Phantom Time Theory

[Lianachan]

Apparently, Charlemagne was made up as part of a conspiracy by the Holy Roman Emperor Otto III, Pope Sylvester II, and possibly the Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII to fabricate a dating system that placed them at the special year of AD 1000.

[Heid the Ba]

My first thought was "What about the Arab chronology" and sure enough it cropped up in the objections.

[Heid the Ba]

My second thought was "Not again."

Tangentially, it always astonishes people when I point out that Cleopatra was closer in time to us than to the pyramid builders.

[Lianachan]

Tangentially, it always astonishes people when I point out that Cleopatra was closer in time to us than to the pyramid builders.

But Egypt! But pyramids! Etc..

[Heid the Ba]

There is an outside chance I may be going to Luxor for a few days over New Year, so yay! Er . . . no pyramids.

[Lianachan]

I'm convinced by the theory. I've certainly never found any artefacts from the date range in question at any excavations I've been at, so it must be true. That entire time period being completely made up is certainly a more elegant explanation than my excavations being mainly at Neolithic, late Medieval or Bronze Age sites, for sure, and I'd happily accept that my friends who excavate Pictish and Norse sites from the period are in on it.

[Heid the Ba]

As a Byzantinist who specialised in the 9th to 11th centuries I'm curious when my cheque will arrive.

[Мастер]

I thought Caesar fought at the Somme.

[MM_Dandy]

The theory makes sense, here, too, so long as you can do some shifting. There were once woodland mound builders that inhabited these parts, but the record shows them as disappearing around 800 AD. Evidence of Mandan occupation goes back only as far as around 1200 AD, so we have about 400 years where there isn't much evidence of anyone living here.

Well, except for that pesky ongoing excavation at Mitchell - I think they figure that that site was occupied up until about 1,000 AD or so by ancestors of the Mandans.

[tubeswell]

Tangentially, it always astonishes people when I point out that Cleopatra was closer in time to us than to the pyramid builders.

But Egypt! But pyramids! Etc..

Check out Ancient Aliens Season 4 Episode 11

Edit http://www.ovguide.com/tv_episode/ancie ... ds-4314492