ABSTRACT
No review of the wide world of Andean forgery can be complete without a visit to the lunatic fringe of collectionism, the people who most clearly epitomize Barnum's dictum, “There's a sucker born every minute.” Such well-meaning but befuddled folks are a favorite target of the bottom-feeders of forgery who are more than willing to supply “original artifacts” to satisfy these peoples’ deep desire for ancient proof of extraterrestrials, or dinosaurs and human beings interacting, or an ancient America discovered/peopled by Africans, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Easter Islanders, Lost Israelites, Christian prophets, or just about anyone that could steal the First Nations’ thunder. All these fringe groups have flourishing publication programs, with journals, books, and these days, web sites and blogs galore. They probably get more than their fair share of the television specials market too, if only because, well, it is all so romantic and mysterious. Although the dino-fanatics and extraterrestrial groupies generally proclaim contempt for modern science and academic scholarship, they also desperately want its recognition and so are a highly visible and rather noisy presence on the peripheries of archaeology and art history. Although not necessarily a high-end market, it is a profitable one—just ask Erich von Däniken or those other authors whose pseudo-scientific writings pander to it. In fact, the forgeries created for this specific market must be remarkably profitable to judge by their widespread dissemination; they are an all-too-common and a persistent nuisance for every university professor, museum professional, or any person connected in any manner with ancient art.
