Ancient Texts That Were FAKED

A close look at some of the more interesting (and infamous) ancient texts that were discovered and then found out to be forgeries.

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[gorillaguerillaDK]

Imagine 5000 years from now, a curious archeologists will start wondering what happened to all those Nigerian Royals, and if any of them ever got the assistance they needed and asked for….

[BaronVonQuiply]

I'm reminded of reading about the problem with ancient Greek statues.
The Romans loved those statues. There were only so many to go around though...
And you see, as it turns out... the Romans are rather ancient to us as well, so when you find an ancient forgery of an ancient statue.... well, they're both genuinely ancient.

[chrisball]

I love the 'Michigan Relics' story. The objects were so badly made and obviously fraudulent that basically every real archaeologist who laid eyes on them called them out as fakes right away. But Scotford and Soper were so good at flim-flam that they managed to carry on their scam for decades. They knew exactly what their marks wanted (audience participation, religious mysticism and just a dash of white supremacy) and served it up in spades. If they were around today, they'd probably have a Netflix show and a series of bestselling alt history books.

[jaredthehawk]

Ah, the Vimanika Shastra, one of Ancient Alien's favorites. It's not just fraudulent in composition and background, but the mechanics and engineering inside are also completely unworkable and incapable of flight.

[ZorValachan]

Thanks again for pointing out the ones for which experts were fooled. It again shows that once evidence shows forgeries/fabrications, historians, archeologists, etc. are able to change their minds unlike pseudo- experts who stick to their beliefs.

[junjunjamore]

Noah's illustrated "diary" tablet, found in Michigan, is the funniest thing I've heard in awhile.

[lostpony]

Why didnt the aliens do a better job on the forgeries? Quality seems to be a universal problem

[Cannibaltron]

“Oh my goodness, ancient paradigm shattering relics that completely change the history of mankind as we know it!”

“You wanna buy like 40 of ‘em?”

[Boredman]

There's a noticeable buzzing sound at a few points in the video that make it harder to listen to.

40:08 - 41:23
52:54 - 53:54
54:13 - 54:21
55:04 - 55:16

[heatherrocchi]

This video is a lifesaver in the fraudulent seas of modern conspiracy, thanks for all you do

[scribeslendy]

Forgeries like the Michigan Artifacts, and the religious baggage that drives their spread, reminds me of a quote by the effervescent Dr. Justin Sledge of ESOTERICA

"When we allow our faith to dictate our history, we fail both"

[orsonzedd]

To be fair in ancient race did once inhabit michigan, they were Native Americans

[jaybirdjargon]

Just stumbled onto this channel. Excellent work and discourse.

[nimmira]

Yes, unfortunately, many Muslims do believe and argue about how authentic the Gospel of Barnabas is (and I'm a Muslim btw). I've read an Arabic translation of this gospel, translated by some Khaleel Sa'aadah, PhD (د. خليل سعادة) - in his lengthy introduction, the author or translator mentions some of the clues mentioned in this video beside other points; in conclusion, the author suggests that the original author was originally an Andalusian Jew, who converted to Christianity, but then became a Muslim (and he lists many points surrounding this theory).

[gregcollins]

Very interesting. Do you have any examples that were thought to be fakes but turned out to be real?

[randomjunks]

I figure in 1000 years archaeologist will be digging up our places of worship a place called McDonald’s of the great golden arches😂

[Simp_Zone]

I appreciate your content. You and history for granite are how it should be. You gather data and facts and work forward. That is science. People who have an opinion and then work backwards from that, are spreading nonsense. That's not science.

[lytalo]

It’s funny, in the 19th century many fiction writers wrote fantastic fiction in the mode of a found manuscript usually from a deceased relative. Jules Verne, Edgar Rich Burroughs and others did this often. It was an interesting style that even bled over into the early 20th century pulp fiction. I enjoyed many of these stories but they were obviously fiction with no intention be taken as real. Too bad some people try to go further.
I was hoping you might mention the infamous “Voynich Manuscript which gets some mileage on the so called History Channel.

[tecumsehcristero]

I was waiting for you to get to the donation of Constantine.
I’m Syrian Orthodox so all of us not in communion with Rome have always doubted the donation of Constantine

[welcometonebalia]

38:45 Minor remark: "The Hounds of Tindalos" is not a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, but by Frank Belknap Long; it is a Lovecraftian story though, later included in the Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos anthology compiled by August Derleth.

But I would add something: those lines seem to be taken directly from the Wikipedia article on the Emerald Tablets of Thoth the Atlantean... and I'm a bit suspicious of the claim? The Lovecraftian mythos stories didn't reach many readers in 1930 (and the two mentionned ones were published in 1929, very shortly before the publication of this forgery), Lovecraft was not a popular writer at the time, he would only gain celebrity years or even decades after his death in 1937. There were esoteric-minded people who were "inspired" by Lovecraft before that, this is true (some French surrealists in the 1950s, notably). So was he really an influence on Doreal? Was Doreal an avid reader of Weird Tales? Maybe, I don't know. But I'm a bit skeptical. The theosophical inspiration was enough, I think.