Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Augustus Le Plongeon: The World’s Most Interesting Pseudoarchaeologist - Ep 136
1.6k Plays9 months ago
Continuing our “Old School Classics” theme here at the Pseudoarchaeology Podcast, today we have the tale of Augustus Le Plongeon, nineteenth century explorer extraordinaire. His ideas on the Maya were terrible, but his photos of Maya sites were great! A classic case of great data meets bad interpretation - enjoy!
Transcripts
- For rough transcripts of this episode go to https://www.archpodnet.com/pseudo/136
Contact
ArchPodNet
- APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com
- APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet
- APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet
- APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet
- Tee Public Store
Affiliates
- Motion: https://www.archpodnet.com/motion
- Liquid I.V. Ready to shop better hydration, use my special link https://zen.ai/pseudoarchaeology to save 20% off anything you order.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Archaeology Podcast Network
00:00:00
Speaker
You're listening to the Archaeology Podcast Network. You are now entering the pseudo-archaeology podcast, a show that uncovers what's fact, what's fake, and what's fun in the crazy world of pseudo-archaeology.
Meet Dr. Andrew Kinkella & Augustus Leplongion
00:00:23
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the pseudo-archaeology podcast, episode 136, and I am your host, Dr. Andrew Kinkella, and tonight, Augustus Leplongione. Who is this world's most interesting pseudo-archaeologist?
00:00:44
Speaker
All right, welcome back, my friends and family and close relatives and people I don't know.
The Intriguing Life of Augustus Leplongion
00:00:50
Speaker
I'm recording again after midnight. And I'm not laying it on the line. I'm just recording after midnight because, of course, I'm late last minute. Again, I mean, do you ever just really want to do better?
00:01:13
Speaker
And then you just don't. And you just keep trying, and half of you is like, why do I bother? And then the other half of you really thinks, like you really think you're gonna be successful. You know, I'm like, you know, I'm gonna record earlier this time. Like I totally am. I'm gonna, I have an idea. Like I know what I'm gonna do more or less, and I'm just gonna, I'm gonna get this done. And then I totally didn't. God, man. All right, so.
00:01:42
Speaker
I bet Gusta's lip on John never had problems like this, or actually I bet maybe he did. I don't know.
00:01:50
Speaker
Anyway, who is this guy? Why have I picked him? All right, so this is kind of on that track I've been on recently of just kind of classic old guys in pseudo-archaeology, you know? I mean, we did Brasur de Bourbeur a little while back, you know? In that vein, I'd like to do this guy. This is an interesting cat. His full name, Augustus Henry Julian Le Plonjon.
00:02:19
Speaker
And I know yet again, do I even have to say it? How come everyone in pseudo archaeology has a terrible name? So now this one, I want to track him a little in terms of.
00:02:34
Speaker
the years when he does certain things and his age, because he's born in 1825 and he dies in 1908. So he actually he's actually you do the math. He's 83 years old when he dies. And this guy is experiencing a lot of change. I mean, think of what the world is like. And when he's a very young boy and like the 1830s, I mean, the 1830s, man, that's like
00:03:00
Speaker
way before the Civil War. Right.
Leplongion's Adventures and Professions
00:03:05
Speaker
And then he makes it all the way past the turn of the century into until he dies in 1908. That's a that's a big change in terms of just what the world was like. Now, this guy.
00:03:16
Speaker
He's he's American and British, too. He's kind of a mixy matchy of those. At the end of his life, he does spend time in New York. But even though, hey, is he British? Is he American? You know, he's a citizen of the world. Augustus Leplonjean. He's one of those dudes. He he he's almost like the Forrest Gump of pseudo archaeologists. He like finds himself
00:03:43
Speaker
in these very important moments, finding very interesting things, very famous things. And of course, it's ultimately all for naught. Kinda. All right, so starting off with this guy's story.
00:03:59
Speaker
When he's 19. So this is going to be what if he's born at 1825 3545 1844 when he's 19. This guy sails from England, I believe, to South America, right? It gets a boat sails to South America and is shipwrecked. The guy is shipwrecked 19 year old shipwrecked off the coast of Chile. And then does he go straight home? No, he hangs out in Chile. He lives in Valparaiso.
00:04:28
Speaker
And whenever I hear the name Valparaiso, by the way, you guys, this is a city right in South America, of course. I always think of the Sting song Valparaiso. Anyone? Sting song Valparaiso. It's all like depressing and stuff, although I heard Valparaiso is like a pretty nice town. A friend of mine, I think, had traveled there at one point. Anyway.
00:04:51
Speaker
He just hangs out in Valparaiso for a couple of years. And he's his latest teen since early 20s. And he basically becomes a college teacher. I think he teaches math, some of the sciences, this kind of thing. Right. And so it's like, hey, I'm in my early 20s and I'm now living in Valparaiso as like a college teacher. It's pretty crazy. So he does that for several years. And then in 1849,
00:05:20
Speaker
He sails up to San Francisco. Now purveyors of California history. 1849 is the gold rush. So this guy at that point, what's that plus four years or so? He's like 24, 24 years old. The dude experiences the California gold rush firsthand in San Francisco. And he actually does the smart thing.
00:05:43
Speaker
which is instead of searching for gold, like panning for gold, he becomes a surveyor. And he actually surveys the town of Marysville, which is in Northern California. It's in the gold country, but it's kind of, those of you who know California, it's kind of in the Central Valley, in the northern part of the Central Valley, in that, I'm guessing it's right where the Central Valley gets a little bit hilly. I've been in that area before, and I think I've even had a relative or two who've
00:06:12
Speaker
Lived in marysville actually marysville is quite a small town even by today's standards i think it's like twelve thousand people or something like that. But augustus le plungeon is the one who surveys the town originally in eighteen fifty one i just think that's awesome i mean already the guys what twenty six years old he's been in a shipwreck.
00:06:32
Speaker
He's lived in South America for several years as like a college teacher. He's experienced the gold rush and he surveyed the master plans for a town in California. I mean, dude, say what we want later when, of course, you guys know me. I'm going to make fun of this guy. But. That's pretty. You got to give the guy credit. That's that's awesome. What a life, dude. Already 26 years old.
00:07:00
Speaker
And when he does his surveying, he gets paid with like land deeds for more land. And so he's able to then sell that land off and he gets a lot of money. Right.
Photography and Archaeology in Peru
00:07:14
Speaker
So as a young person, he also is getting to be fairly well off. Now, you would think just there like, OK, end of story. No friends beginning of story.
00:07:27
Speaker
moves back to England right in his later 20s and he just totally gets into photography.
00:07:35
Speaker
Now, we got to think this is the 1850s, right? Photography is in like its infancy, right? Think of those, you know, those like Civil War photos, and this is pre-Civil War, the glass plates and the early, early black and white stuff, right? Still can be quite good quality, you know, for the time, but
00:08:00
Speaker
early stuff, and he goes way down the rabbit hole in photography. He really kind of becomes a photographer, you know.
00:08:10
Speaker
This training that he does in England for a couple of years, he really kind of becomes a travel photographer. And think of the equipment that that guy's got to carry to be a travel photographer in like 1855. You know, this is serious boxes of stuff and tripods and, you know, the stuff that goes poo for any kind of lighting. I don't even know if they even did lighting at that time. Most of his stuff are exteriors. But that's a major situation.
00:08:41
Speaker
So during that time, Wayne did photography.
00:08:46
Speaker
starts taking his travel photography situation to all kinds of places. He goes to Mexico. He goes to like China, goes to Australia and then from Australia out into the Pacific. I mean, the dude is a world traveler now even more. And he's in it. He's only in his 30s. Right. He's barely touching 30 in 1855. So. Damn, dude. Good for you, Augustus Le Plungeon.
00:09:15
Speaker
And he's honing his craft, right? He's getting better and better at taking photos in faraway places. So at this time, in the early 1860s, he moves back to South America again. This time, he's in Peru, and then he really starts
00:09:34
Speaker
focusing on archaeology. So he's going to be taking photographs, right, being a travel photographer, but now focusing on archaeological sites. And he does a bunch of stuff in Peru. I believe he works in Peru at this time for the better part of eight years. I could be a little off on that one, but the story of Augustus Le Plungeon is definitely one of long term travel. The guy goes kind of place to place and stays a very long time.
00:10:01
Speaker
But in Peru, he's looking at the Tiwanaku culture.
00:10:06
Speaker
You can still what's cool, you guys, you can still like Google and find a bunch of these images. Really, really nice. Right. And of course, for archaeologists, some of these images are doubly valuable because he may have taken photos of things that have been looted are no longer there or are in much better shape than than they are now. Right. He's taken these things in like the 1860s, 50s and 60s. So that's what, 150 years?
00:10:36
Speaker
There can be a lot of weathering on these various stone structures in 150 years. So these photos can be very precious. So again, I mean, I've told you this really awesome story. He sounds like a really cool guy. I think I would love to meet him. How can I possibly why am I putting him on the pseudo archaeology podcast? Like, dude, let this guy.
00:11:02
Speaker
Go in peace. Well, when we come back, we'll talk about some of his influences.
Influences and Explorations in Yucatan
00:11:12
Speaker
Welcome back to the pseudo-archaeology podcast, episode 136. I'm your host, Dr. Andrew Kinkella, and we have been discussing Augustus Leplongon and really how much of a basically completely awesome dude he was. Now, when we left off, he was in Peru being awesome, taking photos of Tiwanaku archaeological sites. But I had hinted that some of his influences were
00:11:41
Speaker
Maybe not so great now i think what's interesting is he kinda has two influences. And i think when you look at these it really tells a lot about what i've got to slip on john kinda where he goes as the years where on.
00:12:00
Speaker
Now, one of his big influences, first and foremost, are Stevens and Catharwood. This is John Lloyd Stevens and Frederick Catharwood. These guys are famous explorers of the Maya world, right? Stevens and Catharwood. Stevens was a New York lawyer who was also just a very good writer. And Catharwood was an amazing artist who would do these photorealistic images. Those two were really the first, I would say, kind of scientific minded
00:12:27
Speaker
people to explore the Yucatan, to explore the world of the Maya. And they're going to do this in the 1830s and 1840s. Right. So this at this time, it's going to be about 20 years in the past from where we are hanging with Augustus Le Plonjon. Right. At this point, we're now in the 1860s or so. So this is 20 years past. And what Stevens and Cathie Wood did,
00:12:54
Speaker
is they published travel books. The most famous one is called Incidents of Travel in the Yucatan. And it just, it blew open the whole Maya world for the rest of the world, right? And this, if you guys are interested in the story of Stevens and Catharwood, which is fascinating in its own right, I love Stevens and Catharwood. I might even just do a podcast on them at some point, even though they're not pseudo-archaeologists. I just love them. I'll just do it out of love, dude. Because that's why I'm here, to bring love.
00:13:22
Speaker
If you're interested in their story, you can also read the book Jungle of Stone. I forget the author, but it just came out. No, it came out maybe seven or eight years ago. Really great biography of these two just sort of telling their life story together. Interesting, interesting. I highly I dug it, man. I highly recommend it. But anyway, I guess this Le Plungeon was influenced by this. It makes sense. He's like, oh, I'll do that. But with photos. Right. And he's going to write, as we'll see, he's going to write books.
00:13:51
Speaker
But his other influence, Brasur De Bor Bor. Remember that guy from a couple of podcasts ago? He was he was the guy who was into the Maya as well and very much into the Maya hieroglyphics. But he brought in Atlantis, man.
00:14:12
Speaker
You know, just saying the word at this point, I'm like, oh, because we were doing so well. Everything is so cool. We're talking about all these amazing places that Augustus Leopold has traveled and his experiences and he's getting good with photography, man, good for him. But then talk about the ultimate sidetrack. It's like.
00:14:34
Speaker
Oh, and he's, you know, he's looking at Stevens and Catharwood and kind of going to be the next generation of that. It's going to use photography instead of drawing. It's going to be so great. But then it's like, now we got to stick on Atlantis. Oh, so.
00:14:52
Speaker
As he's doing with that, and as he's getting better as his photography, when we last left him, he was in Peru, right? He goes back to San Francisco, and he's kind of selling himself now, I think, as kind of an archaeologist, more or less, for the time. We would, you know, more correctly now call him an antiquarian or this kind of thing.
00:15:12
Speaker
And he would give lectures, I think, kind of do the lecture circuit and he can show his photos, which would be a very, very cool thing at that time. Right. Now we're up to like 1870. The dude's like 45.
00:15:25
Speaker
After San Francisco, he goes back to England and then starts working with the British Museum. Now we're up to 1871. This is important, because let's see, if we do the math, I gotta get this right, 25, so he's 46, I believe 1871 makes him 46. He is then gonna meet and marry Alice Dixon, who is 26 years younger than him. So he's 46 and she's 20.
00:15:53
Speaker
And so she marries her, I believe she's the daughter of like a photographer or something in that world.
00:16:00
Speaker
And now they're like a team, right? It's Augustus Le Plongion and Alice Dixon Le Plongion. And they're together now going to the Yucatan. Okay, now this is the part I knew about him from before. So when I look up these various people to talk about, I kind of go off of stuff I've heard or just stuff that sounds interesting to me.
00:16:28
Speaker
I forget, you know, I think that the name Augustus Leplandron came up when I was researching Bresser de Borborg. And, you know, I was like, oh, right, Augustus Leplandron. I got to do one with him at some point.
00:16:41
Speaker
because of his Maya stuff. Now, they're going to the Yucatan and they're kind of, now he's really retracing Stevens and Catharwood's stuff. You know, by this point, they're about 30 years after Stevens and Catharwood. 1873, when they go down there, so he's now 48, his young wife is 22.
00:16:59
Speaker
They start in the in the northern Yucatan. The main town in the northern Yucatan is Merida colonial town. I highly recommend going there. I've been there. It's it's very pretty. It's a cool town, man. It's a good base of operations if you're into looking at the kind of the the Maya world of the northern Yucatan. And I think it was then, too. Of course, as soon as they get there, Alice gets sick with malaria. But while they're there,
00:17:29
Speaker
They learned Yucatec Mayan. Yucatec Mayan is one of the major Maya dialects, right? There's a handful. There's a lot of different Maya kind of sub, you know, little dialects and stuff. And Yucatec is one of the biggies. I would say it's probably one of the top three.
00:17:45
Speaker
So they learn the language good for them. Right. That's really going to get them far in terms of dealing with the local Maya people, in terms of maybe attempting to learn a bit more about the Maya sites. Like, that's that's a big deal. Look how much they do right. You know, look how far ahead.
Discoveries at Chichen Itza
00:18:05
Speaker
Honestly, that Augustus Leplongon is and Alice from many others at the time, they're only held back by their
00:18:15
Speaker
Stupid Atlantis idea. It's so sad. They got so much going for them. So now, of course, they are specifically looking for links between the Maya and Atlantis.
00:18:30
Speaker
and Egypt. So this is their kind of focus. Now, while they're there, speaking of another Forrest Gump moment, this is also the time of the Maya-Castwar, which has its own historical implications. This is, of course, a time of great tension in that area, and he and his wife have to deal with that as they go through it.
00:18:53
Speaker
They head off to Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza is probably the most famous post-classic Maya site of them all, home to the sacred cenote, the most famous of all cenotes easily. Again, for the Northern Yutan, Chichen Itza is huge. And in terms of the history of the Maya, it's extremely important Maya site. I would almost rank it as
00:19:17
Speaker
the single most important Maya site in terms of having more research done in the next 10 or 20 years from today. You know, I think that
00:19:27
Speaker
more research at that one specific site might give us more mileage than almost anything else. That's how important Chichin needs it turns out to be. So, Leopold and John and his wife go there and they just start taking fantastic photos. Good for them. They are very scientific in terms of really just the coverage with their photos. They experiment with 3D photos.
00:19:52
Speaker
Have you guys ever seen any of those, those really old 3D photos? You know, you kind of look through the special look through thing and it gives you a three dimensional image. It's really great. So they do all this stuff in like 1875. Great recording of things. They also do some excavations a little bit, you know, just as they would. This isn't going to be massive excavations, but they're going to excavate. They're going to make some really great maps and they're going to do like molds of
00:20:17
Speaker
the various reliefs on the buildings and stuff there. So in terms of their recording, great. They also do some of this at Uxmal, which is another northern Yucatan post classic Maya site. Uxmal is also very unique. That's also a great place. I highly recommend you guys get to Uxmal.
00:20:37
Speaker
at some point both of those sites are great chichinita today is actually very touristy which is kind of let down and i guarantee you if you go there you're going to boil definitely bring water you'll be there at the
00:20:49
Speaker
probably in the summer, like the height at noon and it's hot and it's full of people. Uxmal, a lot fewer people, really interesting site. I dig it. I haven't been there and I haven't been to Uxmal in decades. I miss it. That's that would probably be the main one I'd go to if I was back in the Northern Yucatan, that and Coba.
00:21:12
Speaker
Those are good. Great mindsets of visit. Anyway, they're recording this and when they're there, they find. What we now call a chockmool. Why do we call it a chockmool?
00:21:28
Speaker
because Augustus and his wife called it a chockmule. I think this is one of his biggest claims to fame. He labeled a chockmule a chockmule. What is a chockmule? You guys have probably seen these. They're hard for me to explain just with words, you know, but they're a sculpted figure of a person that's kind of
00:21:49
Speaker
sitting with their knees up, laying back on their elbows with with their head turned to the side and and like their stomach is flat. So you can see that their stomach is supposed to be like an offering place.
00:22:03
Speaker
And that's ultimately what it is. It's sort of an offering table. This image is very, like every tourist postcard has an image of a chakmul, you know, from the northern Yucatan. Other sites have these, but Chichen Itza is kind of the most famous for it. There's a chakmul on top of one of the pyramids there, top of the Temple of the Warriors. So those, he found one and he named it that, because he knew Yucatec.
00:22:30
Speaker
You know, now the name is made up, but it has nothing to do with what the Maya originally called them, but the name totally stuck. So chocmoles are called chocmoles because of Augustus Leplongion and Alice.
00:22:41
Speaker
In terms of what we know now, again, yes, they're offering tables. The Aztec item as well. Later, I think in the Aztec sense, there's going to be more of a human sacrifice element. You know, maybe you do actually cut a heart out and put it on a chalk mole. You know, in the Aztec world, in the Maya world, it's usually more
00:23:06
Speaker
For my feeling of things, it's not as harsh. So I could believe it if there's not necessarily a human sacrifice component in the Maya world. There could be, but there also could not be. I'm cool with it either way. But this is very much a post-classic thing. I keep saying post-classic. The post-classic Maya are from about, oh, about 950 AD until the Spanish come in like 1520. So it's that period of time. And Chichen Itza is a little bit earlier.
00:23:36
Speaker
Like this stuff is from like nine fifties to about twelve fifty or so. That's that's the date of kind of teaching. He said it's height. They also during this time take a couple treks to Belize, which is near and dear to my heart. And in terms of some of the research I did, when we come back, some cool stuff I found. Concerning the La Plungeons in Belize.
00:24:06
Speaker
Hello and welcome back to the pseudo archaeology podcast episode 136 and we are talking about Augustus Leplongon and when we last left they were in the Yucatan taking some really great photos really great photos of
00:24:22
Speaker
some of the sites they're working at, such as Chichen Itza and Uxmal. But I had teased that they had also taken some trips to Belize. Now, me being a Belize archaeologist and have traveled to Belize, you know, like 18 times or something like that, I'm like, dude, I got to learn a little more about this. I got to see about the La Plungeons in Belize. And I googled, you guessed it, La Plungeons Belize.
00:24:46
Speaker
And a couple of their photos came up right from the time they're dated as 1889. Now, who knows if that was the year they were taken, the year that they were published, you know, but it's it's a fair ball. It's right in there. I looked at them closely and you guys can find this is a couple online. There's one that is definitely on the coast of Belize. It could be it could be like Amberger's Key, one of the main islands, or it could just be the coast of Belize City. It's hard to
00:25:14
Speaker
You know, it's very hard to say it's just a coastal like palm tree scene. Right. But the one that really caught my eye, they also took one that's just labeled Belize River. And it's where.
00:25:30
Speaker
I think it's where the swing bridge is now, which is a famous landmark in Belize. I think it's a bridge that was there before the swing bridge. The swing bridge is called the swing bridge because it opens, it turns in the center, it turns sideways so bigger boats can go through. But right next to it,
00:25:50
Speaker
I'm pretty sure it's it was the water taxi building. And the reason why I sort of took my breath away is the water taxi building is where one of the stories I told with my friend Cam back in Episode 119, right, where he wanted me to go to the island so bad and he ended up having to go on a taxi himself. That was at the water taxi station.
00:26:20
Speaker
And I'm pretty sure the image has the water taxi station in it. You know, I could be a little wrong because many of those buildings look the same, but good God, it's if it's a different building and they probably have all burned down 20 times, too. But if you're curious.
00:26:37
Speaker
about what the water taxi station looked like, where Cam and I had our sort of silly showdown about where I told him I had to get back to my work on the project and he wanted to go to the islands. That 1889 photo shows what the water taxi station looks like, just really a building on the water with some boats in front, you know, so it really
00:27:02
Speaker
I believe the scientific term is it gave me pause, my friends.
Leplongion's Legacy and Criticism
00:27:07
Speaker
It was a cool moment. I'm like, oh my God. I think it was Alice who took the photo. I'm like, Alice Lepland-Jean took a photo of something that over a hundred years later I would have an experience at. So it's cool when this stuff kind of comes together.
00:27:23
Speaker
After they do their work amongst the Maya, which is several years and like I keep saying great photos, they finally end up for the last part of Le Plungeon's life in New York, right into the 1880s and kind of beyond. And this is when Le Plungeon is now writing books.
00:27:41
Speaker
about his experiences. And of course, it's such a bummer because he's just shoving in basically a pre-recorded story into stuff he finds, right? He talks about what's interesting is he talks about how the Maya are actually the original culture. So he actually votes for the Maya as the very first and his idea is that
00:28:06
Speaker
civilization began in the Maya world, and then it bled out to Atlantis, and then it hopscotch from Atlantis over to Egypt. So in his mind, the Maya were first, right? And he talks about how there's also, he sees Freemason symbols in the Maya stuff, which is of course ludicrous and has nothing to do with reality. And he published these, right? He and his wife also make up
00:28:31
Speaker
Like a story. I think while they're down there, you know, they're in the jungle.
00:28:37
Speaker
And I know what this is like. You're there for months. You're bored. It's hot outside every day. You're getting over malaria. And you just start to think a little bit of funky thoughts. And so they make this whole story up about Queen Moo and Prince Choc Mool and how they were rulers of this place. I mean, it's just fantasy, right? They're just making this stuff up. But they're attaching it to stuff as they find it. And of course,
00:29:02
Speaker
Since they're into this story, they're like, oh, look, I found this new mural. It's obviously Queen Moo. Right. You know what I mean? They're sort of feeding themselves off of whatever they find. They could find anything. As time goes on, they take these characters and again, Le Plajon writes more books. One of them is Queen Moo and the Egyptian Sphinx. Right. He writes it in 1896.
00:29:29
Speaker
And again, it just shows you these are just flights of fancy. Now, if they were if they were movie scripts today, they could be awesome, right? They could be like the mummy. You know, these could be killer stories, but they are not factual. Nothing. There's no reality in this. And that's the problem. And actually, they were.
00:29:52
Speaker
They were a good two decades too late on this. You know, by the time they're writing up these flights of fancy stories in the 1880s, it's just too late. And actually, the scientific community of the time ridiculed them at the time. But Le Plungeon just stuck to his guns about this stuff for the rest of his life. It's kind of sad. It's really too bad. And he was really, of course, mainstream science was never behind him. Mainstream archaeology just always thought he was a total croc.
00:30:22
Speaker
But while most thought he was crazy, you know who he influenced?
00:30:29
Speaker
Ignatius Donnelly. You see horrible ideas never die. It's like somebody picks them up. It's like if you're a Doctor Who fan, you think the master's dead and then someone else picks up the ring. You know what I mean? Never dies. So it's like hilarious.
00:30:52
Speaker
Nages Donnelly, remember him? You know, the U.S. Senator who writes about Egypt in 1881. See, it's, it's, I'm sorry, writes about Atlantis, right? 1881, it's like, oh my God. So, so pseudo-archaeology world picks him up and then, and then continues with him. And I do, I do feel that Augustus Le Plonchon
00:31:20
Speaker
is treated a little poorly in archaeology because we can all agree his ideas are terrible, right? They're just straight up just foolish fantasy. But
00:31:38
Speaker
his data is good, right? And by data, I mean his photos, like his photos are great. His data collection is really good. And that's always okay in the archaeology world. If you
00:31:54
Speaker
collect good data, no matter what it is. If you collect good data, good for you, that is the cornerstone of archaeology. It was his interpretations that were terrible. You know, oh, this is Freemasons and Atlantis. Of course it's not. But what's great is if you collect good data, then we can use their data today. Like his photos are indispensable now because he's taking photos of stuff that either no longer exists or is rotted away.
00:32:18
Speaker
So that's cool. It's so much better than what it usually is the other way around, which is no data and terrible ideas, right? Like Graham Hancock has neither, right? Just a total charlatan. So Augustus Lepland-Jones is not. Augustus Lepland-Jones is much better than Graham Hancock. You know, he did real work and he was really trying. And there's
00:32:40
Speaker
Excuses from there's there's no excuse for him to stick to his guns as much as he did. He was way too headstrong. You know, he should have listened to criticism and he could have he could have come around, but he didn't. And. You know, in in the end with him. I kind of like.
00:33:03
Speaker
I kind of have like a backwards respect, you know, for him and his wife and the photos that they took and just he's such an interesting dude. I mean, think of the stuff he did. He was in a shipwreck. He was in the gold rush. He was in the cast war. He learned how to take photos and photos are a brand new thing. He traveled the world. I mean, dude, that's an interesting guy, but he commits
00:33:32
Speaker
one major sin, right? And the sin is what I've come to find is at the cornerstone of all pseudo-archaeology. This is really it, my friends.
00:33:46
Speaker
This need to tell a prefabricated story. That's the whole thing. Look at every practitioner of pseudo archaeology. They're out to tell a false story. Right. That's and they have like this need.
00:34:03
Speaker
to tell this false story. In this case, Le Plungeon wanted to tell the story of the Maya were the first civilization and then they went from there to Atlantis to Egypt, right? That's obviously false. There's no facts supporting that whatsoever. Atlantis is a myth and Egypt is older than the Maya.
00:34:23
Speaker
but he wouldn't back down. He's done what every single pseudo-archaeologist does, just stuck with his stupid story and just never wavered. And I think it's super interesting that line between where
00:34:42
Speaker
Facts are just left and it's all belief, right? And that's all this pseudo-archaeology world is. It's just belief. It's belief in a false story and then taking facts in the world and just shoving them in. That's all it is. But unfortunately, a lot of people like the fake story in the first place.
00:35:10
Speaker
But I know you're not one of them. And with that, I'll talk to you guys next time. Thanks for listening to the pseudo archaeology podcast. Please like and subscribe wherever you'd like and subscribe. And if you have questions for me, Dr. Andrew Kinkella, feel free to reach out using the links below or go to my YouTube channel, Kinkella teaches archaeology. See you guys next time.
00:35:42
Speaker
This episode was produced by Chris Webster from his RV traveling the United States, Tristan Boyle in Scotland, DigTech LLC, Cultural Media, and the Archaeology Podcast Network, and was edited by Rachel Rodin. This has been a presentation of the Archaeology Podcast Network. Visit us on the web for show notes and other podcasts at www.archpodnet.com. Contact us at chris at archaeologypodcastnetwork.com.