In 1936, long before the discovery of the Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows, the Royal Ontario Museum made a sensational acquisition: the contents of a Viking grave that prospector Eddy Dodd said he had found on his mining claim east of Lake Nipigon. The relics remained on display for two decades, challenging understandings of when and where Europeans first reached the Americas. In 1956 the discovery was exposed as an unquestionable hoax, tarnishing the reputation of the museum director, Charles Trick Currelly, who had acquired the relics and insisted on their authenticity. Drawing on an array of archival sources, Douglas Hunter reconstructs the notorious hoax and its many players. Beardmore unfolds like a detective story as the author sifts through the voluminous evidence and follows the efforts of two unlikely debunkers, high-school teacher Teddy Elliott and government geologist T.L. Tanton, who find themselves up against Currelly and his scholarly allies. Along the way, the controversy draws in a who's who of international figures in archaeology, Scandinavian studies, and the museum world, including anthropologist Edmund Carpenter, whose mid-1950s crusade against the find's authenticity finally convinced scholars and curators that the grave was a fraud. Shedding light on museum practices and the state of the historical and archaeological professions in the mid-twentieth century, Beardmore offers an unparalleled view inside a major museum scandal, to show how power can be exercised across professional networks and hamper efforts to arrive at the truth.--$cProvided by publisher.
Authors
- Bibliography, etc. Note
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 439-448) and index
- Control Number Identifier
- CaOOCEL
- Date published
- 2018.
- Description conventions
- rda
- Dewey Decimal Classification Number
- 971.3/01
- Dewey Decimal Edition Number
- 23
- Distributor
- Canadian Electronic Library (Firm),
- General Note
- Issued as part of the desLibris books collection
- Geographic Area Code
- n------
- ISBN
- 9780773554665 9780773555341
- LCCN
- E105
- LCCN Item number
- H86 2018eb
- Modifying agency
- CaBNVSL
- Original cataloging agency
- CaOONL
- Physical Description | Extent
- 1 electronic text (xv, 475 pages, 17 pages of unnumbered plates)
- Published in
- Ottawa, Ontario
- Publisher or Distributor Number
- CaOOCEL
- Rights
- Access restricted to authorized users and institutions
- System Control Number
- (CaBNVSL)kck00239283 (OCoLC)1066197871 (CaOOCEL)455597
- System Details Note
- Mode of access: World Wide Web
- Title proper/short title
- Viking hoax that rewrote history
- Transcribing agency
- CaOONL
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- BEARDMORE 2
- Title 4
- Copyright 5
- Dedication 6
- Contents 8
- Acknowledgments 10
- List of Recurring Characters 12
- Illustrations 17
- Introduction 36
- PART ONE 48
- 1 The Middle Claim 50
- 2 The Viking Age 67
- 3 “Everything Is Conjecture” 78
- 4 Carlo 87
- 5 “The Biggest Historical Find … in America” 100
- 6 The Norse Grave 116
- 7 “I Think He Is Honest” 126
- 8 Troublesome Typology 136
- 9 “One of the Greatest Hoaxes of All Times” 151
- 10 Ripped Right Up the Back 167
- 11 John Drew Jacob Investigates 177
- 12 James Watson Curran to the Rescue 190
- PART TWO 202
- 13 “The Whole Story Is Perfectly Clear Now” 204
- 14 From Thirty-One to Thirty 212
- 15 Thomas Leslie Tanton Takes on the Case 223
- 16 “He Is a Damned Liar” 235
- 17 Doctor Currelly Publishes 247
- PART THREE 258
- 18 Doctor Tanton and Mr Elliott Investigate 260
- 19 “The More Confused I Get” 274
- 20 War Declared 286
- 21 “A Once Open Mind Is Closed” 297
- 22 “The Onus of Proof” 310
- 23 The Precedence of Fellows 323
- 24 The Judge’s Survey 335
- 25 The Last Word 347
- PART FOUR 358
- 26 Doctor Brøndsted Investigates 360
- 27 Professor Carpenter Strikes Back 370
- 28 “I Am at Peace” 387
- Conclusion 401
- Notes 412
- Bibliography 472
- Index 482
