Fake News – ‘Ruins of Ancient City Discovered in Australian Desert’

According to a message that is currently circulating via social media, the ruins of an ancient city have been discovered in the Australian desert. The message links back to a  longer report  that claims that a team of archaeologists working for the Australian National University made the discovery near Uluru, in central Australia.

The report includes a photograph of the ruins, along with other images depicting skeletons and artefacts discovered at the site.

The report further claims that many skeletons and precious artefacts have been found on the site. Supposedly, the lead archaeologist at the site has claimed that the city was the centre of a vast empire that engaged in international trade.

However, the claims in the report are utter nonsense. No such ruins have been found anywhere in Australia.

The  image of ruins  featured in the story actually depicts the foundations of ancient pyramids  discovered at Sedeinga  in northern Sudan. The skeleton image was  taken from a report  about an archaeological dig in Libya. And the gold bowl shown in a third photograph is  part of the Mapungubwe Collection  of artefacts housed at South Africa’s University of Pretoria. The images have no connection whatsoever to Australian archaeological discoveries.

The bogus story comes courtesy of fake-news ‘satirical’ website  World News Daily Report. The website includes the  following disclaimer:

World News Daily Report is a news and political satire web publication, which may or may not use real names, often in semi-real or mostly fictitious ways. All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction.

The site has been responsible for a string of viral hoax reports in recent months, including false claims that  giant human skeletons  have been found in Iran and that a  dinosaur egg has hatched  in a Berlin museum.

Nothing published on the site should be taken seriously.

A number of  fake-news ‘satire’ sites  have appeared on the Internet over recent years. Because the stories published on these sites are presented in news format and do not always have clearly visible disclaimers, many people are apt to believe them and share them far and wide.

It is therefore wise to verify any ‘news’ reports that come your way via social media before you share them. Some minimal research via Google should quickly reveal if a story is genuine.