Pseudoarcheologie in het Post-Truth tijdperk De zoektocht naar Homerisch Ithaca

Pseudo-archaeology has become a mainstream form of infotainment and contributes to the public distrust of scholarly knowledge that has become a hallmark of the current ‘Post Truth’ era. In this article, I explore the relation between professional archaeology and serious research that can be understood as pseudo-archaeology: the search for Homeric Ithaca. In the last twenty years, several proposals have been made for the location of the Palace of Odysseus in the Ionian islands. Whereas archaeological scholars and authorities have been ignoring these proposals, they gained widespread public popularity. According to Bruno Latour and others, a new epistemology is necessary to restore trust in academic knowledge. Following this, I argue that professional archaeologists should not ignore, or even ridicule research such as that into Homeric Ithaca. Rather than debating which facts are right or wrong, we should use it to better explain the backgrounds to knowledge about the past.