Beardmore: The Viking Hoax That Rewrote History

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.-- The Middle Claim -- The Viking Age -- Everything Is Conjecture -- Carlo -- The Biggest Historical Find ... In America -- The Norse Grave -- I Think He Is Honest -- Troublesome Typology -- One Of The Greatest Hoaxes Of All Times -- Ripped Right Up The Back -- John Drew Jacob Investigates -- James Watson Curran To The Rescue -- The Whole Story Is Perfectly Clear Now -- From Thirty-one To Thirty -- Thomas Leslie Tanton Takes On The Case -- He Is A Damned Liar -- Doctor Currelly Publishes -- Doctor Tanton And Mr. Elliott Investigate -- The More Confused I Get -- War Declared -- A Once Open Mind Is Closed -- The Onus Of Proof -- The Precedence Of Fellows -- The Judge's Survey -- The Last Word -- Doctor Brøndsted Investigates -- Professor Carpenter Strikes Back -- I Am At Peace -- Conclusion. Douglas Hunter. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.