Known archaeological forgers •
Curzio Inghirami (1614—1655), 17th century Italian archaeologist and historian known as a forger of
Etruscan artifacts •
Edward Simpson (b. 1815, 1874),
Victorian English forger of
prehistoric flint tools. He sold forgeries to many British museums, including the
Yorkshire Museum and the British Museum •
Moses Wilhelm Shapira (1830–1884), Ukrainian purveyor of fake
biblical artifacts •
Alois Anton Führer (1853-1930), German indologist who forged many inscriptions •
Alceo Dossena (1878–1937), 19th century Italian creator of many
Archaic and
Medieval statues •
James Mellaart (1925–2012), English
archaeologist and author who is noted for his discovery of the
Neolithic settlement of
Çatalhöyük in
Turkey. After his death, it was discovered that he had forged many of his "finds", including
murals and inscriptions used to discover the Çatalhöyük site. •
Tjerk Vermaning (1929–1986), Dutch amateur archaeologist whose
Middle Paleolithic finds were declared forgeries •
Brigido Lara (b. 1939-1940), Mexican forger of
pre-Columbian antiquities •
Shinichi Fujimura (b. 1950), Japanese amateur archeologist who planted specimens on false layers to gain more prestige •
Shaun Greenhalgh (b. 1961), a prolific and versatile British forger, who, with the help of his family, forged Ancient Egyptian statues,
Roman silverware and
Celtic gold jewelry among more modern artworks. Arrested in 2006 attempting to sell three
Assyrian reliefs to the
British Museum.
Known archaeological forgeries and hoaxes , buried and then excavated at a mound in Illinois in the United States skull, a famous
palaeoanthropological hoax •
Grave Creek Stone, "discovered" in 1838 •
Kinderhook plates, "discovered" in 1843 •
Calaveras Skull ("discovered" 1866), purported to prove that humans lived in North America as early as the
Pliocene Epoch (5.33–2.58
MYA) •
Cardiff Giant ("discovered" 1869), carved
gypsum statue presented as a petrified man, over tall •
Davenport Tablets (discovered 1877–1878), ornately carved slate tablets of purported Native American origin, but dubious authenticity •
Michigan Relics, "discovered" in 1890 •
Tiara of Saitaferne in Louvre, which announced its acquisition in 1896 •
"Egyptian mummy" ca. 1898, purchased from the estate of
Confederate Colonel Breevoort Butler in the 1920s, the "mummy" was found to be a wooden frame covered with
papier-mache; it is on display at the Old Capitol Museum in Jackson, Mississippi with its true nature openly revealed •
Piltdown Man, "discovered" in 1912 •
Tucson artifacts, "discovered" in 1924, thirty-one lead objects that Charles E. Manier and his family found 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. •
Etruscan terracotta warriors purchased by New York's
Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1915 to 1921; announced as forgeries in 1961 •
Drake's Plate of Brass (discovered 1936), purported to have been left by
Francis Drake after landing in Northern California in 1579 •
Venus de Brizet, sculpted and buried by the artist in 1936; "discovered" in 1937 •
Ica stones (created and sold in the 1960s), depict
Inca dinosaur-hunters,
surgery, and other modern or fanciful topics. Collected by Javier Cabrera Darquea, who claimed them to be prehistoric. Later revealed to be a forgery created by a local farmer. •
Japanese Paleolithic hoax, starting in the 1970s •
Persian Princess, forged ancient mummy, possible murder victim, found in 2000 • Two
arrowheads from
South Shetland Islands, planted to convince scientists that
indigenous peoples of the Americas once crossed the
Drake Passage.
Cases generally believed by professional archaeologists to be forgeries or hoaxes , ruler of
Lagash, a Confiscated forgery; head of the Sumerian ruler
Gudea. Sold as a genuine ancient Mesopotamian piece and now held at the
Sulaymaniyah Museum, Iraq. •
America's Stonehenge •
Bat Creek inscription •
Bourne Stone •
Burrows Cave •
Crystal skulls, claimed to be Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican, but now believed to be modern •
Los Lunas Decalogue Stone •
Newark Holy Stones: Keystone tablet and the Newark Decalogue Stone •
Walam Olum •
Kensington Runestone •
Acámbaro figures (discovered in 1944),
figurines of
dinosaurs, attributed by Waldemar Julsrud to an ancient society. •
Gosford Glyphs (discovered in the 1970s), Egyptian hieroglyphs carved into a pair of sandstone walls in New South Wales, Australia; widely acknowledged as modern forgeries, a minority of scholars use the glyphs as evidence of ancient Egyptian contact with Australia
Cases that several professional archaeologists believe to be forgeries or hoaxes •
James Ossuary •
Jehoash Inscription •
Ivory pomegranate •
Wallace Sword •
Ring of Nestor • The pieces discovered in 2005-2006 in
Iruña-Veleia •
Mausoleum of Tangun Cases that some professional archaeologists believe to be forgeries or hoaxes •
Phaistos disc •
Gabriel's Revelation •
Cascajal Block •
Mask of Agamemnon •
Glozel tablets (archeological site discovered 1924), set of 100 inscribed ceramic tablets found in an authentic Medieval site among other artifacts of mixed authenticity and period ==See also==