[[Dowsing]] is a divinatory practice used to locate water, minerals, or other hidden objects using a divining rod, usually a forked twig, but also a pendulum or one's hand. It is an ancient practice, with drawings of men with divining rods found in prehistoric cave paintings dating back to 6000 BC.[^1] In the context of psychic research, dowsing, particularly "map dowsing," was explored for its potential applications in intelligence gathering. [[Uri Geller]] reportedly used map dowsing to help General Moshe Dayan locate ancient artifacts in [[Israel]]. The U.S. military also experimented with dowsing during the Vietnam War, with Marines using dowsing rods to locate Viet Cong tunnels.[^1] Despite its historical use and anecdotal successes, dowsing is largely considered pseudoscience by the mainstream scientific community, as its effectiveness has not been consistently demonstrated under controlled conditions.[^1] --- [^1]: Jacobsen, Annie. *Phenomena: The Secret History of the U.S. Government's Investigations into Extrasensory Perception and Psychokinesis*. Little, Brown and Company, 2017.