Got burned by a fake 'Viking' axe head at a dig site in Minnesota

Last summer I was working a private dig near Red Wing, Minnesota and a guy brought in this rusty axe head claiming it was from a 10th century Norse site. He had papers and everything, but I noticed the patina looked wrong - too uniform, like it was forced with chemicals. Turns out it was a replica made in a shop in Ohio, and he knew it. We lost 3 days of real work chasing that dead end. Has anyone else dealt with fake artifacts being planted on purpose?

2 comments

2 Comments

susanh4614d ago

THINK about the angle nobody's bringing up - what if these fakes are a form of academic sabotage between competing dig teams? I heard from a buddy at the U of M that someone's been running a campaign to discredit specific researchers by planting forgeries at their sites. The fact that this guy had "papers" for the fake suggests somebody put real effort into making it look authentic, which goes way beyond a simple scam for profit.

jade22114d ago

Sounds like a stretch, most academics aren't that organized.