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The text aims to discuss the crisis of confidence in archaeology and its possible causes. Confidence in a scientific discipline is based upon the social and individual confidence in the authority of science in general, in some particular discipline (e.g. archaeology), in scientific institutions, but also in prominent scientists and their public statements. Furthermore, the institutions and esteemed scholars who communicate with the public are the main pillars of confidence in a particular science. The crisis of confidence in archaeology is induced by current global anti scientific tendencies, but also by the media and the political support to ideologically preferred non-scientific statements promulgating the "better past" or supporting the interests of dubious investors. This is not an innocent, fringe phenomenon, but a dangerous process that may have devastating consequences for archaeology – the discipline that may offer solutions to numerous challenging questions of the modern world ; Овај рад је усмерен на питање да ли постоји криза поверења у археологију, и ако постоји чиме је она изазвана? Поверење у неку научну дисциплину заснива се на друштвеном и индивидуалном поверењу у ауторитет науке уопште, у поједине специфичне дисциплине (рецимо археологија), у научне институције, али и у истакнуте научнике и њихове објављене исказе. Штавише, управо су институције и угледни научници, који комуницирају с широм јавношћу, основни стубови поверења у одређену научну дисциплину. Криза поверења у археологију изазвана је, с једне стране тренутним глобалним антинаучним трендом, а с друге стране због медијске и политичке подршке ненаучним исказима који идеолошки пожељно доказују "бољу прошлост", или иду на руку интересима крупног капитала и сумњивих инвеститора. То није безазлена, маргинална појава, већ опасан процес који може имати погубне последице на археологију, дисциплину која би могла да понуди решења и одговоре на бројна изазовна питања савременог света.

'Ilirska heraldika', kao fenomen izmišljene tradicije, obuhvata rukopisne zbornike grbova - grbovnike, koji su se pojavili u Primorju, Italiji, Španiji i Austriji krajem XVI i početkom XVII veka. Ti grbovnici sadrže srpske i druge južnoslovenske vladarske, zemaljske i porodične grbove. Ilirska heraldika je u vezi s ličnim i političkim ambicijama španskog admirala don Pedra Ohmučevića Grgurića, ali i s istorijskim konstrukcijama koje su u XVI i XVII veku dokazivale jedinstvo Ilira i Slovena i otkrivale navodno slovensko poreklo slavnih ličnosti antike. Kao osnov za izmišljenu tradiciju ilirske heraldike iskorišćen je i epski narativ o moćnom Dušanovom carstvu, srpskim velmožama, junacima, slavi i bogatstvu nekadašnjeg slovenskog sveta. Grbovi iz ilirskih grbovnika kasnije su često precrtavani i preštampavani, te su bili od izuzetnog značaja za formiranje nacionalne i državne simbolike južnoslovenskih naroda. . ; The 'Illyrian heraldry', as a phenomenon of the invented tradition, encompasses the rolls of arms - armorials, which appear in Dalmatia, Italy, Spain and Austria at the end of the XVI and beginning of the XVII century. These armorials contained Serbian and other southern Slav monarchic, territorial and family coats of arms. The authenticity, heraldic sources and origins of these armorials are extremely complex problems that can be traced back to the medieval heraldic heritage of the Serbs, on the one hand, and reveal the intricate web of political circumstances in the XVI and XVII centuries. Illyrian heraldry is also closely linked to the personal and political ambitions of the Spanish admiral, Don Pedro Ohmučević Grgurić, from Slano near Dubrovnik. One cannot, however, link the entire Illyrian heraldry movement only to the daring ambitions of Petar Ohmučević Grgurić. In the XVI and XVII centuries historical constructions, inspired for the most part by sincere Slav patriotism, emerged that proved the unity of the Illyrians and the Slavs, revealed the alleged Slav origins of famous figures (Alexander the Great, Justinian), or simply extolled the splendor and magnitude of a lost Slav kingdom, that could be restored again. Much as it was developing within the spiritual scope of the Catholic church, this 'Slovine' movement found its historical basis in the medieval statehood of Serbia and Bosnia, particularly in the powerful empire of Stephan Dushan (1331-55), in the Serbian potentates, heroes, their glitter and opulence, which used to glorify the Slav world. Since the XVII century till today, despite their doubtful authenticity, the Illyrian armorials have been considered important genealogical and heraldic documents. Many families relied on the information in Illyrian heraldic collections when claiming their true, or, more often purported, ancient hereditary rights, titles and lands. The Illyrian armorials were transcribed and reprinted in books that were important for the national identity of the southern Slav peoples, such as Orbini's Kingdom of the Slavs (1601), Stemmatographia or the Drawing, Description and Renewal of Illyrian Coats of Arms by Pavao Riter Vitezović, published in Vienna in 1701, and Stemmatographia by Hristifor Žefarović, published in 1741. After the liberation of Serbia and Montenegro from the Turks, heraldry was granted official sanction, and the coats of arms are based on the tradition preserved in Illyrian heraldry.

Problematični pojam 'vinčansko pismo' odnosi se na izvesne urezane ornamente i znakove na keramici vinčanske kulture - jedne od najznačajnijih 'kultura' u neolitu Jugoistočne Evrope. Upotreba i zloupotreba ovog fenomena i samog termina 'vinčansko pismo' vremenom se menjala, te s jedne strane rečito svedoči o promenama paradigmi u evropskoj arheologiji, dok s druge ukazuje na opasne kontaminacije arheologije pseudoarheološkim idejama. U XIX i u prvoj polovini XX veka ideja o pismu u neolitskim kulturama jugoistočne Evrope ponekad se pojavljivala kao potvrda kratke 'istorijske' hronologije i bliskoistočnih uticaja, što je kao interpretativna paradigma potpuno srušeno novom C-14 hronologijom. Osamdesetih godina XX veka ideja o 'vinčanskom pismu' pojavljuje se u Srbiji ponovo, ovog puta kao izmišljena tradicija, iz potpuno drugih - pseudonaučnih krugova, žestoko podržana medijskom kampanjom. 'Vinčansko pismo' postaje centralni motiv mnogo šireg pseudonaučnog pokreta, gde se otkriće pisma vezuje za praistorijsku jugoistočnu Evropu (navodno još od paleolita, mezolita, Lepenskog vira preko etrurskog, lidijskog i drugih istinskih pisama, pa sve do ćirilice i latinice). Naravno, takozvano 'vinčansko pismo' u nemirnim vremenima poljuljanih etničkih identiteta i političkih previranja na Balkanu prerasta u eklatantni primer zloupotrebe prošlosti u dnevnopolitičke svrhe. Nažalost poslednjih godina pojam 'vinčanskog pisma' - medijski lažno predstavljen kao nova i ravnopravna interpretativna paradigma - iz pseudonauke se, po principu spojenih sudova, preliva u širu javnost, pa čak i u arheologiju. ; The problematic term the Vinča script denotes a number of incised ornaments and signs on the surface of the pottery of the Vinča culture - one of the most important 'cultures' of the South Eastern European Neolithic. The modes of use and abuse of this phenomenon of and the very term the Vinča script have changed through time, eloquently testifying about the paradigm shifts in the European archaeology, at the same time indicating dangerous contaminations of archaeology by pseudo-archaeological ideas. During the 19th and first half of the 20th century, the idea of a script in the Neolithic cultures of South Eastern Europe surfaced occasionally as an argument for the short 'historical' chronology and Near Eastern influences. During the 1980s the idea of the Vinča script emerges again in Serbia, this time, as an invented tradition, from the pseudo-scholar circles, and is massively supported by the media. The Vinča script becomes the central motif of a much larger pseudoscholar movement: the invention of script is linked to praehistory of South Eastern Europe, allegedly from Paleolithic Mesolithic, Lepenski Vir, over the Etruscan, Lydian and other scripts, down to Cyrillic and Latin letters. Unfortunately, over the last years the term the Vinča script - falsely represented by the media as a new and equally valid interpretive paradigm - seeps into the general public discourse, and even into archaeology itself.

Bernhard Hänsel (1937–2017) – (Ljubinka Teržan)
Dubravko Lovrenović (1956–2017) – (Adnan Busuladžić)
Nikola Tasić (1932–2017) – (Aleksandar Palavestra)