It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce this abridged edition of Forbidden  Archeology. Let me say at the outset that I believe this book to be one of the landmark  intellectual achievements of the late twentieth century. It will take more conservative  scholars a long while, probably many years, to come to terms with the revelations it  contains. Nevertheless, Michael Cremo and Richard Thompson have put the revelations out  there and the clock cannot now be turned back.