Pathway to the Gods, a BBC television documentary broadcast on 3 November 1977 and directed by Ray Sutcliffe, filmed Ica stone carver Basilio Uschuya demonstrating the forgery technique in real time, drilling a stone with a dentist's tool and baking it in cow dung to fake the patina, including one stone he carved reading BBC TV for the crew. Its authority is that of contemporaneous documentary film evidence of the forgery method itself, corroborated by Uschuya and a co-forger's own 1975 confession. Its limit is that a single demonstration does not by itself prove every stone in every collection is a modern forgery. Cite it for the documented forgery technique.
Facts
Assessment
Reliability Tier2
Pathway to the Gods, the BBC television documentary broadcast in 1977 and directed by Ray Sutcliffe, is contemporaneous documentary film evidence of the Ica stones forgery technique, corroborated by the forgers' own 1975 confession, hence the middle tier as documentary rather than peer reviewed academic evidence. NotesBasilio Uschuya demonstrates carving an Ica stone with a dental drill and faking the patina.
Citation
AuthorBritish Broadcasting Corporation
PublisherBBC
Publication Year1977
Source Typedocumentary
Cross-Tradition Connections
Same Figure, Narrative Entry
The same 1977 BBC documentary, held in the citation register (source, for quoting its evidentiary content) and, here, in the subject register (screenwork, the film treated as an encyclopedia subject).
Claims Backed By This Source (20 claims)
This source backs 20 claims across the atlas. As facts: 15 well-attested. As cited relationships: 3 holds. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.
Disposition By Topic
- Screen Works, 8 claims: 5 well-attested, 2 holds, 1 general references.
- Sources, 7 claims: 7 well-attested.
- Artifacts & Relics, 3 claims: 1 well-attested, 1 holds, 1 general references.
- Articles, 2 claims: 2 well-attested.
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