Epistemic Authority and Boundary Work in an Archarchaeological Controversy: The Troy-Atlantis Case Eberhard Zangger 2026, Scientific Culture

https://www.academia.edu/175925395/Epistemic_Authority_and_Boundary_Work_in_an_Archarchaeological_Controversy_The_Troy_Atlantis_Case Scientific controversies in archaeology are often shaped less by empirical testing of hypotheses than by processes of categorization, authority attribution, and reputational sanctioning. The long-standing debate surrounding Troy as a potential historical source of Plato's Atlantis offers a revealing case study of these dynamics. In recent decades, discussion of the hypothesis has increasingly shifted from methodological evaluation toward classificatory judgments about the legitimacy of the interpretation itself. This tendency became particularly visible when the hypothesis was addressed in a volume devoted to demarcating archaeology from pseudoscience, thereby implicitly situating it within such a classificatory framework, despite its publication in peer-reviewed venues. The subsequent diffusion of this framing through secondary knowledge infrastructures, including Wikipedia, illustrates how contested assessments can become stabilized as seemingly established facts. Using this case study, the article examines how epistemic authority operates in archaeology, how disciplinary boundaries are drawn, and how interdisciplinary interpretations may be marginalized without direct empirical refutation.