Re: The Vinland Map's Ink

Steve Marcus wrote in message ...
>
>"Eric Stevens" <eric.stevens@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
>>
>> Usually I don't have enough information but what I don't know usually
>> tells me where to look for what is missing. There is no guarantee I
>> will find it.
>
>LOL
>
>How will you ever *know* that you have all the information??
>
>I'll answer the question myself: You'll *know* that you have all the
>information when the information reaches a conclusion that you or your
>client (not necessarily the same thing) want to reach. And don't we all
>just *know* that you quite often go back to a client and say "Sorry, all
the
>available evidence points to X conclusion, but there may just be more out
>there and I can't write my report until that evidence surfaces (if it ever
>does)."
>
>Once again, LOL.
>
>It's the same game that you play on sci.archaeology. Which is why I
*know*
>that you aren't being at all truthful regarding the methodology with which
>you claim to conduct your business.
>--
>The above posting is neither a legal opinion nor legal advice,

Too right it isn't.

The situation as I see it (and as I have stated before) is that Eric is
trying to bring the whole ethos of forensic analysis (basically, the result
is what matters, outweighing all other considerations) to historical study
(where the evidence is what matters, and results are expected to be
modified as new evidence becomes available, because it is rarely worthwhile
trying to find a "definitive" answer to a problem in one go). As I
suggested earlier, with no hope of any prosecutions there is no point in
applying the forensic ethos to the Vinland Map- the cost would almost
certainly far outweigh the benefits. Applying the historical ethos, we find
that the evidence so far- not just about the ink but about the map as a
whole- leads to the belief that the map is a forgery and therefore not
worth the attention of medieval historians. If anybody cares enough to
search for new evidence (as I did myself, adding another couple of kilos to
the "forgery" side of the balance) that's fine, but it's not something
people should lose sleep over.


David B.


.

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