Re: Teouma skeletons....

qiwi wrote:
>
> But hey, if you thought that was bad what about the banal drivel that
> Geoffrey Chambers of Victoria University in Wellington, NZ has been
> wheeling out over the last week or so. In an extensive two page spread
> in the weekend 'Dominion' he has been making incredible claims in
> support of his extremely dubious 'Maori made in Taiwan' hypotheseis.
> The article is accompanied by several photos of various groups of
> Taiwanese indigenous people that he claims shows the 'startling
> similarities' between the two peoples.
> All it proves is he needs to visit an optician urgently.
> In support of his 'fantastic' theory that the ancestors of the
> Polynesians came from two separate destinations, the women from Taiwan
> and the men from Papua New Guinea, he has the gall to claim : The
> Melanesian, ancestors of the Australian aborigines and the highland
> tribes of Papua New Guinea, clearly became marriage partners for
> Austronesian women.." presumably resulting in the creation of the
> Polynesian race....
> The only thing that is clear is that Chambers has completely lost his
> marbles.
> In another bizarre conclusion Chambers is quoted as follows : "While
> the Taiwanese tribes were quite distinct - some had metal, some
> worshipped pygmies, others magic deer - there were commonalities in
> dialects." And this somehow is supposed to show some kind of linkage to
> the Polynesians???
> After a series of similar inane observations by Chambers the reporter
> Tim Pankhurst finishes his report by saying : "Whatever the scientific
> evidence, Dr Chambers is right - you can just sense it."
> For God's sake, that doesn't sound like sound scientific analysis to
> me...

Actually the media (especially TV) coverage of this "news" was so stupid
it attracted the attention of National Radio's "Media Watch" last
weekend.
But if your primary purpose is to get yourself tied in knots of
exasperation, I guess you'll continue to get your science from TV and
the daily paper, where "Maori made in Taiwan" and "express train" were
invented.
Actually, there was a bit of genuine science that came out recently and
may have been the indirect cause of the mini-flap in the NZ media. You
can find it at:

http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0030247

If you're going to scoff at something, why not something a little more
serious?

Ross Clark
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Teouma skeletons....
    ... > that Geoffrey Chambers of Victoria University in Wellington, ... the women from Taiwan and the men from Papua New ... original polynesians were wife stealers. ... Previously I was asked to do a workup between HLA. ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: Teouma skeletons....
    ... Polynesians came from two separate destinations, the women from Taiwan ... The only thing that is clear is that Chambers has completely lost his ... After a series of similar inane observations by Chambers the reporter ... that doesn't sound like sound scientific analysis to ...
    (sci.archaeology)
  • Re: What commonly available alloy has the best corrorsion resistance properties?
    ... The problem with long term media storage is not deterioration but lack of ... not because of deterioration but because no hardware is ... The chambers are going to be placed into fire ...
    (rec.crafts.metalworking)