out-of-place artifact

• Antikythera mechanism: A form of mechanical computer created between 150 and 100 BCE based on theories of astronomy and mathematics believed to have been developed by the ancient Greeks. Its design and workmanship reflect a previously unknown degree of sophistication and engineering."[http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/project/general/the-project.html The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080428070448/http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/project/general/the-project.html |date=2008-04-28 }}", The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project. Retrieved 2007-07-01 Quote: "The Antikythera Mechanism is now understood to be dedicated to astronomical phenomena and operates as a complex mechanical "computer" which tracks the cycles of the Solar System."{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/30/AR2006113001303.html|title=Experts: Fragments an Ancient Computer|last=Paphitis|first=Nicholas|date=December 1, 2006|newspaper=The Washington Post|location=Athens, Greece|quote=Imagine tossing a top-notch laptop into the sea, leaving scientists from a foreign culture to scratch their heads over its corroded remains centuries later. A Roman shipmaster inadvertently did something just like it 2,000 years ago off southern Greece, experts said late Thursday.}}
• 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.{{cite web |url=http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/vinland/archeo.html |title=Vinland Archeology |publisher=Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History |access-date=2011-08-24 |archive-date=2003-12-09 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031209093906/http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/voyage/subset/vinland/archeo.html |url-status=dead }} If Vikings did indeed visit Maine, a much greater number and variety of Viking artifacts might be expected in the archaeological record there.{{Cite magazine |date=11 December 1978 |title='Bye, Columbus |url=https://time.com/archive/6853881/science-bye-columbus/ |magazine=Time}} Of the nearly 20,000 objects found over a 15-year period at the Goddard Site, the coin was the sole non-native artifact.{{cn|date=May 2024}}

File:Tamilbell1.JPG

• The Tamil bell is a broken bronze bell with an inscription of old Tamil. The bell is a mystery due to its discovery in New Zealand by a missionary. Although nobody knows for certain how the bell came to New Zealand, one possible theory suggests that it was left by Portuguese sailors who had acquired it from Tamil traders. Prior to being discovered by the missionary, local Māori had used it as a cooking pot. Given that it was supposedly discovered generations earlier, the artifact's exact origins could not be identified. The bell is now located at the National Museum of New Zealand.{{Cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CHEVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA58 |title=New Zealand Journal of Science |last=J. |first=Wilkie & Co. |journal=Technology |volume=1 |date=1918 |access-date=30 June 2021}}
• Coins from Marchinbar Island: Five coins from the Kilwa Sultanate on the Swahili coast discovered on Marchinbar Island in the Northern Territory of Australia in 1945 alongside four coins from 18th century Netherlands. The inscriptions on the coins identify a ruling Sultan of Kilwa, but it is unclear whether the ruler was from the 10th century or the 14th century. A similar coin, also thought to be from the Medieval Kilwa sultanate, was found in Australia in 2018 on Elcho Island.{{Cite news |last=Stevenson |first=Kylie |date=11 May 2019 |title='It could change everything': coin found off northern Australia may be from pre-1400 Africa |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/may/12/it-could-change-everything-coin-found-off-northern-australia-may-be-from-pre-1400-africa |access-date=11 May 2019 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
• Traces of cocaine and nicotine found in Egyptian mummies, which have been variously interpreted as evidence of contact between Ancient Egypt and Pre-Columbian America or as the result of contamination.{{cite web |url=http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/ethnic/mummy.htm |title=American Drugs in Egyptian Mummies |author=S. A. Wells |access-date=11 February 2024}}
• Nimrud lens; 8th-century BC piece of rock crystal which was unearthed in 1850 by Austen Henry Layard at the Assyrian palace of Nimrud in modern-day Iraq.{{Cite book |last1=Villiers |first1=Geoffrey de |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mCqLDQAAQBAJ&q=layard+lens+1850&pg=PT35 |title=The Limits of Resolution |last2=Pike |first2=E. Roy |date=2016-10-16 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=9781315350806 |language=en}} which may have been used as a magnifying glass or as a burning-glass to start fires by concentrating sunlight, or it may have been a piece of decorative inlay.{{cite web |title=The Nimrud lens / the Layard lens |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=369215&partid=1 |accessdate=Oct 21, 2012 |work=Collection database |publisher=The British Museum}} The intricated engravings of the lens also led to speculation over the use of other magnifiying lens by Assyrian craftsmen.{{cite news |last=Whitehouse |first=David |date=1999-07-01 |title=World's oldest telescope? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/380186.stm |accessdate=2008-05-10 |work=BBC News |quote=If one Italian scientist is correct then the telescope was not invented sometime in the 16th century by Dutch spectacle makers, but by ancient Assyrian astronomers nearly three thousand years earlier. According to Professor Giovanni Pettinato of the University of Rome, a rock crystal lens, currently on show in the British museum, could rewrite the history of science. He believes that it could explain why the ancient Assyrians knew so much about astronomy.}}

File:Turin shroud positive and negative displaying original color information 708 x 465 pixels 94 KB.jpg : 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, established by radiocarbon dating to have been produced between the years 1260 and 1390.{{Cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=R.E. |title=Radiocarbon Dating: An Archaeological Perspective |last2=Bar-Yosef |first2=Ofer |date=2014 |publisher=Left Coast Press |isbn=978-1-59874-590-0 |edition=2nd |pages=165–168 |doi=10.4324/9781315421216}} Mention of the shroud first appeared in historical records in 1357. The fact that the image on the shroud is much clearer when it is converted to a positive image was not discovered until Secondo Pia photographed it in 1898. The actual method that resulted in this image has not yet been conclusively identified; hypotheses about a medieval proto-photographic process, a rubbing technique, natural chemical processes or some kind of radiation have not convinced many researchers.{{Cite news |date=19 June 2015 |title=How did the Turin Shroud get its image? |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33164668 |access-date=2024-06-16 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}} All hypotheses put forward to challenge the radiocarbon dating have been scientifically refuted, including the medieval repair hypothesis,{{Cite journal |last1=Freer-Waters |first1=Rachel A. |last2=Jull |first2=A. J. Timothy |date=2010 |title=Investigating a Dated Piece of the Shroud of Turin |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/radiocarbon/article/investigating-a-dated-piece-of-the-shroud-of-turin/8CC26C322198300E051C49A0BA5B96D9 |journal=Radiocarbon |language=en |volume=52 |issue=4 |pages=1521–1527 |doi=10.1017/S0033822200056277 |bibcode=2010Radcb..52.1521F |issn=0033-8222}}{{Cite web |url=http://llanoestacado.org/freeinquiry/skeptic/shroud/articles/rogers-ta-response.htm |title=A Skeptical Response to Studies on the Radiocarbon Sample from the Shroud of Turin by Raymond N. Rogers |last=Schafersman |first=Steven D. |date=14 March 2005 |access-date=2 January 2016 |website=llanoestacado.org |archive-date=14 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151114044016/http://llanoestacado.org/freeinquiry/skeptic/shroud/articles/rogers-ta-response.htm |url-status=dead }}{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=Ian |title=The Shroud |date=2010 |publisher=Bantam Press |isbn=978-0-593-06359-0 |edition= |location=London |pages=130–131}} the bio-contamination hypothesis{{cite journal |title=Dating the Turin Shroud: An Assessment |first=H. E. |last=Gove |journal=Radiocarbon |volume=32 |issue=1 |date=1990 |pages=87–92 |url=https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/radiocarbon/article/viewFile/1254/1259 |doi=10.1017/S0033822200039990 |doi-access=free|bibcode=1990Radcb..32...87G }} and the carbon monoxide hypothesis.{{Cite web |last=Ramsey |first=Christopher |date=March 2008 |title=The Shroud of Turin |url=https://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/shroud.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090425163916/http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/embed.php?File=shroud.html |archive-date=25 April 2009 |access-date=2024-08-24 |website=Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit}} It has traditionally been believed that the cloth is the burial shroud in which Jesus of Nazareth was wrapped after crucifixion.

File:Ironie pile Bagdad.jpg]]

• Baghdad Battery: A ceramic vase, a copper tube, and an iron rod made in Parthian or Sassanid Persia, discovered in 1936. 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.{{Cite journal |last=von Handorf |first=D.E. |date=May 2002 |title=The Baghdad Battery—Myth or Reality? |url=https://www.nmfrc.org/pdf/psf2002/050284.pdf |journal=Plating and Surface Finishing |volume=89 |issue=5 |pages=84–87}}Flatow, I (2012) [https://www.npr.org/2012/03/23/149231682/-archaeologists-revisit-iraq Archaeologists Revisit Iraq. interview with Elizabeth Stone], Talk of the Nation, National Public Radio. Washington, DC. The "battery" strongly resembles another type of object with a known purpose – storage vessels for sacred scrolls from nearby Seleucia on the Tigris.{{cite web|url=http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/anomalously-old-technology/the-%E2%80%98batteries-of-babylon%E2%80%99/|title=The batteries of Babylon: evidence for ancient electricity?|work=Bad Archaeology|date=26 December 2009 | author= Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews|access-date=17 December 2016}}
• 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.Steiger, B. (1979) Worlds Before Our Own. New York, New York, Berkley Publishing Group. 236 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-933665-19-1}}Fitzpatrick-Matthews, K, and J Doeser (2007) [http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/very-ancient-artefacts/metallic-vase-from-dorchester-massachusetts/ Metallic vase from Dorchester, Massachusetts.] [http://www.badarchaeology.com/ Bad Archaeology.]
• 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.Sir David, B (1854) Queries and Statements concerning a Nail found imbedded in a Block of Sandstone obtained from Kingoodie (Mylnfield) Quarry, North Britain. Report of the Fourteenth Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science vol. 51, John Murray London.Fitzpatrick-Matthews, K, and J Doeser (2007) [http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/very-ancient-artefacts/nail-in-sandstone-from-kingoodie-uk/ A nail in Devonian sandstone from Kingoodie, Scotland.] [http://www.badarchaeology.com/ Bad Archaeology.]
• Lake Winnipesaukee mystery stone: Originally thought to be a record of a treaty between tribes, subsequent analysis has called its authenticity into question.anonymous (nd) [http://www.nhhistory.org/museumexhibits/mysterystone/mysterystone.htm The Mystery Stone.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100914204903/http://www.nhhistory.org/museumexhibits/mysterystone/mysterystone.htm |date=2010-09-14 }} [http://www.nhhistory.org/museum.html Museum Exhibits], New Hampshire Historical Society, Concord, New Hampshire.Klatell, JM (July 23, 2006). [http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-englands-mystery-stone/ New England's 'Mystery Stone': New Hampshire Displays Unexplained Artifact 134 Years Later.] Associated Press. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
• 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.{{cite journal|doi=10.1525/aa.1936.38.4.02a00100|title=Was the Extinct Giraffe (Sivatherium) Known to the Early Sumerians?|year=1936|last1=Colbert|first1=Edwin H.|journal=American Anthropologist|volume=38|issue=4|pages=605–608|doi-access=free}} 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 indeed found in the Field Museum's storeroom in 1977.Naish, D. (2007) [http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2011/04/25/sumerian-sivathere-figurine/ What happened with that Sumerian 'sivathere' figurine after Colbert's paper of 1936? Well, a lot.] [http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/ Tetrapod Zoology.] After restoration in 1985, it was conclusively identified as a depiction of a Caspian red deer (Cervus elaphus maral).{{cite journal |last1=Müller-Karpe |first1=Michael |year=1985 |title=Antlers of the Stag Rein Ring from Kish |journal=Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume=44 |pages=57–58 |doi=10.1086/373105 |s2cid=161093625}}
• 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.Hristov, RH, and S. Genoves (2001) [https://www.unm.edu/~rhristov/calixtlahuaca.html Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca.] Dept. of Anthropology at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico.{{Cite journal |last1=Schaaf |first1=Peter |last2=Wagner |first2=Günther A. |date=2001 |title=Comments on 'Mesoamerican Evidence of Pre-Columbian Transoceanic Contacts,' by Hristov and Genovés. Ancient Mesoamerica. 10:207–213, 1999 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/ancient-mesoamerica/article/abs/comments-on-mesoamerican-evidence-of-precolumbian-transoceanic-contacts-by-hristov-and-genoves-in-ancient-mesoamerica-10207213-1999/F761F6E8E49AB26179F0B7C54951D0FD |journal=Ancient Mesoamerica |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=79–81 |doi=10.1017/S0956536101121024|url-access=subscription }}
• The Westford Knight: A pattern, variously interpreted as a carving or a natural feature, or a combination of both, located on a glacial boulder in Westford, Massachusetts in the United States. Pseudohistorical interpretations have labeled it as evidence of pre-Columbian contact with Medieval Europe.

File:QtubIronPillar.JPG]]

• Abydos helicopter: A pareidolia based on palimpsest carving in an ancient Egyptian temple.{{cite encyclopedia |title=paleocontact hypothesis |encyclopedia=The Encyclopedia of Science |url=http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/P/paleocontact.html |last=Darling |first=David |accessdate=20 January 2013}}
• Dendera Lamps: Supposed to depict light bulbs, but made in Ptolemaic Egypt, debunked by the analysis of the epigraphic text. The motif actually represents a lotus flower.{{cite web |date=3 October 2019 |title=Debunking the Dendera "Light Bulb" |work=Pseudoarchaeology |url=https://anthropology.msu.edu/anp364-fs19/2019/10/02/debunking-the-dendera-light-bulb/}}{{cite web |title=Awful Archaeology Ep. 5: The Dendera Light |url=https://youtube.com/watch?v=2OOrlhtdONE |website=YouTube| date=26 June 2022 }}[https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/620376 Search for Hidden Light in the Pyramids]
• Sabu disk: a disk of notable precision apparently from ancient times in Saqqara. Its purpose is unknown.{{Cite web |title=The Tomb of Sabu and The Tri-lobed "Schist" Bowl |url=https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/egipto/esp_egipto_mist_2c.htm |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=www.bibliotecapleyades.net}}
• Iron Man (Eiserner Mann): An old iron pillar, said to be a unique oddity in Germany, but consistent with medieval methods of ironworking.Grewe, Klaus. Der Eiserne Mann im Kottenforst. Rheinlandverlag, Cologne, 1978.
• Iron pillar of Delhi: A "rust-proof" iron pillar which supposedly demonstrates more advanced metallurgy than was available in India before 1000 CE.{{cite news |year=2005 |title=IIT team solves the pillar mystery |work=The Times of India |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/IIT-team-solves-the-pillar-mystery/articleshow/1058320.cms}}
• 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 encased in "400-million-year-old" ("Ordovician era") rock. In 1985, anthropologist John R. Cole{{Cite journal |title = If I Had a Hammer |last = Cole |first = J.R. |journal = Creation Evolution Journal |volume=5 |issue =15|pages=46–47 |date = Winter 1985 |publisher = National Center for Science Education Inc. |url = https://ncse.com/cej/5/1/if-i-had-hammer |quote = One of his principal pieces of evidence for human contemporaneity with supposedly ancient geological strata is an iron hammer with a wooden handle found near London, Texas by others in the 1930s in an "Ordovician" stone concretion..."(Baugh, 1983b). }} hypothesized that the stone surrounding the hammer is a recent carbonate soil 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.[http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/paluxy/meister.html "The "Meister Print" An Alleged Human Sandal Print from Utah"]. TalkOrigins. Retrieved 4 May 2019.
• Pacal's sarcophagus lid: Described by Erich von Däniken as a depiction of a spaceship's cockpit.{{cite book |last1=Turner |first1=Derek D. |title=Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy |last2=Turner |first2=Michelle I. |date=2021 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-030-61051-7 |editor-last=Killin |editor-first=Anton |pages=7–24 |chapter="I'm not saying it was aliens": an archaeological and philosophical analysis of a conspiracy theory |editor-last2=Allen-Hermanson |editor-first2=Sean}}
• Piri Reis map: Several authors, such as pseudohistorian Gavin Menzies and pseudoscientist Charles Hapgood, have suggested that this map, compiled by the Turkish admiral Piri Reis, showed Antarctica long before it was discovered (cf. Terra Australis).{{Cite book |last=McIntosh |first=Gregory C. |title=The Piri Reis Map of 1513 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |year=2000 |isbn= |pages=230 |language=en}}{{cite web |last=Dutch |first=Steven |title=The Piri Reis Map |url=http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/pseudosc/piriries.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130813090645/http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/PiriRies.HTM |archive-date=2013-08-13 |access-date=2013-08-16}}
• 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. Some of the artifacts have also been debunked as forgeries.{{Citation |last1=Brodie |first1=Neil |title=The Plunder of the Ulúa Valley, Honduras, and a Market Analysis For Its Antiquities |date=2006-08-01 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.5744/florida/9780813029726.003.0008 |work=Archaeology, Cultural Heritage, and the Antiquities Trade |pages=147–172 |publisher=University Press of Florida |doi=10.5744/florida/9780813029726.003.0008 |isbn=9780813029726 |access-date=2022-04-20 |last2=Kersel |first2=Morag M. |last3=Tubb |first3=Kathryn Walker|url-access=subscription }}
• Saqqara Bird: Supposedly depicts a glider, but made in Ancient Egypt.{{cite book |last1=Desmond |first1=Kevin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BXJuDwAAQBAJ&dq=Khalil+Messiha&pg=PA5 |title=Electric Airplanes and Drones: A History |date=20 September 2018 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-6961-8 |page=5 |language=en |access-date=30 April 2022}}
• Shakōkidogū: Small humanoid and animal figurines made during the late Jōmon period (14,000–400 BCE) of prehistoric Japan, said to resemble extraterrestrial astronauts.{{Cite book |last=Weintraub |first=Pamela |title=Omni's Catalog of the Bizarre |publisher=Doubleday |year=1985 |isbn=9780385192613 |pages=24 |language=en}}
• 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.{{Skeptoid|id=4452 |number=452 |date=3 February 2015 |title=The Stone Spheres of Costa Rica}}
• Fuente Magna, a large stone vessel that was discovered in Bolivia in 1950, with many engravings on its inside that have been compared to Sumerian cuneiform writing. Archeologist and historian of the Near East Alexander H. Joffe has described the patterns as "geometric filler or deliberate gibberish" and thought the face on the interior resembles local Tiwanaku culture. He suggested it could be a fake or a local oddity.{{cite web |last1=Joffe |first1=Alex |author1-link=Alexander H. Joffe |title=ANE TODAY – 201609 – Ask a Near Eastern Professional: How the Sumerians Got to Peru - American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) |url=https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2016/09/ask-near-eastern-professional |publisher=American Society of Overseas Research |access-date=3 May 2024 |date=24 January 2018}}

File:Eltanin Antenna.jpg]]

• Aix-en-Provence petrified tools: Likely petrified tree remains.Stillman, B (1820) Curious Geological Facts: The American Journal of Science. v. 2, no. 1, pp. 144–146. (November 1820). [https://archive.org/details/mobot31753002151832 Internet Archive copy] archived on May 27, 2011.Fitzpatrick-Matthews, K (2007) [https://web.archive.org/web/20161116210254/http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/very-ancient-artefacts/tools-in-rock-at-aix-en-provence/ Tools in rock at Aix-en-Provence]. Archived from [http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/very-ancient-artefacts/tools-in-rock-at-aix-en-provence the original] on November 16, 2016.
• Baigong pipes: Their natural origins have been challenged.Anonymous (2002) [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200206/25/eng20020625_98530.shtml Mysterious Pipes Left by 'ET' Reported from Qinghai.] [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ People's Daily Online], Beijing, China. Retrieved March 8, 2014.Anonymous (2002) [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200206/19/eng20020619_98177.shtml Chinese Scientists to Head for Suspected ET Relics.] [http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/ People's Daily Online], Beijing, China. Retrieved March 8, 2014.{{Skeptoid|id=4181|number=181|title=The Baigong Pipes|access-date= March 8, 2014}}
• Bosnian pyramid complex: Unproven claim that there is a pyramid complex in the vicinity of town of Visoko in Bosnia, made by ancient Bosnians.
• Eltanin Antenna: Actually a sponge.Brookesmith, P (2004) [http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/155/the_eltanin_enigma.html The Eltanin Enigma.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130403182441/http://www.forteantimes.com/features/articles/155/the_eltanin_enigma.html |date=2013-04-03 }} [http://www.forteantimes.com/ Fortean Times]. (May 2004). Retrieved March 8, 2014.Heezen, BC, and CD Hollister (1971) The Face of the Deep. Oxford University Press, New York. 659 pp. {{ISBN|0-19-501277-1}}
• Eoliths: Miocene knapped flint nodules mistaken in the 19th century for extremely primitive stone tools, which helped back the authenticity of Piltdown Man.
• Face on Mars: A pareidolia of a rock formation on Mars caused by the poor resolution of early orbital photography of the planet.{{cite book |last=Hoagland |first=Richard C. |title=The Monuments of Mars: A City on the Edge of Forever |publisher=Frog, Ltd |year=1996 |isbn=978-1-883319-30-4 |edition=4th |location=Berkeley |page=5 |author-link=Richard C. Hoagland}}
• Klerksdorp spheres: Actually pre-Cambrian concretions.Cairncross, B (1988) "Cosmic cannonballs" a rational explanation: The South African Lapidary Magazine. v. 30, no. 1, pp. 4–6.Heinrich, PV (1997) Mystery spheres: National Center for Science Education Reports. v. 17, no. 1, p. 34. (January/February 1997)
• Gunung Padang pyramid: megalithic site built on the slopes of an ancient volcano which has been misidentified as a 20,000 year old pyramid.{{cite web |author=Bachelard, Michael |date=27 July 2013 |title=Digging for the truth at controversial megalithic site. Sydney Morning Herald, 27 July 2013 |url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/digging-for-the-truth-at-controversial-megalithic-site-20130726-2qphb.html |access-date=25 November 2022 |work=www.smh.com.au}}
• Paluxy River tracks: Identified as giant humanoid footprints found alongside dinosaur tracks. Actually tracks of theropod dinosaurs, and 1930s forgeries.[http://go.galegroup.com.lp.hscl.ufl.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3452100824&v=2.1&u=gain40375&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=3498d8e83aa78ad64ddae0ed8f2a43dd Branch, G. (2006). Paluxy Footprints. In H. J. Birx (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Anthropology (Vol. 4, p. 1818). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Reference.]
• Yonaguni Monument: An unusual underwater rock formation near the southern Ryukyu Islands. Was considered a man-made monolith because of the even cracks.{{Cite news|url=https://www.spiegel.de/sptv/special/a-242689.html|title=Zeugnis einer untergegangenen Hochkultur Asiens oder einfach nur ein Felsklotz im Meer?: Das Yonaguni-Monument|last=Wichmann|first=Wolf|date=2003-03-29|work=Spiegel Online|access-date=2019-06-16|language=de}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oPZsn1tWuosC&q=yonaguni%20ancient%20tombs&pg=PA129|title=Disinformation Guide to Ancient Aliens, Lost Civilizations, Astonishing Archaeology & Hidden History|last=Peet|first=Preston|date=2013|publisher=Red Wheel Weiser|isbn=978-1938875038|language=en}}
• Ararat anomaly: The Ararat anomaly is a structure appearing on photographs of the snowfields near the summit of Mount Ararat, Turkey, initially believed by some Christian believers to be the remains of Noah's Ark. Located on the northwest corner of the Western Plateau of Mount Ararat, approximately 15,500 ft high, it was first filmed during a U.S. Air Force aerial reconnaissance mission in 1949. The Defense Intelligence Agency later indicated that the anomaly represents linear facades in the glacial ice, rather than an ancient structure.{{Cite web |date=2010-04-29 |title=Noah's Ark Found in Turkey? |url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100428-noahs-ark-found-in-turkey-science-religion-culture/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100429031956/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/04/100428-noahs-ark-found-in-turkey-science-religion-culture/ |archive-date=2010-04-29 |access-date=2023-12-05}}{{Cite web |last=Green |first=Lauren |date=2015-03-26 |title=Noah's Ark Hoax Claim Doesn't Deter Believers |url=https://www.foxnews.com/world/noahs-ark-hoax-claim-doesnt-deter-believers |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=Fox News |language=en-US}}

• 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,RealitateaTV (2014) [http://ziuadecj.realitatea.net/life--and--style/specialist-despre-obiectul-preistoric-neidentificat-din-depozitele-muzeului-de-istorie-apartine-unui-robot-primitiv-video--125044.html "Specialist despre obiectul preistoric neidentificat din depozitele muzeului de istorie: 'aparţine unui robot primitiv'"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180727145641/http://ziuadecj.realitatea.net/life--and--style/specialist-despre-obiectul-preistoric-neidentificat-din-depozitele-muzeului-de-istorie-apartine-unui-robot-primitiv-video--125044.html |date=2018-07-27 }}, RealitateaTV.net. yet it is more likely a fragment of modern machinery lost during excavation work.Hilblairious (2014) [http://hilblairious.blogspot.ca/2014/12/aluminum-aliens-and-gear-they-left.html "Aluminum, Aliens (1): What "THEY" left Behind in Aiud"], Hilblairious.blogspot.ca.{{Unreliable source|date=April 2024|certain=y}}
• Coso artifact: Claimed to be prehistoric; actually a 1920s spark plug that had become encased in a concretion.
• Malachite Man: Thought to be from the early Cretaceous; actually a post-Columbian burial.Coulam, NJ, and AR Schroedl (1995) The Keystone azurite mine in southeastern Utah. Utah Archaeology. 8(1): 1–12.Kuban, GJ, (2005) [http://paleo.cc/paluxy/moab-man.htm "Moab Man" – "Malachite Man"]. [http://paleo.cc/paluxy.htm The Paluxy Dinosaur/"Man Track" Controversy.] Retrieved March 8, 2014.
• Nampa figurine: Was a clay fired doll found in Nampa, Idaho during a well drilling. Early dating attempts believed the artifact to be 2 million years old due to the rock layer it was found in.{{Cite journal |last=Whipkey |first=Rockey |date=October 2012 |title=How deep do we dig? The pros and cons of a controversial ceramic figurine |url=https://modrogorje.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Pleistocene-Coalition-september-october-2012-Vesna-Tenodi-Wanjina-Bradshaw-style-rock-art-other-parts-world-prehistory-Aboriginal-petroglyph-universal-symbols-Valcamonica-Sulawesi-megaliths.pdf |journal=Pleistocene Coalition News |volume=4 |issue=3}} Later assessments found that the artifact was either only a few thousand years old{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=George Frederick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZAlgAAAAIAAJ&dq=nampa+figurine&pg=PR19 |title=Origin and Antiquity of Man |date=1912 |publisher=Bibliotheca sacra Company |pages=268–290 |language=en}} or a 19th-century Native American doll. Many have criticized the object as a likely hoax.{{Cite journal |last=Lippard |first=Jim |date=1989 |title=Out-of-Order Human Artifacts |url=https://ncse.ngo/files/pub/CEJ/pdfs/CEJ_25.pdf#page=25 |journal=Creation/Evolution |issue=25 |pages=25}}
• Wolfsegg Iron: Thought to be from the Tertiary epoch; actually from an early mining operation. Inaccurately described as a perfect cube.{{cite book |last=Sagan |first=Carl |title=Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection |author2=Jerome Agel |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-521-78303-8 |page=206 |author-link=Carl Sagan}}

{{Main|Archaeological forgery}}

File:Babylonokia.jpg]]

• 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.{{cite web |last1=Evon |first1=Dan |title=FALSE: 800-Year-Old Alien Cellphone Found |url=http://www.snopes.com/alien-cellphone-found/ |accessdate=3 January 2017 |website=snopes|date=4 January 2016 }}
• Acámbaro figures: Mid-20th-century figurines of dinosaurs, attributed by Waldemar Julsrud to an ancient society.{{Cite book |last=Isaak |first=M. |title=The Counter-Creationism Handbook |publisher=University of California Press |year=2007 |isbn=978-0520249264 |pages=362 |language=en}}
• 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.{{cite journal |last=Taylor |first=R. E. |author2=Payen, Louis A. |author3=Slota, Peter J. Jr |date=April 1992 |title=The Age of the Calaveras Skull: Dating the "Piltdown Man" of the New World. |journal=American Antiquity |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=269–275 |doi=10.2307/280732 |jstor=280732 |s2cid=162187935}}
• 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, and by the confession of the forger,{{Cite news |date=1869-12-13 |title=An Alleged Revelation by Hull, the Giant Maker |pages=2 |work=Buffalo Morning Express |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68874501/an-alleged-revelation-by-hull-the/ |access-date=2023-01-25}} it was nonetheless a popular marvel of the day.{{cite journal |last1=Rose |first1=Mark |date=November–December 2005 |title=When Giants Roamed the Earth |url=https://archive.archaeology.org/0511/etc/giants.html |journal=Archeology |publisher=Archaeological Institute of America |volume=58 |issue=6 |access-date=September 11, 2020}}
• 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.{{cite book |title=Scientific Investigation of Copies, Fakes and Forgeries |publisher=Butterworth-Heinemann |year=2009 |isbn=978-0750642057 |location=Oxford, UK and Burlington, MA |oclc=127107601|page=415|author=Craddock, Paul}}
• Gosford Glyphs: A collection of Egyptian hieroglyphs on the Central Coast, Australia, that have been dismissed as a hoax by authorities and academics after their discovery in the 1970s.{{cite web |date=14 December 2012 |title=Egyptologist debunks new claims about 'Gosford glyphs' |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-14/glyphs-reax/4428134 |access-date=7 December 2014 |work=ABC News}}
• Ica stones: 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.{{Cite web |date=2008-08-27 |title=Jurassic library - The Ica Stones {{!}} Articles {{!}} Features {{!}} Fortean Times UK |url=http://forteantimes.com/features/articles/259/jurassic_library_the_ica_stones.html |access-date=2022-11-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080827173630/http://forteantimes.com/features/articles/259/jurassic_library_the_ica_stones.html |archive-date=2008-08-27 }}
• Japanese Paleolithic hoax: Perpetrated by discredited amateur archaeologist Shinichi Fujimura.{{Cite web |title=Oda Shizuo's 1985 Criticisms |url=http://www.t-net.ne.jp/~keally/Hoax/oda1985.html |access-date=2022-12-03 |website=www.t-net.ne.jp}}
• Kensington Runestone: A runestone purportedly 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.{{cite web |title=Calcite Weathering and the Age of the Kensington Rune Stone Inscription (Lightning Post) |url=https://www.andywhiteanthropology.com/blog/calcite-weathering-and-the-age-of-the-kensington-rune-stone-inscription-lightning-post |website=Andy White Anthropology |access-date=24 May 2019 |language=en}}
• Los Lunas Decalogue Stone: Supposedly made by pre-Columbian Israelite visitors to the Americas. Generally believed to be a modern-day hoax.Feder (2011, pp. 159-62).
• 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.{{Cite journal |last=Ashurst-McGee |first=Mark |date=2001 |title=Mormonism's Encounter with the Michigan Relics |url=https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/mormonisms-encounter-with-michigan-relics |journal=BYU Studies |volume=40 |issue=3 |pages=178 |doi= |id=}}
• Newark Holy Stones: Hoax "artifacts" used as extremely unlikely evidence that Hebrew peoples lived in the Precolumbian Americas.{{Cite web|title= CONCLUSIVE PROOF THAT THE NEWARK DECALOGUE STONE IS A FORGERY (AND NOT A VERY GOOD ONE AT THAT) | url= https://www.ohiohistory.org/conclusive-proof-that-the-newark-decalogue-stone-is-a-forgery-and-not-a-very-good-one-at-that/ | author = Lepper, Bradley | date= 12 December 2014 | publisher= Ohio History Connection | accessdate=31 January 2023 }}
• Piltdown Man: Supposedly skull parts from a "missing link" hominid, but exposed as an elaborate hoax 41 years after its "discovery".[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,823171,00.html End as a Man. Time Magazine 30 Nov 1953] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101030234043/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C823171%2C00.html|date=30 October 2010}} retrieved 11 November 2010
• 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.{{Cite journal |last=Thompson, Raymond H. |year=2004 |title=Glimpses of the Young Emil Haury |journal=Journal of the Southwest |volume=46 |issue=1}}

• Acheiropoieta
• Anachronism
• Ancient technology
• Geofact
• Lazarus taxon
• Lost inventions
• Pseudohistory
• Silurian hypothesis

• Charles Fort, researcher of anomalous phenomena
• Chariots of the Gods?, 1968 book by Erich Von Daniken
• Fortean Times
• Peter Kolosimo
• Fingerprints of the Gods, 1995 book by Graham Hancock
• Vadim Chernobrov, researcher of anomalous phenomena, writer
• Michael Cremo, author of several books including Forbidden Archeology (1993)
• Charles Berlitz, linguist and writer of anomalous phenomena
• The Mysterious Origins of Man, originally aired on NBC in 1996

{{reflist|30em}}

{{Commons category|OOParts}}

• [http://www.badarchaeology.com/what-is-it/ Critical perspective on Creationist and New Age claims related to out-of-place artifacts] at Bad Archaeology
• [https://www.salon.com/2005/08/31/archaeology/ Archaeology from the dark side] at Salon.com
• [http://www.badarchaeology.com/out-of-place-artefacts/ Out-of-place artifacts article] at Bad Archaeology

Category:Pseudoarchaeology

Category:Anachronism

Category:Archaeological forgery