Morrow of the National Center for Science Education^(e).<

My overall impression is that Forbidden Archaeology is another instance of quantity triumphing over quality. Equally depressing is Cremo’s belief that conventional science is engaged in a huge conspiracy to conceal historical facts, reminiscent of Graham Hancock‘s paranoidal rants!

^(a) https://ncse.ngo/review-forbidden-archaeologys-impact

^(b) https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Michael_Cremo

^(c) http://www.ramtops.co.uk/tarzia.html

^(d) http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/mom/lepper.html *

^(e) https://ncse.ngo/review-forbidden-archaeologys-impact *