Fakes in the history of archaeology

Abstract

Proliferation of forgeries is part of the history of archaeology and archaeological methods. Archaeologists have always been attentive to questions of provenance, and they learned from forgers (i.e., expert and knowledgeable artisans). From this point of view, archaeological fakes acted as catalyzers of new methods and provided heuristics for modern archaeology, just as they were pieces in the games of wealth and prestige. Counterfeits also illustrate the process of “scientific acculturation,” namely how lay people acquired the skills and knowledge for evaluating objects presented to them by archaeologists, museum curators, and collectors. Fakes reveal the porosity of boundaries between the true and the false, and especially how these borders relate to the fears of the deceived.