Reiner Protsch von Zieten
(Maybe it's me, but somehow I just can't equate the words "flamboyant" and "anthropologist".)
Posted on 02/19/2005 4:36:58 AM PST by ovrtaxt
A flamboyant anthropology professor, whose work had been cited as evidence Neanderthal man once lived in Northern Europe, has resigned after a German university panel ruled he fabricated data and plagiarized the works of his colleagues.
Reiner Protsch von Zieten, a Frankfurt university panel ruled, lied about the age of human skulls, dating them tens of thousands of years old, even though they were much younger, reports Deutsche Welle.
"The commission finds that Prof. Protsch has forged and manipulated scientific facts over the past 30 years," the university said of the widely recognized expert in carbon data in a prepared statement.
Protsch's work first came under suspicion last year during a routine investigation of German prehistoric remains by two other anthropologists.
"We had decided to subject many of these finds to modern techniques to check their authenticity so we sent them to Oxford [University] for testing," one of the researchers told The Sunday Telegraph. "It was a routine examination and in no way an attempt to discredit Prof. von Zieten." In their report, they called Protsch's 30 years of work a "dating disaster."
Among their findings was an age of only 3,300 years for the female "Bischof-Speyer" skeleton, found with unusually good teeth in Northern Germany, that Protsch dated to 21,300 years.
Another dating error was identified for a skull found near Paderborn, Germany, that Protsch dated at 27,400 years old. It was believed to be the oldest human remain found in the region until the Oxford investigations indicated it belonged to an elderly man who died in 1750.
The Herne anthropological museum, which owned the Paderborn skull, did its own tests following the unsettling results. "We had the skull cut open and it still smelt," said the museum's director. "We are naturally very disappointed."
Protsch, known for his love of Cuban cigars and Porsches, did not comment on the commission's findings, but in January he told the Frankfurter Neue Presse, "This was a court of inquisition. They don't have a single piece of hard evidence against me."
The fallout from Protsch's false dating of northern European bone finds is only beginning.
Chris Stringer, a Stone Age specialist and head of human origins at London's Natural History Museum, said: "What was considered a major piece of evidence showing that the Neanderthals once lived in northern Europe has fallen by the wayside. We are having to rewrite prehistory."
"Anthropology now has to revise its picture of modern man between 40,000 and 10,000 B.C.," added Thomas Terberger, an archaeologist at the University of Greifswald.
Frankfurt University's president, Rudolf Steinberg, apologized for the university's failure to curb Protsch's misconduct for decades. "A lot of people looked the other way," he said.
An aquaintance of mine digs fossil remains of dinosaurs out West and he maintains that they often smell of bone when cracked or burned as well. I don't think that radiometric chronology is all that it is cracked up to be.
A soft science like global warming climatology?
Pseudo Old Stuff Ping.
Anthropologist turns heads with mystery dates
Munich - A German anthropologist is facing accusations of misconduct from the University of Frankfurt, after concerns came to light about his research and apparent attempts to sell university property.
According to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, Reiner Protsch von Zieten carbon-dated several human skulls from Germany and found them to be up to 30,000 years old. Other labs date the bones at just 7,000–8,000 years old. Protsch von Zieten's results have been used to back controversial hypotheses on prehistoric population movements in central Europe. It is unclear how Protsch von Zieten managed to get such radically different results; the university says that he stands by his findings.
Protsch von Zieten was suspended from the university in April, after allegedly attempting to sell more than 200 institute-owned ape skulls to collectors in the United States. According to the university, Protsch von Zieten says he owns the skulls himself. Legal proceedings in this case are pending.
Crime does pay! For 30 years at least. He collected a very good university salary and other payoffs though fraud.
Reiner Protsch von Zieten
(Maybe it's me, but somehow I just can't equate the words "flamboyant" and "anthropologist".)
They must sleep late.
They must sleep late.
LOL.
That was a funny line, but I got a kick out of this one, also:
"We are having to rewrite prehistory"
In fact, I'm appending it to my tagline now!
I was going to say that was one bad date. Alas, they were talking about a totally different dating that I have no interest in.
Back to the Clinton days or word parsing. He doesn't say he didn't do it, only that there is no evidence that he did it.
This guy found 90 intact 8,000 year old human brains in Florida. I don't remember if they mentioned smell or not but, I expect they would smell.
That's a great screen name! Bump for the evening folks..
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very similar story (ahem) with some identical quotes:
Neanderthal Man 'Never Walked In Northern Europe'
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 8-22-2004 | Tony Paterson
Posted on 08/21/2004 7:25:32 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1196571/posts
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