Archaeological scandals

An archaeological scandal is the act of conspiring to cover-up evidence of an. Moderating institutions and common-interest groups, are often the subject of scandal when any evidence, that is contrary to the agreed upon, or mutually funded "official" record, is compromised—disregarded, destroyed, or disappears.

Impact on dating
The tampering or non-disclosure of s is a method used to conceal the accuracy of how old, or ancient, an archaeological find is, especially if the artifact contradicts a moderating institution's "official" record (See also, Timeline). The official record is often based on the institution's cultural or ideological paradigm. For example, Egyptologists keep dates for the, the , and other monuments, within a historical date range that only supports the culture of the Egyptians no earlier than the. Also, mainstream Sumerian historians, in support of their own ideology, dismiss pre-dynastic Sumer, given on the, as. If an out-of-place artifact threatens an institution's paradigm, then action is often escalated to archaeological scandal, in the efforts to ensure either (1) heritage preservation or (2) ideological preservation.

Heritage preservation
s that suggest any periods or dates prior to the beginnings of a vested culture, threatens the heritage of the moderating institution. It forces an acknowledgement—that a questioned monumental archaeological find, within the jurisdiction of the institution, may belong to an earlier society or possibly another pre-civilization. Therefore, such claims that the Pyramids or the Sphinx at Giza are not of Egyptian origin, is considered insulting and inflammatory toward those entitled to Egyptian heritage.
 * Heritage threatened

In regards the temples of Malta, these sites are subject to entitlement for Maltese culture, where preservation of heritage is more important than the preservation of the archaeological finds themselves. gives an example of archaeological tampering in his book Underworld, concerning the hybrid bison-bull scandal of the in. An associate from the, Anton Mifsud, disclosed that the directing institution over the Hypogeum had removed an of a wall painting, among others, that depicted a half bison-half  (compare Higgs Bison) from the Hypogeum walls, in an effort to conceal any conjecture that the underground complex may be older than the history of the Maltese people.
 * Preserving heritage at any cost

Ideological preservation
Ideological preservation, whether religiously motivated or anti-religious, stems far back to the where the religious institutions of that age, made efforts to conceal anything that was not within their scope of religious teachings. Anti-paganism and the inquisitions ensued. The "Heathenising" of Native American culture resulted in the destruction of ancient temples, monuments, and writings throughout all of the Americas, in order to preserve the ideology of the times.
 * History

The has been known for concealing enormous amounts of s, since its founding in 1846. As of the present day, its institutions have museums based worldwide. The Smithsonian's efforts to conceal, and the various claims of scandal, have been the subject of debate for over one hundred-fifty years. The ideological scandals associated with Smithsonian may be more anti-religious in nature, in support of that evolved toward the turn of the 19th century.
 * Modern-day