Hyperdiffusionism
"Hyperdiffusionists deny that parallel evolution or independent invention took place to any great extent throughout history, they claim that all major inventions and all cultures can be traced back to a single culture.
Early theories of hyperdiffusionism can be traced back to ideas about South America being the origin of mankind. Antonio de León Pinelo, a Spaniard who settled in Bolivia, claimed in his book Paraíso en al Nuevo Mundo that the Garden of Eden and the creation of man had occurred in Bolivia and that the rest of the world was populated by migrations from there. . . .
There was a revival of hyperdiffusionism in 1911 with the work of Grafton Elliot Smith, who asserted that copper spread from Egypt to the rest of the world along with megalithic culture. Smith had claimed that all major inventions had been made by the ancient Egyptians and were carried to the rest of the world by migrants and voyagers. His views became known as "Egyptocentric-Hyperdiffusionism". . . . Hyperdiffusionism after this did not entirely disappear, but it was generally abandoned by mainstream academia."
Early theories of hyperdiffusionism can be traced back to ideas about South America being the origin of mankind. Antonio de León Pinelo, a Spaniard who settled in Bolivia, claimed in his book Paraíso en al Nuevo Mundo that the Garden of Eden and the creation of man had occurred in Bolivia and that the rest of the world was populated by migrations from there. . . .
There was a revival of hyperdiffusionism in 1911 with the work of Grafton Elliot Smith, who asserted that copper spread from Egypt to the rest of the world along with megalithic culture. Smith had claimed that all major inventions had been made by the ancient Egyptians and were carried to the rest of the world by migrants and voyagers. His views became known as "Egyptocentric-Hyperdiffusionism". . . . Hyperdiffusionism after this did not entirely disappear, but it was generally abandoned by mainstream academia."
- Text from Wikipedia entry for "Hyperdiffusionism in archaeology" (accessed 10/12/2015) [links added]
- Image source
Blog Posts and Articles
- "Tent-Maker Claims Love of Pyramids Was Spread by Ancient Sailors Blown Across Oceans" (Jason Colavito, 8/23/2016)
- "Samuel Mather and Colonial-Era Diffusionist Pseudo-History" (Jason Colavito, 10/1/2015)
- "Examining Diffusionist Myths at the Structural Level" (Jason Colavito, 4/10/2014)
- "The Swastika: Proof of an Early Worldwide Earth-Goddess Cult?" (Jason Colavito, 5/4/2012)
- "Diffusionism in Archaeological Theory: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" (Alice A. Storey and Terry L. Jones, in Polynesians in America: Pre-Columbian Contacts with the New World , edited by Terry L. Jones, Alice A. Storey, Elizabeth A. Matisoo-Smith, and Jose Miguel Ramirez-Aliaga, 2011)
- "Thor Heyerdahl and Hyperdiffusionism" (Martin Rundkvist, 11/4/2010)
- "The Diffusionists Have Landed" (Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Online, January 2000)
Other Online Sources
- "Convergence and Independent Invention in Archaeology" (ArchyFantasies podcast, Episode 53, 9/5/2016)
- "A History of Pseudo-Archaeology: Hyperdiffusion and Aliens" (ArchyFantasies podcast, Episode 47, 7/25/2016)
- "A History of Pseudo-Archaeology: Diffusion" (ArchyFantasies podcast, Episode 38, 5/23/2016)
- Kulturkries (Wikipedia entry)
Media
- America Unearthed (TV program)
- Fingerprints of the Gods (book)
- Magicians of the Gods (book)
