Who is Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and what right does he have to criticise others?
Apart from being the author of this page, I am a professional
archaeologist, living in Hitchin, UK. I work for North
Hertfordshire Museums as the local council’s archaeologist.
I was previously Lecturer in Archaeology at the University of
Chester and Senior Archaeologist with Chester City
Council’s Archaeological Service.
My interest in ‘fringe’ archaeology stretches back to childhood. I was fascinated by Ancient Egypt and, gradually, by all things archaeological. Another interest in astronomy led me into the UFO field and, via this, to Erich von Däniken’s Chariots of the Gods?, which I remember being serialised in a Sunday newspaper in 1968. After my initial enthusiasm for space aliens as the builders of just about everything in the ancient world wore off, I continued to read similar books. Partly, there was a hope that they might contain the odd insight that would escape mainstream writers, but as my knowledge of real archaeology increased, I soon came to realise that these books contain almost nothing of value.
These days, I read these books as entertainment, much as other people read cheap novels. With the rapid expansion of the World Wide Web since the mid-1990s, there has been an explosion in web sites dedicated to ‘fringe’ matters. Television has also shown numerous programmes (both documentary and fictional) that are favourable to these ideas.
As someone who believes passionately in communicating ideas about the past and informing people, I feel that as a professional archaeologist, I have a duty to explain why the ‘fringe’ is wrong. The past is much more interesting than writers like von Däniken or Graham Hancock would have us believe. Human beings are infinitely inventive, our cultures diverse, our past too important to be trivialised to make money from the ignorant. That’s why I have set up this site.