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Fragment of the Antikythera mechanism, a mechanical computer from the 2nd century BCE showing a previously unknown level of complexity

An out-of-place artifact (OOPArt) is an artifact of historical, archaeological, or paleontological interest found in an unusual context, which challenges conventional historical chronology by its presence in that context. Such artifacts may appear "too advanced" for the technology known to have existed at the time, or may suggest human presence at a time before humans are known to have existed. Other examples may suggest contact between different cultures that is hard to account for with conventional historical understanding.

The term is used in fringe science such as cryptozoology, as well as by proponents of ancient astronaut theories, young Earth creationists, and paranormal enthusiasts. It can describe a wide variety of objects, from anomalies studied by mainstream science to pseudoarchaeology to objects that have been shown to be hoaxes or to have mundane explanations.

Critics argue that most purported OOPArts which are not hoaxes are the result of mistaken interpretation and wishful thinking, such as a mistaken belief that a particular culture could not have created an artifact or technology due to a lack of knowledge or materials. In some cases, the uncertainty results from inaccurate descriptions. For example, the cuboid Wolfsegg Iron is not really a perfect cube, nor are the Klerksdorp spheres actual perfect spheres. The Iron pillar of Delhi was said to be "rust proof", but it has some rust near its base; its relative resistance to corrosion is due to slag inclusions left over from the manufacturing conditions and environmental factors.

Supporters regard OOPArts as evidence that mainstream science is overlooking huge areas of knowledge, either willfully or through ignorance. Many writers or researchers who question conventional views of human history have used purported OOPArts in attempts to bolster their arguments. Creation science often relies on allegedly anomalous finds in the archaeological record to challenge scientific chronologies and models of human evolution. Claimed OOPArts have been used to support religious descriptions of prehistory, ancient astronaut theories, and the notion of vanished civilizations that possessed knowledge or technology more advanced than that known in modern times.

Examples

The following are examples of objects that have been argued by various fringe authors (see list) to be out-of-place artifacts.

Unexplained artifacts

• Antikythera mechanism: A form of mechanical computer created between 150 and 100 BCE based on theories of astronomy and mathematics developed by the ancient Greeks. Its design and workmanship reflect a previously unknown, but not implausible, degree of sophistication.
• Maine penny: An 11th-century Norwegian coin found in a Native American shell midden at the Goddard Site in Brooklin, Maine, United States, which some authors have argued is evidence of direct contact between Vikings and Native Americans in Maine. The coin need not imply actual exploration of Maine by the Vikings, however; mainstream belief is that it was brought to Maine from Labrador or Newfoundland (where Vikings are known to have established colonies as early as the late 10th century) via an extensive northern trade network operated by indigenous peoples. If Vikings did indeed visit Maine, a much greater number and variety of Viking artifacts might be expected in the archaeological record there. Of the nearly 20,000 objects found over a 15-year period at the Goddard Site, the sole non-native artifact was the coin.

The Shroud of Turin: modern photo of the face, positive left, digitally processed negative image right

• The Shroud of Turin contains an image that resembles a sepia photographic negative and is much clearer when it is converted to a positive image. The actual method that resulted in this image has not yet been conclusively identified. Mention of the shroud first appeared in historical records in 1357 and radiocarbon dating tests indicate it was probably made between 1260 and 1390.

Questionable interpretations

The three components of the Baghdad Battery

• Baghdad Battery: A ceramic vase, a copper tube, and an iron rod made in Parthian or Sassanid Persia. Fringe theorists have hypothesized that it may have been used as a galvanic cell for electroplating, though no electroplated artifacts from this era have been found. The "battery" strongly resembles another type of object with a known purpose – storage vessels for sacred scrolls from nearby Seleucia on the Tigris.
• Dorchester Pot: A metal pot claimed to have been blasted out of solid rock in 1852. Mainstream commentators identify it as a Victorian-era candlestick or pipe holder.
• Kensington Runestone: A runestone unearthed in 1898 in Kensington, Minnesota, entangled in the roots of a tree. Runologists have dismissed the inscription's authenticity on linguistic evidence, while geologists disagree as to whether the stone shows weathering that would indicate a medieval date.
• Kingoodie artifact: An object resembling a corroded nail, said to have been encased in solid rock. It was handled a number of times before being reported and there are no photographs of it.
• Lake Winnipesaukee mystery stone: Originally thought to be a record of a treaty between tribes, subsequent analysis has called its authenticity into question.
• Sivatherium of Kish: An ornamental war chariot figurine discovered in the Sumerian ruins of Kish, in what is now central Iraq, in 1928. The figurine, dated to the Early Dynastic I period (2800–2750 BCE), depicts a quadrupedal mammal with branched horns, a nose ring, and a rope tied to the ring. Because of the shape of the horns, Edwin Colbert identified it in 1936 as a depiction of a late-surviving, possibly domesticated Sivatherium, a vaguely moose-like relative of the giraffe that lived in North Africa and India during the Pleistocene but was believed to have become extinct early in the Holocene extinction event. Henry Field and Berthold Laufer instead argued that it represented a captive Persian fallow deer and that the antlers had broken over the years. The missing antlers were found in the Field Museum's storeroom in 1977. After restoration in 1985, it was conclusively identified as a depiction of a Caspian red deer (Cervus elaphus maral).
• Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca head: A terracotta offering head seemingly of Roman appearance found beneath three intact floors of a burial site in Mexico and dated between 1476 and 1510. There are disputed claims that its dating is older. Ancient Roman or Norse provenance has not been excluded.

Alternative interpretations

The iron pillar of Delhi

• Abydos helicopter: A pareidolia based on palimpsest carving in an ancient Egyptian temple.
• Dendera Lamps: Supposed to depict light bulbs, but made in Ptolemaic Egypt.
• Hidden character stone: A Chinese petroglyph.
• Iron Man (Eiserner Mann): An old iron pillar, said to be a unique oddity in Central Europe.
• Iron pillar of Delhi: A "rust-proof" iron pillar which supposedly demonstrates more advanced metallurgy than was available in India before 1000 CE.
• London Hammer: Also known as the "London Artifact", a hammer made of iron and wood that was found in London, Texas, in 1936. Part of the hammer is embedded in a limy rock concretion.
• Meister Print: A supposed human footprint from the Cambrian period, long before humans existed, which has been debunked as the result of a natural geologic process known as spall formation.
• Nazca Lines: A collection of geoglyphs in Peru, supposedly impossible to design without the aid of an aerial view.
• Newark Holy Stones: Used as extremely unlikely evidence that Hebrew peoples lived in the Americas, but more probably a hoax.
• Pacal's sarcophagus lid: Described by Erich von Däniken as a depiction of a spaceship.
• Piri Reis map: Several authors, and others such as Gavin Menzies and Charles Hapgood, have suggested that this map, compiled by the Turkish admiral Piri Reis, shows Antarctica long before it was discovered (cf. Terra Australis).
• Quimbaya airplanes: Golden objects found in Colombia and made by the Quimbaya civilization, which have been alleged to represent modern airplanes. In the Gold Museum, Bogotá, they are described as figures of birds and insects.
• Saqqara Bird: Supposedly depicts a glider, but made in Ancient Egypt.
• Shakōkidogū: Small humanoid and animal figurines made during the late Jōmon period (14,000–400 BCE) of prehistoric Japan, said to resemble extraterrestrial astronauts.
• Stone spheres of Costa Rica: Inaccurately described as being perfectly spherical, and therefore demonstrating greater stone-working skill in pre-Columbian times than has previously been known.

Natural objects mistaken for artifacts

Eltanin Antenna

• Aix-en-Provence petrified tools: Likely petrified tree remains.
• Baigong Pipes: Their natural origins have been challenged.
• Eltanin Antenna: Actually a sponge.
• Face on Mars: A pareidolia of a rock formation on Mars caused by the poor resolution of early orbital photography of the planet.
• Klerksdorp spheres: Actually pre-Cambrian concretions.
• Paluxy River tracks: Identified by Biblical literalists as giant humanoid footprints found alongside dinosaur tracks. Actually tracks of theropod dinosaurs, and 1930s forgeries.

Erroneously dated objects

• Aiud object: An aluminum wedge found in 1974 in the Mureș River in central Romania, near the town of Aiud; it has been claimed by Romanian UFOlogists to be of ancient and/or extraterrestrial origin, yet it is more likely a fragment of modern machinery lost during excavation work.
• Coso artifact: Claimed to be prehistoric; actually a 1920s spark plug.
• Malachite Man: Thought to be from the early Cretaceous; actually a post-Columbian burial.
• Wolfsegg Iron: Thought to be from the Tertiary epoch; actually from an early mining operation. Inaccurately described as a perfect cube.

Modern-day creations, forgeries and hoaxes

Babylonokia

An Ica stone depicting dinosaurs

• Babylonokia: A clay tablet shaped like a mobile phone and created as an artwork in 2012. Fringe scientists and alternative archaeology proponents subsequently misrepresented a photograph of the artwork as showing an 800-year-old archaeological find. The story was popularised in a video on the YouTube channel Paranormal Crucible and led to the object being reported by some press sources as a mystery.
• Acámbaro figures: Mid-20th century figurines of dinosaurs, attributed by Waldemar Julsrud to an ancient society.
• Calaveras Skull: A human skull found by miners in Calaveras County, California, which was purported to prove that humans, mastodons, and elephants had coexisted in prehistoric California. It was later revealed to be a hoax.
• Cardiff Giant: A 19th-century hoax of a ten-foot-tall supposedly petrified man exhibited as a giant from biblical times. Quickly debunked by experts, it was nonetheless a popular marvel of the day.
• Crystal skulls: Supposedly demonstrate more advanced stone-cutting skill than was previously known from pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. Appear to have been made in the 19th century.
• Ica stones: Depict Inca dinosaur-hunters, surgery, and other modern or fanciful topics. Collected by Javier Cabrera Darquea, who claimed them to be prehistoric.
• Japanese Paleolithic hoax: Perpetrated by discredited amateur archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura.
• Los Lunas Decalogue Stone: Supposedly made by pre-Columbian Israelite visitors to the Americas. Generally believed to be a modern-day hoax.
• Michigan relics: Supposedly ancient artifacts which have been alleged as proof that people of an ancient Near Eastern culture had lived in the U.S. state of Michigan; they are archaeological forgeries.
• Piltdown Man: Supposedly skull parts from a "missing link" hominid, but exposed as an elaborate hoax 41 years after its "discovery".
• Tucson artifacts: Thirty-one lead objects that Charles E. Manier and his family found in 1924 near Picture Rocks, Arizona, which were initially thought by some to be created by early Mediterranean civilizations that had crossed the Atlantic in the first century, but were later determined to be a hoax.

Entirely fictional

• Dropa stones: Popularized by David Gamon (as David Agamon) as part of his false document Sungods in Exile.

See also

• Ancient technology
• Lost inventions
• Anachronism
• Lazarus taxon – when a biological lineage is discovered to have been alive long after it was assumed extinct.
• Geofact – Geological artifacts that look like man-made ones.

Authors and works

• Charles Fort, researcher of anomalous phenomena
• Fortean Times
• Peter Kolosimo
• Fingerprints of the Gods, book by Graham Hancock
• Vadim Chernobrov, researcher of anomalous phenomena, writer
• Michael Cremo, author of several books including Forbidden Archeology
• Charles Berlitz, linguist and writer of anomalous phenomena
• The Mysterious Origins of Man, originally aired on NBC in 1996

External links

• Critical perspective on Creationist and New Age claims related to out-of-place artifacts at Bad Archaeology
• Archaeology from the dark side at Salon.com
• Out-of-place artifacts article at Cult and Fringe Archaeology

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