Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
@cultarchaeo.bsky.social
11K followers 600 following 1.1K posts
🇨🇦 (BC)Archaeologist & PhD student: Brother XII & the Aquarian Foundation | archaeology of conspirituality | landscape archaeology | pseudoarchaeology | far-right pseudo/archaeology (she/her) https://bonesstonesandbooks.com/publication
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
My author copy of the home of my recent chapter on far-right uses of pseudoarchaeology arrived today 🙌 Timely, given that a certain Netflix series with a season premiere date right around the corner makes an unfortunate appearance in here 👀
🏺
Cover for a book called Conspiracy Theories and Extremism in New Times, edited by Christopher T. Conner, Matthew N. Hannah, and Nicholas J. MacMurray. First page of my chapter, titled "Manufacturing History: Atlantis, Aryans, and the Use of Pseudoarchaeology by the Far-Right"
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
a-rfa.bsky.social
🌟 Reminder! 🌟 we will be hosting the amazing Steph Halmhofer on Tuesday 14th of October, who will be presenting on the incredibly important topic of pseudoarchaeology, conspirary and the far right. The talk is free to attend so please sign up below!
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can-arch.bsky.social
It's TIME! Our call for session proposals is open!
We're preparing for the 58th Annual General Meeting of the CAA / ACA, in Canmore, Alberta, & we want you to join us!
We are accepting Session Proposals until January 15, 2026, so head to the link in our bio! 🏺 #CanArch #archaeology #conference
A graphic advertising the CAA 2p26 Canmore, Alberta. There is an image of a human figure holding a disc or circle, slightly abstract, in red and grey. Ti the figure's left, it says 'Call for Sessions is Open! Deadline: January 15, 2026'
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
increase in general erosion of trust in archaeologists and historians driven by popular pseudoarchaeological content creators, pseudoarchaeological shows, residential school denialists, etc. that can also lead to increases in looting. Lots of potential reasons, none of them good 😬
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
Looting these days is definitely a multi-faceted issue. There is monetary-driven looting for sure, there is an issue with historic sites, especially large forts in eastern Canada, being connected to pseudoarch/hist claims about Tartaria that can drive looting, and there has also lately been an
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
theserfstv.bsky.social
"You are a transformative President" ~Mark Carney

-Frequently threatens to annex or invade Canada.
-Waging a war against his own people.
-Genocide of Palestinians.
-Killing Venezuelan citizens.
-Tariff wars and silencing free speech.
-Targeting LGBTQ+ people, minorities, and immigrants.
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
Was a beautiful Autumn day to hike part way up a mountain today to re-locate the Organ Maker's Cabin (a man in the early-mid 20th C lived here and made organ pipes with wood from the surrounding forest) 🏺
Three rows of thick wooden support beams, now covered by moss Looking at the remains of a cabin, covered in moss. You can see floor supports and in the distance a disintigrating metal stove. Up close look at one of the floor supports, which is a long wooden beam resting on top of a short stump at one end Looking down at a well with stacked stone circular walls
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
rajoyce.bsky.social
Also: this video illustrates the incompetence, lack of training, and dangerous approach that these mercenaries employ.
cristianfarias.com
This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram.

Community action works.

Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
That would be excellent, thank you! My institution sadly doesn't have access to it. My email is:
halmhofe [at] ualberta [dot] ca

Thank you!
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graveyardarch.bsky.social
I'm working on a paper with a colleague on people painting #gravestones with good intentions & bad results for conservation. Does anyone have any examples of this?? 🏺
Reposted by Steph Halmhofer, Big Archaeology
dinostalgia.bsky.social
The monster is a friend, or so we @contingent-mag.bsky.social suggest in our CFP... a fiend to historians especially, though not exclusively.

Pitch us an essay about your historical monster, whatever form that monster takes, by October 20!
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
FYI, the Oct 14th talk is the one I was referring to in this post about Christian Identity 👇 (which is also not the only white power theology I'll be talking about, I'll also be talking a bit about Creativity/World Church of the Creator)

bsky.app/profile/cult...
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
That's me! Oct 14th we'll be talking about all sorts of far-right pseudoarchaeological things. Join us! 🏺
a-rfa.bsky.social
🚨 NEW SEMINAR ALERT 🚨
On 14/10 Steph Halmhofer (@cultarchaeo.bsky.social) will speak on 'Manufacturing History', examining the relationship between pseudoarchaeology, conspiracy, and the far-right and highlighting its contemporary relevance. Go to archaeologistsrfa.wordpress.com/events/ to register.
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
That's me! Oct 14th we'll be talking about all sorts of far-right pseudoarchaeological things. Join us! 🏺
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
To conclude my rambles, for many constructed white supremacist identities, pseudoarchaeology provides a useful anchor to the deep past for the mythologized histories that are needed for identity construction. For Christian Identity, pyramidist ideas help provide that anchor.

11/11 (end)
cultarchaeo.bsky.social
liked what it had to offer in terms of an anchor for past, present, and future white superiority. CI moved on from prophetic date pyramidist stuff, but you still find the old school "pyramids were built by the Adamic Race" style of pyramidism (e.g. pics below of Capt's book, sold by CI orgs).
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
his Silver Shirts really enhanced the antisemitism and racism that was already inherent in Davidson's own pyramidist writings and took it to a new level that, when partnered with the pyramidist-infused writings of W.G. MacKendrick and Howard Rand, became appealing to an emerging CI movement who
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
others to write pyramidist stuff for him. For example the article in the image below, from 1933 and written by Clyde J. Wright (who is connected to my research by way of an anti-Catholic/antisemitic party he tried to start with Brother XII). Anyway, Pelley's popularization of pyramidism among
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
Israelite, but he still drew a lot from BI stuff and that included a deeeeep fondness for Davidson's pyramidism (as well as much othe pseudoarch stuff). In fact, he tied his Silver Legion (aka the Silver Shirts) to pyramid dates, wrote pyramidist stuff in his various fashy magazines, and invited
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
there are a few folks important to the emergence of Christian Identity and one of them, William Dudley Pelley, brought along Davidson's pyramidism for his role. In the late 1920s, Pelley started to get into the occulty New Age stuff that he ultimately fused with fascism. He was not a British
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
really expanded Taylor/Smyth's work and very quickly became super popular - here was "scientific" proof that the pyramids had been built by someone other than the Egytpians, who encoded them with Biblical and prophetic info. Pics below are some examples of Davidson's work. In North America,
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
Instead, the pyramids had been built by the descendants of Adam (white people) for a divine purpose. In the 1920s, David Davidson enters the scene and starts talking about the "pyramid inch" correlates the measure the pyramids measurements to specific historical dates. Davidson's pyramidism
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cultarchaeo.bsky.social
onto the pyramidism developed by John Taylor (18th C) and Charles Piazzi Smyth (19th C) which, in a nutshell, posited that the Pyramids of Giza had been built using a British measurement system and that Egyptians did not build the pyramids because the pyramids were too sophisticated for them 🙄
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