Found this site....

http://www.nexusmagazine.com/arcoverups.html

what would be the motive for covering up the age of archaeological sites?

The reason why there may be a cover up is to try and hide the fact that civilization is older than it is widely thought.

Al,
I'm not questioning that answer, but I wonder why the actual age of civilization would not want to be known. Except, of course, because of the amount of money it would take to re-write history books and stuff like that.

I can see no reasons myself for lying about the age of civilization , however I feel that sciece has it's share of arogant scientists who do not like to be shown up or proven wrong . Which could explain a lot of the things in this story . Interesting link Mystify Thanx... :)