[Gwaihir]

That's the same baggage they tried to hang on Thor Heyerdahl. Heyerdahl didn't have the "right credentials" or publish in the "right journals". He also got more people interested in the subject than a thousand "qualified" reseachers. Important work got done because Thor's subjects began appearing on the cover of popular magazines like National Geographic. Academics had to address the subjects or be ignored. How much research money, which is always hard to come by, was made available due to interest he generated? I'll take his passion for the subject over passion for tenure any day.

[Lee Heggy]

It's not the same 'baggage' sir. Heyerdahl would never have allowed a publicist to label him anything that he wasn't. I hopefully suspect that Hancock wouldn't either. I agree with you about generating interest in the public to force the rather jaundiced eye of academia upon subjects that otherwise would go un-noticed. I assure you that most field Archaeologists have passion for their work or they wouldn't be out there doing it. I will also consider the opinion/conclusions of a professional over that of an amature. We may all agree that what looks and sounds like a duck is a duck but if I wish to know what sort or how old or what sex I will ask an ornithologist not a journalist.

[Bernard Marx]

I'll take his passion for the subject over passion for tenure any day.

I very much like that turn of phrase. But reasonable skepticism is essential in evaluating any of this stuff.