Kenneth Feder

Kenneth L. "Kenny" Feder (born August 1, 1952) is a professor of archaeology at Central Connecticut State University and the author of several books on archaeology and criticism of pseudoarchaeology such as Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. His book Encyclopedia of Dubious Archaeology: From Atlantis to the Walam Olum was published in 2010. He is the founder and director of the Farmington River Archaeological Project.

Early life

Feder was very interested in cryptozoology and ancient astronauts as a teenager, when a book called Morning of the Magicians about extraterrestrial aliens turned him on to what he describes as the nonsense in archaeology. "Essentially it was Erich von Däniken before Erich von Däniken", referring to the popular author and popularizer of ancient astronaut theories. "I knew it was crap and it got me really pissed off," Feder has stated, adding that researching the claims that were made grew his interest. According to Feder, after becoming a professor, he asked his students what they wanted to learn in the class. They expressed interest in the same things he was interested in as a teen, but he couldn't find a book that dealt with answers to these pseudoscience topics, which led to the writing of his first book, Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology.