Hyperdiffusionism
Hyperdiffusionism is a pseudoarchaeological hypothesis[1] that postulates that certain historical technologies or ideas were developed by a single people or civilization and then spread to other cultures.
Thus, all great civilizations that engage in what appear to be similar cultural practices, such as the construction of pyramids, derived them from a single common progenitor.
The magazine's claims are similar to discredited nineteenth century theories, and as a result, they are considered dubious or exploitative by scholars.
[9] The so-called Heliolithic Culture hypothesized by Grafton Elliot Smith includes a wide range of hyperdiffused cultural practices such as megaliths and sun worship (the name was coined by Smith himself from helios, "sun", and lith, "stone") and the similar designs and methods of the construction of such pieces are described as having a linear geographical distribution.
[10]: 45 Smith sees Mummification as a prime example of how religious customs prove the diffusion of a single ancient culture.
[11]: 15 Carl Whiting Bishop in the 1930s and the 1940s produced a series of articles arguing hyperdiffusionism in explaining the expansion of technology into China.
[13]: 193–94 According to Hapgood, the pyramids in South America and Mexico may be indicative of cultural practices which the builders of them shared with ancient Egyptian civilization.
[13]: 204–5 Mystery Hill, or America's Stonehenge, is the site which Barry Fell refers to as the primary basis of his hypothesis that ancient Celts once populated New England.
In addition, Goldenweiser insists that behavior is primitive and that cultural similarities may arise simply because they are reflections of adaptive traits that all human beings have evolved.
This belief led him to ignore the data that was found at the Folsom site in his chronology as it made his "Man descended from Asia into the New World" theory impossible.
[3]: 230 The section continues with Cyclone Covey and Thomas W. Bent, specifically their publications on the Tucson Artifacts and their theory that ancient Romans traveled to Arizona.
[3]: 240 Concluding, Williams points out in the chapter how hyperdiffusionists fail to recognize solid archaeological research methods and/or ignore conflicting data and contextual evidence.
[18]: 144 Although she agrees that diffusion of culture can occur through contact and trading, she disagrees with the theory that all civilization came from one superior ancient society.
