Posted on 02/02/2005 10:45:41 PM PST by SunkenCiv
John Adolfi, of Syracuse, N.Y., said he wants the mummy so it can undergo DNA testing, X-rays and magnetic resonance imaging... Adolfi hypothesizes that modern science would prove that Pedro was an adult at the time of his death — perhaps one of the "little people" spoken of in Arapaho and Shoshone tales. But George Gill, an anthropology professor at the University of Wyoming, has a different theory. After reviewing X-rays taken of the mummy in the 1950s, Gill concluded that it was an infant with anencephaly, a birth defect in which only the brain stem develops.
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Michael Jackson would probably outbid him - I don't recall how much he paid for the elephant man skeleton, but I'm sure it was much more than $10K.
I think the mountain mummy would make a nice complement to the elephant man skeleton.
I hate to think what Jackson does "after hours" with those remains. ;') Actually, he doesn't have them...
The Elephant Man's Bones Reveal Mystery by Mary Kugler
http://rarediseases.about.com/cs/proteussyndrome/a/031301.htm
A radiologist, Amita Sharma, of the National Institutes of Health (U.S.), examined x-rays and CT scans of Merrick's skeleton (kept at the Royal London Hospital since his death). Dr. Sharma determined that Merrick had Proteus syndrome, an extremely rare disorder, itself only identified in 1979.
Proteus syndrome
Named for the Greek god who could change his shape, this rare hereditary disorder is characterized by multiple lesions of the lymph glands (lipolymphohemangiomas), overgrowth of one side of the body (hemihypertrophy), an abnormally large head (macrocephaly), partial gigantism of the feet, and darkened spots or moles (nevi) on the skin. Merrick's appearance, and especially his skeleton, carry all the hallmarks of the disorder, although apparently an extremely severe case. His head was so large that the hat he wore measured three feet in circumference.
I think Merrick was correct with the first diagnosis - that his head was so big because it was so full of dreams.
These are the "little guys" whose cousins inhabit certain isolated areas of the Southwest where they are called Mokis. They taught the Arapahoes to make a laminated bow out of mountainsheep horn in ancient times. Arrows shot from replicas of these bows have been "chrono-ed" at near supersonic speeds. Tiny arrowpoints are sometimes found and are erroneously identified as "birdpoints." They are actually arrowtips from the "little guys." Small structures with doorways too small to accept more than a searching human arm are erroneously called "granaries." These were Moki dwellings in ancient times. We hunters and prospectors who wander the isolated mesas and hidden canyons of the Southwest, always speak of them around our campfires with the deepest respect.
"Arrows shot from replicas of these bows have been "chrono-ed" at near supersonic speeds."
What's the pull on a bow like that?
Really interesting stuff. Why are these discussions always obscured by ridicule and academic dismissal...
I've only seen one and it was under construction by a flint knapper, bowyer in Northern Wyoming. Testing was done at the Cody Firearms Museum. They're a recurved bow, similar to Mongolian ones. No wood, just plys of mountainsheep horn glued with mountainsheep hoof glue. Really thick at the grip but not long. If every Indian in America had had one in the 17th century we might be Euroweasels ourselves today. As it was, the Arapahoes guarded the secrets of their construction zealously and there just weren't that many mountainsheep.
What's called "the current model" usually dominates every academic field. Even if you're an insider, nothing can get you expelled from the fold quicker than publishing stuff outside "the current model" even if you can find a peer review committee to pass it or a publisher brave enough to put it in print. During the 1930's Anasazi "Cliffdwellers" were seen as peaceloving, socialist agrarians because the current model was Marxist. In the last ten years cannibalism and warfare have broken out of the current model and the trophy heads excavated but unreported in the 1930's are being dug out of museum basements. Lots of stuff goes unreported and we mere laymen are scoffed at (or even arrested) for investigating too far.
Be respectful to the "Gentry" me boyo, the universe can be nasty enough without bringing the attentions of the Wee Folk upon yourself.
"the trophy heads excavated but unreported in the 1930's are being dug out of museum basements."
Really? I hadn't heard about that. But then, my last anthropology class was in 1976.
Do you know of a good link?
" If every Indian in America had had one in the 17th century we might be Euroweasels ourselves today."
Interesting thought, but it's my understanding that disease played a very large role.
Look at the Pawnee -- they never had a war with the whites, but by 1900 there were only about a thousand of them left.
In 1849, I think it was, cholera wiped out half the Southern Cheyenne at one fell swoop.
If the whites had been more patient, they probably could have "sicked" all the Indians out of their way.
I know of a good book "Prehistoric Warfare in the Southwest" but I can't recollect the name of the author. (Sorry, but that's the best I can do.)
Thanks for the lead. At Amazon.com (purveyors of homosexual kiddie porn) I find:
Prehistoric Warfare in the American Southwest
by Steven A. Leblanc.
Buy this book with Constant Battles by Steven LeBlanc, Katherine E. Register today!
Buy Together Today: $61.35
Customers who bought this book also bought
Constant Battles: The Myth of the Peaceful, Noble Savage by Steven LeBlanc
Deadly Landscapes: Case Studies in Prehistoric
Southwestern Warfare by Glen Rice
Man Corn: Cannibalism and Violence in the Prehistoric American Southwest by Christy G. Turner II
Dine: A History of the Navajos by Peter Iverson
;')
But seriously, I didn't notice any ridicule in the quoted comment.
Trophy heads??? This calls for immediate reburial by whatever tribe claims it as their ancestor. Good reason to have NAGPRA and suppress it all. [sarcasm alert]
Prehistoric Warfare
in the American Southwest
by Steven A. Leblanc
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