Dan Richards runs the YouTube channel DeDunking. He’s a self-described alternative historian, meaning he disagrees with the mainstream scholarly historical consensus, and is prepared to credit fringe views of history and archaeology. Dan is far more skeptical than other pseudo-archaeologists, but he does have a tendency towards conspiratorial thinking, which is common in the alternative …
At the time of this video, the 2020 novel coronavirus global pandemic is in its fifth month. One byproduct of the pandemic has been a worldwide rise in acts of ethnic and racial prejudice. Mainstream Western media typically presents Chinese people, and people mistaken as Chinese, as the most affected. However, taking a broader view …
The story of Archimedes Codex C (also known as the Archimedes Palimpsest), sounds too sensational to be true. It’s usually described something like “ancient wisdom eradicated by a moron who believed in fairy tales”, or “Archimedes came up with calculus but the Church destroyed the only manuscript”. These videos explain why a Christian erased this …
Over time the original history of Thanksgiving has become obscured and distorted by layers of mythology, largely aimed at upholding and justifying the settlement and colonization of indigenous land, and the dispossession of indigenous people. This video examines eight Thanksgiving myths which have become embedded in popular culture. Adare-Tasiwoopa ápi, Sierra, and Melissa Adams-Campbell. “Sanitizing …
On 21 June 2023, a scholarly journal paper challenged the long-held view that nineteenth century British ironmaster Henry Cort had invented a method for recycling low quality scrap iron into more valuable wrought iron. Instead, the author asserted, Cort had stolen this idea from “Black metallurgists in Jamaica who developed it”, crediting them as the …
Dan Richards of the YouTube channel DeDunking is a self-described alternate historian, and is particularly unhappy with the Society for American Archaeology. In an open letter to president-elect Donald Trump, Dan asked for the SAA’s federal funding to be removed. Unfortunately Dan’s error-filled letter is based on a complete misunderstanding of the SAA. This video …
Bulgarian art director Viktor Antonov is arguably one of the most well known designers in the modern video game industry. From Half-Life 2 to Dishonored 1, his distinctive and arresting style has left a unique mark on every game he has touched. This video describes Antonov’s secret inspiration, focusing in particular on the most influential …
Historia Civilis is a history Youtuber with over one million subscribers. He not only uses historical sources, but lists in them in the video description, and sometimes cites them in his video. But I was disapponted in his video on the history of work and time management, published on 30 September 2023. This video of …
Why would you ever distrust a peer-reviewed journal? Isn’t peer review the gold standard for quality in academia? Aren’t we always being told to rely on peer reviewed scholarly literature instead of personal opinions and non-scholarly sources. This video shows you there can be good reasons to distrust peer-reviewed journals, and explains that peer-review doesn’t …
TIK History is a military history Youtuber. His videos extensive use of sources, cited even down to the page number, has gained him a reputation for reliability, accuracy, and good research practices. But TIK’s videos on a number of topics repeatedly suffer from biased sources, incorrect sources, and misrepresented sources. This video shows you how …
