Xenoarchaeology
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Xenoarchaeology is a hypothetical form of archaeology that exists mainly in the works of science fiction. The field is concerned with the study of material remains to reconstruct and interpret past life-ways of alien civilization. Xenoarchaeology is not currently practiced by mainstream archaeologists due to the current lack of any material for the discipline to study.
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Fringe theories
A subculture of enthusiasts studies purported structures on the Moon or Mars. These controversial "structures" (such as the Face on Mars) are not accepted as more than natural features by most scientists.
Palaeocontact or ancient astronaut theories, espoused by Erich von Däniken and others, are further examples of fringe theories. These claim that the Earth was visited in prehistoric times by extraterrestrial beings.
Science fiction
Xenoarchaeological themes are common in science fiction. Works about the exploration of enigmatic extraterrestrial artifacts have been satirically categorized as Big Dumb Object stories.
Some of the more prominent examples of xenoarchaeological fiction include Arthur C. Clarke's novel Rendezvous with Rama, H. Beam Piper's short story Omnilingual, and Charles Sheffield's Heritage Universe series.
Jack McDevitt's science fiction novels often revolve around human or alien historical and archaeological mysteries.
Mass Effect's plot revolves around technologies in the form of structures, transportation, buildings and machines left behind by an extinct alien race.
The primary setting of Halo: Combat Evolved takes place on a massive structure created by an ancient, extinct alien super race. These structures feature prominently in the sequels Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo 4.
In the video game "Borderlands", and its sequel "Borderlands 2", the Atlas corporation started mining the planet Pandora after finding evidence of an ancient (and possibly extinct) alien civilization called Eridians.
Novels
- Gateway by Fred Pohl
- Noon Universe by Strugatsky brothers.
- 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
- Rendezvous With Rama by Arthur C. Clarke
- Wasteland Of Flint by Thomas Harlan
- House of Reeds by Thomas Harlan
- The Season of Passage by Christopher Pike
- Broken Angels by Richard Morgan
- Strata by Terry Pratchett
- Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
- Grass by Sheri S. Tepper
- The Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. van Vogt
- The Engines of God by Jack McDevitt
- The Hercules Text by Jack McDevitt
- The novels in the Heritage Universe by Charles Sheffield
- The Past of Forever (Children of the Stars, Book 4) by Juanita Coulson
- Saga of Seven Suns (Most notably Book 1: Hidden Empire) by Kevin J. Anderson
- Heritage Trilogy by Ian Douglas
- Ringworld (and its sequels) by Larry Niven
- The Gaea Trilogy by John Varley
Short stories
- "Omnilingual" by H. Beam Piper
- "The Sentinel" by Arthur C. Clarke
- "At the Mountains of Madness" by H. P. Lovecraft
- "The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis" by Clark Ashton Smith
Computer and video games
- Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri
- Alien Legacy
- Star Trek: A Final Unity
- RAMA (based on Clarke's novel)
- Freelancer
- FreeSpace
- Wing Commander: Privateer
- The Dig
- Doom 3
- Halo series
- Mass Effect: Mysteries related to an extinct race known as the Protheans figure prominently in the plot and one of the characters you get in your party is a xenoarchaeologist. Also, it's a profitable business, giving rise to various "paleotechnological" companies recovering functioning devices, which are often superior to indigenous technology of the 22nd century.
- Civilization: Call to Power
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Although the Star Wars saga doesn't take place in our Galaxy or the human timeframe; the game's main concept is discovering traces of an ancient stellar empire of unknown aliens that existed before the Galactic Republic)
- Resistance
- StarCraft
- Aliens vs. Predator
- Aliens versus Predator
- Dead Space
- Borderlands
- Metal Fatigue
- Marathon 2: Durandal
- The Lacuna Expanse: There are many buildings that were left behind on hundreds of thousands of planets by a mysterious species known only as "the Great Race".
Movies
- Alien
- Stargate
- Doom
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Alien vs. Predator
- Prometheus
- Destination: Outer Space features a robot that visited Earth over two thousand years ago.<ref>Mihm, C. & Craig, J., Destination: Outer Space</ref>
Television
- Babylon 5
- Star Trek
- Stargate
- Doctor Who
- Stargate SG-1 and its spinoff Stargate Atlantis
See also
