By Justin Muszynski
Professor of Anthropology Kevin Feder has made a second career for himself appearing on TV shows that explore archaeological mysteries that fascinate the average person. However, disappointing as it may be for some people, Feder is usually explaining why most unusual claims are only myths.
He prides himself on being a skeptic and only drawing a conclusion that can be supported by archaeological evidence.
His latest appearance was on National Geographic’s “The Truth Behind: Atlantis,” which aired on Dec. 22, where he enlightens the audience to the common misbeliefs about Atlantis.
“There’s no direct evidence suggesting that there was ever this perfect society known as Atlantis which was in the middle of what’s now the Atlantic Ocean,” said Feder.
It roots from a story that Plato told through one of his dialogues about the story of an evil society that wanted to take over everything, he explains.
“The biggest misconception about Atlantis is that it was supposedly the perfect society that Plato talked about,” said Feder. “Opposite! Atlantis is ‘the evil empire,’ and the perfect society is an ancient version of Athens.”
Feder, who resides in West Simsbury, compares the story of Atlantis to something that everyone can understand. A very sophisticated and powerful society whose only problem standing in their way to world domination is a “rag tag group of rebels.” But in the end Atlantis is defeated because good was not on their side.
“You hear that story and say, ‘that’s Star Wars right?’ No that’s Atlantis,” said Feder. “A small group of rebels who win because ‘the force is with them.’”
Because Plato practically told you in the beginning of the story that Atlantis was a “long time ago” in a place that was “far, far away,” Feder says that historians in that time period never felt the need to say, “This isn’t a true story.” This is why believers today can claim that no one ever called Plato out on his claim.
“That would be like people coming out today and saying, ‘Star Wars is fictional no one should believe it,’” joked Feder. “You would say, ‘Yeah, that’s great, but we know Star Wars isn’t real.’ Most Greek historians when they read Plato understood it was fiction and didn’t need to respond to it.”
According to Feder, it wasn’t until the 19th century when people started believing Atlantis was a real city after Ignatius Donnelly wrote a book saying exactly that. Of all the common myths out there that can range from Bigfoot to the fallacy that Stonehenge was built by aliens, he says that Atlantis is by far the most popular amongst the public.
“When I look at the list of shows that I’ve done, which is somewhere around 15, 10 of them are about Atlantis,” said Feder. “I don’t know why that’s a big turn-on for people but, whatever.”
He says he has to be fairly selective when it comes to which shows he does because some aren’t looking for the truth at all. He was once asked by an independent company hired by ABC to ignore all the archaeological evidence and state that Atlantis was a real place. He later found out the motivation behind it was that Disney, who owns ABC, was releasing a film called, “Atlantis: The Lost Empire.”
In an effort to create buzz around the topic, they aired a documentary where archaeologists told the audience that Atlantis was in fact a real place. Feder says it wasn’t hard to decline an appearance on that show.
The most recent TV show he appeared on hears from both sides of this debate and wraps up with Feder telling the audience flat out that Atlantis is just a myth.
He started getting calls from TV producers years ago shortly after he wrote his book Frauds, Myths and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. Because it was one of the few writings out there that actually exploring archaeological myths scientifically, he says this made him a popular source for people doing a show on these claims.
He also uses his book for a class he created called “The Ancient World.” It’s a course that Feder proposed after finding out that many students interested in archaeology wanted to know if there was any truth behind things like UFOs or the Loch Ness monster. Throughout the semester students learn which claims are true and how to apply skepticism to their daily lives.
Feder will be appearing on another TV show sometime this year. Due to legal reasons, he could not say what the show will be about, but says it will center on a popular archaeological claim and his piece will be spent debunking it.