|
|
Re: 9,000-Year-Old Caucasian Found in Seattle!Susan S. Chin (susansf@netcom.com)Sat, 14 Sep 1996 16:34:07 GMT
: Excuse me for failing to produce newspaper accounts of this event, but : it seems there's some debate about an ancient skull found in Kendall : Park in King County, Washington. : Workers were digging in the area and unearthed the skull, which was : ferried off to UW for analysis. The scientists in question (sorry, no : names yet) pegged this ancient skull as being undoubtedly caucasian. I : believe he made this determination by involving some of the well-known : tests for skull size/diameter and dentition. : Other researchers felt the skull was unusual for the known dwellers of : the ancient Northwest, notably ancient members of the quasi-mongoloid : Iriquios. : As you might expect, armchair Euro-buffs immediately began to cite the : possibility of sea-faring Europeans finding themselves hopelessly : marooned among the ancient tributaries and maze-like features of the : ancient Puget Sound. : On one talk show, Norsemen were cited as the possible explorers and : the C-14 dating methods questioned. Never mind that the Erickson's : adventures took place circa 1000 BP; the scientists must be wrong. : As an amateur anthropologist, I'm intrigued, but convinced that the : skull is not caucasian. I'm led to understand that subtleties in form : are determined by averaging large numbers of specimens to forge a : framework for classification. And we all know that not all whites have : sharp noses and not all ancient American Indians had flat teeth. : If anyone has any news inre this story, I'd love to hear it. In the : meantime, I'll cull the local rags for more info.
: - TR
Yes, I was very skeptical myself after reading about this in this
The key here is VARIATION. Humans within a race vary in morphology just
Susan --
|