Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race [Hardcover]

Michael A. Cremo (Author), Richard L. Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1998

Over the centuries, researchers have found bones and artifacts proving that humans like us have existed for millions of years. Mainstream science, however, has supppressed these facts. Prejudices based on current scientific theory act as a "knowledge filter," giving us a picture of prehistory that is largely incorrect.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

I perceive in Forbidden Archeology a work of thoroughgoing scholarship and intellectual adventure. -Dr. Pierce Flynn

About the Author

Michael A Cremo is a research associate of the Bhaktivedanta Institute specializing in the history and philosophy of science. His persistent investigations during the eight years of writing Forbidden Archeology documented a major scientific cover-up. Richard L. Thompson, founding member of the Bhaktivedanta Institute, received his Ph.D. in mathematics form Cornell University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 914 pages
• Publisher: Bhaktivedanta Book Publishing; Revised edition (January 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892132949
• ISBN-13: 978-0892132942
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (119 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #39,041 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

175 of 187 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars History you won't see taught in school..., January 19, 2009

By 

SmokeNMirrors (London) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (Hardcover)

...which in itself should tell you everything you need to know about modern "education"...

After having spent best part of the last 6 months reading this juggernaut and cross-checking references, I can only say that the authors have done a tremendous job of proving that the evidence for the great antiquity of man is at least as strong as much of the evidence commonly accepted today as proof of human history. Those reviewers who claim the authors do not know their subject, or that they employ junk science or bad archaeology, quite simply have not read the book. Those claims are based more upon the (often very impressive) ignorance and preconceptions of the reviewers; do not be put off by them. Examine the evidence and judge for yourself.

Not only do they present a very strong case that we should either open our minds or discard most, if not all, of the commonly accepted evidence of human antiquity, but they demonstrate very clearly how the process of knowledge filtration works to preserve orthodox beliefs and bury contradictory evidence. This is a very important part of the discussion because it needs to be understood why a lot of evidence which was once widely accepted is now widely regarded as mythical or having never existed at all (look at some of the early reviews for this book, mostly from Mr. A Customer, which show how widespread that view is).

I started reading this book with no preconceptions at all except for a nagging suspicion that large parts of the history we are asked to uncritically swallow are wrong and known to be wrong by certain small groups of people. It strikes me from the evidence discussed that not only is the accepted version of human history inaccurate, it is almost completely wrong!

A note of caution: the above does not mean that I believe that every artefact uncovered is unequivocal proof that human beings were around millions, and hundreds of millions, of years ago. Nor do I believe every piece of evidence the authors present. Indeed, they make it abundantly clear that they themselves do not. As in all such situations, the point is that ALL of the evidence should be publicised, examined and analysed - evenhandedly. In too many walks of life there is a dogmatic and dangerously arrogant attitude that all there is to know has already been discovered. This is rarely true; this book is yet more evidence of that. Those who insist that works such as this should be consigned to the scrap heap are blissfully unaware of a very basic fact; that their ignorance is total.

80 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pushing back the Timeline, October 14, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (Hardcover)

When I was at college in the 1970s, we undergraduate anthro majors would kick around the currently known "facts" we were being taught. Not having fully absorbed the approved dogma, we all came to the same conclusion -- the timeline of human development is too compressed. It does not allow enough time for the physical and social changes that had to occur for humans to develop from "proto-ape" to modern man. We felt that a 2 million mark was the absolute minimum required, and would have prefered 10 million, but even we weren't that daring. Today, I see news articles about discoveries that push the approved timeline further and further back. By reviewing evidence that has been labeled anomalous, Cremo and Thompson provide future researchers with the thought-provoking material that will lead to a better understanding of man's development. Human beings have been human --and little changed -- for a very long time.

231 of 286 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The scientific method is not dead yet., September 21, 2000

By 

D. Sinclair - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race (Hardcover)

"Forbidden Archeology" is a superb, well-documented compendium of both the evidence favoring the conventional picture of human evoluton, and the anomalous evidence that casts this picture into doubt.

Its larger significance, however, lies in its detailed documentation and analysis of one particular exampe of a disturbing phenomenon that has increasingly crippled mainstream science: the establishment of a new scientific orthodoxy, i.e. a quasi-religious belief by leading scientists in the absolute and unquestionable validity of the basic theories of their field. These theories are then elevated to "facts" of which any dissenter is accused of being ignorant, which makes for a convenient, easy dismissal of any anomalous evidence. Since any such evidence is thus automatically ineligible for publication in the proper journals, this lack of documentation is then in turn taken by researchers in the field as proof that the evidence must be of low scientific value.

With "Forbidden Archeology", Cremo and Thompson have attempted to break through this self-perpetuating cycle of ignorance and denial. The many angry dismissals by "experts" one can read on this page shows that they have done their job well. A truly educational book that will open the eyes of many who are searching for the true origins of humankind. Those who don't have the time or patience to peruse this 900-page tome should consider reading the abridged version instead. Either way, they will come to appreciate one of the fundamental tenets of true science: theory never overrides evidence.