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criteria for evidence
Alex Duncan (aduncan@mail.utexas.edu)
27 Jul 1995 17:28:36 GMT
In article <9507221021.0EJG301@sstar.com> , ann.nunn@sstar.com writes:
>
>Like you, I will remain skeptical of the aquatic ape theory until more
>verifiable evidence becomes available, and I believe that the proponents
>of that theory bear the burden of proof, just as the proponents of all
>theories do, but I am also very skeptical of any scenarios proposed so
>far by the standard savanna theorists for the bipedal adaptation, as
>they have even less evidence for their suppositions.
>
>We just don't know, do we, why she began to walk upright?
Ms. Nunn,
It has taken several days for the shock of the above statement to really
set in. At first, I thought that you must be unaware of the 100's
(probably really 1000's) of articles that establish that the earliest
known hominids did in fact live in mosaic environments (combination of
trees and open space), and that they were well adapted to taking
advantage of both the terrestrial and arboreal aspects of their habitats.
Then something else occured to me. NO ONE would make a statement like "I
am also very skeptical of any scenarios proposed so far by the standard
savanna theorists for the bipedal adaptation, as they have even less
evidence for their suppositions" without an overwhelming familiarity with
the literature to which I refer. After all, unless such a statement were
qualified somehow, it would only serve to establish that the author of
the statement is blissfully unfamiliar with the majority of recent work
(last 10 - 20 yrs) on hominid adaptation and paleohabitats.
A second idea occured to me -- you must have different ideas than I do
about what constitutes "evidence." Perhaps you would be good enough to
clarify for me: what are your criteria for "evidence", and how is it that
the work done to date doesn't qualify. (As I mentioned above, I assume
that you are at least as familiar with the primary literature as I am,
but just in case, I have 100's of references on disk that I would be
willing to e-mail to you.)
Finally, you use the phrase "standard savanna theorists." To satisfy my
curiosity, perhaps you could tell who these people are, as well as what
you think the "standard savanna theory" is.
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