Why? (A Rant)

Being that I've been a member of ATS for over 6 years now (joining when I was only 15), I feel as though I've seen just about everything come and go. I've seen theories pop up tons of times, and I've learned so much over the years. When I joined, I was one who believed the earth had been visited in the past by aliens. I believed our race was not the first to become this advanced on the planet. I was fascinated by OOPART. I wondered where Atlantis was. I enjoyed John Titor and subjects based on time travel. I believed Grey aliens were actually humans from the distant future, and that UFOs were both time machines as well as vehicles. I wanted to find bigfoot and the lochness monster.

However, over those 6 years, I've learned both from ATS, outside experiences, and common sense that comes with aging, that practically all of my ideas when I was 15 are different than they are now. I see many of my old ideas are current ideas by many other members.

When I was a small child, I was fascinated by dinosaurs, and LOVED the Jurassic Park movie when it came out when I was so small. I would sit in my gravel driveway finding shell fossils for hours during the summer, and owned just about every dinosaur toy you could own. When I reached the first grade, I remember learning about the mounds that the native americans built (yes the same ones that are questioned [in regards to their construction] today by ATSers). I thought that was THE COOLEST. My focus from that point on was an interest in archaeology, although I didn't know what it was at the time. When I got to 10th grade (and at that point in time, an established ATS member) I questioned why we never learned about human evolution in elementary school, nor in high school (this hit me when I realized I wouldnt have to take another biology class until college). I started researching human evolution. THATS IT!

I'm now a junior majoring in anthropology at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Not an ivy-league school, but I never really gave high shool much effort, never did homework, and the university is cheap and only an hour away from home. Regardless, I've been to tons of conventions on anthropology and archaeology around the country since I've gotten here. I've probably met over 100 archaeologists in my time here so far at college. I've also met over a dozen biological anthropologists, which I hope to get my PhD in and teach some day.

Now, whats the point of all this?

In my 6 years here at ATS, I hadn't seen the term "mainstream archaeology" used until probably 2010, 2009 at earliest. And you know what? It drives me EFFING BANANAS.

There's no such thing as mainstream archaeology. It's a dying field as it is! There are no archaeologists who invent their own data or sugar coat information based on excavations. What you see in the news is what they've found! There are no biological anthropologists who hide information on past advance cultures. When they find stuff, it is reported to their sponsor, university, etc., studied, then reported to the world. It's not shared with the government that hides the data and hushes all the anthropologists who have worked on the program.

What you consider "NON-mainstream archaeology" is false information, usually in books or on the internet or on tv. What you consider "mainstream archaeology" is just plain, real archaeology!

Anyway, I've never ranted before, and felt after so long on the site, something like this needs to be said from someone who knows at least a little more than the average ATS member in this specific field. I feel entitled to a small, non-direct rant. I don't mean that arrogantly, but I wouldn't question my mechanic on his knowledge, because I personally know nothing about cars.

Could that term be used in contrast to "biblical archaeology"?

I've heard people use the above phrase kind of derisively, so maybe "mainstream" in this case is a good thing.

Very coherent rant, btw.

Definite Star and Flag for you.

I'm studying Anthropology too and I am shocked by the amount of paranoia I am met with by people who post off-beat articles. I suppose the only comfort you and I have is that we know the truth about our field more than any of the Googlers out there. We also have access to the genuine academic databases.

They may think they win but really they lose... very badly.

From the "conspiracy" examples you stated you were drawn to, it kind of tells a short story of your personality and your magnetic vibration.
You seem to be magnetically drawn to the unknown, and seem to fall for the eye candy thrown out there often. Reality is much deeper than the surface dust, research isn't a 5 minute read then conclusion, like it can be on here at times.

The reason you feel so different from when you were 15 is because you've absorbed, processed, and cataloged that accumulated knowledge you took in. You are more carved and sharpened than you were then, so you feel taller, wiser. Don't get cocky though and play life off as old hat, you got it figured out, because the more you think you know, the more you realize how retarded you are. Not you personally, we all go through layers of this onion.

Now are you telling us that if you are on an archaeology team in Africa and uncover 22 foot tall human skeletons.... that the mainstream media is just going to toss that out there on TV and DESTROY ALL RELIGIONS and SCIENCE FACTS that are in millions of texts books in a 7 minute news blitz segment?
I have to ummm, disagree.

I give example:

Don't you feel bad that we've been in our present human configuration for 35,000 years, but only started to really get civilized 4,000 years ago? Like, what the hell were our ancestors doing that whole time? We should have colonized the solar system by now. I wish you would just sugar coat it for us, tell us there was a huge nuclear war 11,000 years ago that started the ice age or something, COME ON!!

reply to post by insite


Dude... how do you have 1244 posts and only 33 stars? And your name is "insite"? Is what you have to add to the conversation THAT bad?? I'm totally giving you a star just because you are cancerous in post/star ratio.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


LOL! Is that the best Bangalore's finest CGI interns can do?

reply to post by JibbyJedi



I done did most a my postin' back in the days before stars n' flags n' whatnot. Thank ya for the star though, I think!?

reply to post by insite


you've been a member for 8 YEARS and out of 1245 things you've said here, you've gotten 1211 FAILS.... haha, I'm just playing with you.... if you were in the game back then, before stars and flags, then hats off to you early bird.
How do you remember your password for 8 years on and off?

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
reply to post by insite

 

Dude... how do you have 1244 posts and only 33 stars? And your name is "insite"? Is what you have to add to the conversation THAT bad?? I'm totally giving you a star just because you are cancerous in post/star ratio.

edit on 9-4-2011 by JibbyJedi because: (no reason given)

I had to give you a star for making me laugh till my eyes teared up.

Originally posted by boncho
reply to post by JibbyJedi

 

Videogame advertising...

edit on 9-4-2011 by boncho because: (no reason given)

(edited after yours) My point for that clip was - By pointing out something you will NEVER see on the nightly news in your area, EVER.
If they find a new mineral, like recently, you will know.... why? Because oil doesn't go down in price per barrel.

If they find a crystal skull, will you know? Maybe, along with 1000 whacked out "facts" and theories about it, so who knows the truth then?

Flying saucers buried underground.... yeah, I'll bet my DNA strand's future existence that anyone "without" a Saturn/star/moon/sun symbol on their corporate logo will NEVER hear about that.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
and uncover 22 foot tall human skeletons.... that the mainstream media is just going to toss that out there on TV and DESTROY ALL RELIGIONS and SCIENCE FACTS that are in millions of texts books in a 7 minute news blitz segment?

actually this would fit right in with the bible.

as to the OP. well said dude. while i can't disagree with the possibility that if something truly extraordinary was found, it would be hushed(if it could be) since the government, i'm certain, has it's fingers within academia, field work included. that said i know that 99%(don't hold me on that) is legit, straight forward, archaeology. working, cataloging and reporting on a site.

i'm about ten years older than you and was very much of the same mindset when i was your age(a kid first interested in arch/anthro). it's a bummer that i didn't have ats. all i had were my pop's musty college texts on anthropology, egyptology and world religions.....and an infant of an internet to try and learn to navigate.

great rant.

reply to post by JibbyJedi


awesome giant video though.
i'd never seen that one

AWWWWWW you made me stop beliving in ancient aliens

This is a great post starting a great thread with, forgive me, but a terrible title. I only mention this because I had to laugh at the thought that perhaps you decided on an enigmatic title so that we would all have to be archeologists and patiently click through to dig up the buried treasure.

Anyway I agree -- with very few exceptions, I'm not sure most archeologists would be able to participate in a coverup if you explained it patiently with charts. You don't go into a profession that requires knowing how to use three bristles of a toothbrush to remove nine billion individual grains of sand from a tiny fragment of something that will at best turn out to be of mild interest to yourself and a handful of people you've already had dinner with unless you're really serious about your results. I say this with utter respect for the subject and any damn fool crazy enough to choose it as a career.

Not picking at you but archaeology is interpretive and not a hard science and almost cultist in terms of dogma . Clovis first , not a chance but for decades anyone postulating anything other than Clovis first was black balled and couldn't get the next job or a research grant . 3 archaeology big guns with a combined 10 thousand plagerized research papers who controlled it all . It was archaeologist who fought the idea of Vikings before Columbus until the evidence was so overwhelming , mostly from Newfoundland that they had to adjust their dogma . European Solutrean points in North America , not according to dogma but identical points found on two continents is chipping away at that . Everything ever found that can't be readily explained is ceremonial . No , everything wasn't ceremonial . The land bridge across the Bering sea , not a shred of evidence from Alaska south through Alberta and British Columbia through the northern states but the migrants just showed up at Clovis . Ya , right . Only one explaination of Soltrean points in the eastern USA and that's a migration from Europe across the southern edge of the frozen ice sheet at the beginning of the end of the last ice age . Thor Hyerdayl is still marginalized but he actually completed the Ra and the Kon Tiki expeditions proving that it could be done and we haven't even started with that idiot in Egypt . No , i don't believe that archaeologist hide any evidence , i believe they dig stuff and ignore evidence because to go outside of the mainstream dogma is career suicide . Carbon dated 20,000 year old human habitation sites in South America and upon publication , it isn't a professional challenge that comes , it's an all out attack by the masters and students of Clovis first . Not much different than the global warming hoax . You'll never get a research grant to disprove it or just let the evidence speak for itself . Mega bucks available for just about anyone to prove it no matter how the 'evidence' has to be adjusted and the data corrupted . As a recreational archaeologist as opposed to avocational , i've been on several digs across North America and in May will be heading to Wrangel Island , just as a dig hand and i've never met such a closed minded frightened profession of people than avocational archaeologists who are terrified of peer review if they dare to think outside of the box . Not even remotely meant as a slight towards you but you will find out soon enough that if you don't participate in community group think , you won't be working in this field . Remember the Bering land bridge along with Clovis first along with Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi , never stray from the religion and you may get a job . Never publicly question what the masters have already decided because if you do you'll be working in a mall as a security guard doing your thesis on suburban migration to Starbucks .

Originally posted by bandito
Not picking at you but archaeology is interpretive and not a hard science and almost cultist in terms of dogma .

Hardly. Do you actually KNOW anything, or are you just screaming at clouds?

Perhaps you fail to understand the very basics of how science works. Here's a very simple example:

Bob: "hey Steve! I think cockroaches came from the moon!"
Steve: "Oh yeah? Sounds like crap to me. Prove it!"
Bandito: "OMFG STEVE IS A CULTIST SCIENCE IS FAKE LOOK AT THE DOGMATISM!!!!!!!!!"
Bob and Steve: "Uhhhhh...?"

Science doesn't accept anything without overwhelming proof of it. Skepticism is built-in with the system. And that's a good thing. if skepticism were forbidden from science... Well, we wouldn't know jack squat because every rube with extra time on his hands would be flooding the whole enterprise with stupid crap.

Clovis first , not a chance but for decades anyone postulating anything other than Clovis first was black balled and couldn't get the next job or a research grant . 3 archaeology big guns with a combined 10 thousand plagerized research papers who controlled it all . It was archaeologist who fought the idea of Vikings before Columbus until the evidence was so overwhelming , mostly from Newfoundland that they had to adjust their dogma . European Solutrean points in North America , not according to dogma but identical points found on two continents is chipping away at that . Everything ever found that can't be readily explained is ceremonial . No , everything wasn't ceremonial . The land bridge across the Bering sea , not a shred of evidence from Alaska south through Alberta and British Columbia through the northern states but the migrants just showed up at Clovis . Ya , right . Only one explaination of Soltrean points in the eastern USA and that's a migration from Europe across the southern edge of the frozen ice sheet at the beginning of the end of the last ice age . Thor Hyerdayl is still marginalized but he actually completed the Ra and the Kon Tiki expeditions proving that it could be done and we haven't even started with that idiot in Egypt . No , i don't believe that archaeologist hide any evidence , i believe they dig stuff and ignore evidence because to go outside of the mainstream dogma is career suicide . Carbon dated 20,000 year old human habitation sites in South America and upon publication , it isn't a professional challenge that comes , it's an all out attack by the masters and students of Clovis first . Not much different than the global warming hoax . You'll never get a research grant to disprove it or just let the evidence speak for itself . Mega bucks available for just about anyone to prove it no matter how the 'evidence' has to be adjusted and the data corrupted . As a recreational archaeologist as opposed to avocational , i've been on several digs across North America and in May will be heading to Wrangel Island , just as a dig hand and i've never met such a closed minded frightened profession of people than avocational archaeologists who are terrified of peer review if they dare to think outside of the box . Not even remotely meant as a slight towards you but you will find out soon enough that if you don't participate in community group think , you won't be working in this field . Remember the Bering land bridge along with Clovis first along with Chaco Canyon and the Anasazi , never stray from the religion and you may get a job . Never publicly question what the masters have already decided because if you do you'll be working in a mall as a security guard doing your thesis on suburban migration to Starbucks .

You realize that the archaeological community has long, long, LONG since abandoned the idea of "Clovis first," right? When were you on these digs, 1947?

Incidentally, there are no links between Clovis and Solutrean points. someone found some points in Arizona that "look like a cross between the two," but that's as close as you come - And the problem is, there are really only so many ways to make a pointy rock. The most distinctive part of Solutran culture - their artwork - makes no appearance in the Americas.

And lastly, no, you never will get a research grant to "disprove" global warming, or any of this other stuff. Know why? Because by declaring that you're setting out to "disprove" something, you're basically telling the grand organization that you have zero interest in actual science. See, you've already reached a conclusion, even without conducting any research. You're thus declaring that you're out to make a political point, AND you want free money. of course they'll turn you down.

reply to post by Schmidt1989

Firstly, a commendable post. Have to say it was well thought out and an honest assesment of how you percieve things to be... However, as someone that also 'grew up' with very simular notions as you once had six years ago, all I can say is, keep an open mind. Even before Erich von Däniken hit the streets with his many books of ancient civilisations I too was facinated by the mysterious OOParts and strange myths like the Bermuda Triangle and even today I still enjoy reading and learning all about them. At 21 I take it you have not yet been involved in any digs that are considered as 'controversial'?.

A poster has already brought up the subject of GIANTS, interestingly, this subject in itself is very controversial and subject to more than its fair share of denials.




As you progress further into your choosen field of research bear in mind that not everything is published in the official 'mainstream media' outlets, sometimes the only media available for interesting and good 'stuff' is via the 'off the radar' fringe sites as can be found on the internet.

One of the biggest official outlets of ancient knowledge is a US Goverment funded organisation called the Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution was founded for the "increase and diffusion of knowledge" from a bequest to the United States by the British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829), who never visited the new nation. In Smithson's will, he stated that should his nephew, Henry James Hungerford, die without heirs, the Smithson estate would go to the government of the United States to create an "Establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men". After the nephew died without heirs in 1835, President Andrew Jackson informed Congress of the bequest, which amounted to 104,960 gold sovereigns, ($10,100,997 in 2008 U.S. dollars after inflation). The money was invested in shaky state bonds, which quickly defaulted. After heated debate in Congress, Massachusetts Representative (and former President) John Quincy Adams successfully argued to restore the lost funds with interest Congress also debated whether the federal government had the authority to accept the gift. Congress accepted the legacy bequeathed to the nation and pledged the faith of the United States to the charitable trust on July 1, 1836.

The Smithsonian has requested $797.6 Million from Congress in 2011 to fund its operations.

Thats a LOT of financial backing and influence towards research dont you agree?

Source



Which leads me to a subject I still find facinating to this day..

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/e0a5781df424.jpg[/atsimg]

Perhaps the most amazing suppression of all is the excavation of an Egyptian tomb by the Smithsonian itself in Arizona. A lengthy front page story of the Phoenix Gazette on April 5, 1909, gave a highly detailed report of the discox]very and excavation of a rock-cut vault by an expedition led by a Professor S.A. Jordan of the Smithsonian. The Smithsonian, however, claims to have absolutely no knowledge of the discovery or its discoverers.

The idea that ancient Egyptians came to the Arizona area in the ancient past so objectionable and preposterous that it must be covered up? Perhaps the Smithsonian Institution is more interested in maintaining the status quo than rocking the boat with astonishing new discoveries that overturn previously accepted academic teachings. Historian and linguist Carl Hart, editor of Word Explorer, then obtained a hiker's map of the Grand Canyon from a bookstore in Chicago.

Poring over the map, we were amazed to see that much of the area on the north side of the canyon has Egyptian names. The area around Ninety-four Mile Creek and Trinity Creek had areas (rock formations, apparently) with names like Tower of Set, Tower of Ra, Horus Temple, Osiris Temple, and Isis Temple.

Source

Supression of knowledge really does exist.

I wish you all the best in your well intentional endevours to discovering the truth, just keep an open mind.

-Freelancer-

Originally posted by Schmidt1989
What you consider "NON-mainstream archaeology" is false information, usually in books or on the internet or on tv. What you consider "mainstream archaeology" is just plain, real archaeology!

Books = popularity contests.

On the other hand, there is a glimmer of hope for you in, at least, anthropology... David Lewis-Williams. Informative, thought provoking studies by the Professor Emeritus of Wittwaterstrand University, South Africa. I've read several of his books and that happy experience prompted a series of paintings.

www.allbookstores.com...