OK, but it seems to me that even if the remains are consistent with what we know of her dimensions that hardly rules out the likelihood that the bones belonged to another human of similar dimensions.
Show me a submerged airplane within swimming distance of the island and I’ll be much more convinced.
It could be considerably further from the island, where she drowned at sea and the body washed up on the shore.
It would be nice to officially lay her to rest, though. Perhaps what was once lost will be found?
That she ended up on Nikumaroro and that these bones are probably hers is part of the TIGHAR primary hypothysis: http://www.tighar.org So they have a lot of potential evidence available in support of this particular theory on their site. (and have been promoting this most recent analysis of the bone measurements). Remain aware that they have mainly settled on this as their favorite explanation, so most info and discussion promotes this, but still lots of great stuff to read there. (E.g. detailed analysis of their navigation procedure, supposed radio transmissions received, why the search at the time may have missed them, reported sightings of plane parts etc. by people living on Nikumaroro and nearby shortly afterwards, etc.) The holy grail of course is to identify plane wreckage or some other clearly identifiable artifact but they’ve so far been unable to find anything after several searches of the island and its nearby waters.
From the paper
“Given the state of the art at the time, why should we suppose
that Hoodless, who as far as we know had no formal
training in forensic anthropology and had not examined large
numbers of skeletons (if any at all)”
Since the premise here is that the original coroner was not trained, he made a mistaken determination. Well, that may be true, but this also means that as an untrained individual, his measurements cannot be relied upon as they can not be relied upon to have been done in the standardize methodology that is practiced today (ironically, that’s where all of the author’s comparative data comes from).
A statistical analysis of unconfirmable data from an unreliable source is an unreliable analysis.
Tighar continues to force fit anything even remotely from the pre-WWII period as evidence to the conclusion that fits their agenda.
Anthr-apology.
Nonsense. Everyone knows the Pyramids were full of grain!
Cracked had a great list about 10-15 8 years ago about “unsolved” mysteries that get a new Nova special every other year that are, in fact, solved. This was one of them.
You mean she’s not coming out of this alive!? This annoyingly useless “yeah, they’re dead, but where are the remains? how did they die?” reminds me of the “mystery” of Roanoke Island. Come on, in all likelihood the people involved died horribly, hopefully they didn’t feel the worst of it; do we have to rummage around for the organic materials at this remove in time?
Why do you hate anthropology?
Ah! Maybe you are a closeted anthropologist?
Sutekh is not amused!
Aliens, obvs.
This article reads a little like the vague grasping at straws you get from true-believers regarding the shroud of Turin or Bigfoot.
Interesting.
A mystery only to racists who are unable to imagine White British settlers deciding that joining the local Indian tribe was a better idea than starving to death in their failed colony.
In the case of Earhart and her navigator? Dying of hunger and/or thirst are pretty grim but there are worse ways to go. In the case of Roanoke? Dying in bed in your adopted primitive village surrounded by your children isn’t all that bad.
The Lockheed 10 Electra held 1,150 gallons of fuel, enough for over 20 hours of flight time at normal cruise. So she likely either ran out of fuel or landed right before she ran out of fuel.
So the article seems correct in my opinion.
As a side note, 10 Electra (www.10electra.com) the band was in recent news, and to answer- yes that came from Amelia Earhart’s plane.
I would think the plane itself would be more likely to be a source of positive proof, being a unique item at the time and not being biological in the tropics and all…
I love anthropology, it’s the History Channel aspect of some kinds of rummaging that bugs me, in that announcements like this tend to say something maybe selective, or maybe nothing really new, etc. Or maybe something refuted a week later?
Lol, maybe I’m also a bit nervous for someone publishing on this topic in Forensic Anthropology, and with just dimensions to go on; what might this do to their professional reputation!?
Media does a terrible job explaining scientific theory and investigation, and I think the general population has a difficult time understanding evidence vs fact.
