Video Review Guide

The Mysterious Origins of Man

1996, color, 48 minutes, NBC Television

Summary

Charlton Heston narrates this attack on the standard sciences that study the origins of humans. Using such examples as Cremo and Thompson's contentions in Forbidden Archaeology that humans have been on earth for more than 2 billion years or Steen-McIntyre's contention that she has found artifacts in strata 250 thousand years old in North America, the video espouses conspiracy by the established scientific community. Also shown are the Paluxy River human-with-dinosaur tracks and a fossil human finger, evidence that even the creationists have rejected. Shown are possible connections between Atlantis and the Andean complex at Tiahuanaco, the former now under the Antarctic ice sheets. The video is a "classic" in its use of "intuitive" science, with the best example being the shift of the earth's crust due to extreme buildup at the North Pole.

Be sure to the Mysterious Origins of Man web site!

Questions

1. What does Heston imply when he says, "Let the evidence speak for itself"?
2. What is the nature of the evidence shown? Who are the "scientists?"
3. Do you believe in scientific conspiracy?
4. What is intuitive science? What are its impacts?
5. What are the credentials of the film's principal speakers?

| Main | Outline | Brief | Brief Schedule | Debunking Tools | Video Guides | Projects | Final |

larry-zimmerman@uiowa.edu
University of Iowa Anthropology
08/18/98