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Hello Loopers!



In this issue:



This Week's Show: Setting Sail & Professor Mark McMenamin



Op/Ed: A Matter of Interpretation



NEW FEATURE! This Day in History



Possum Holler News: Like the mighty Nile



Other news: Will work at Allendale County archaeological dig rewrite human
history?



Events: Send your organization's events to oz@...





Last week's show: D Day





Next week's show: Live from Oslo, Norway



Site of the week Archaeological Outliers







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This Week's Show: Setting Sail & Professor Mark McMenamin





In 1996, Mount Holyoke geologist Mark McMenamin unveiled a new theory about
who discovered the Americas. It wasn't the Vikings or that
"Giovanni-come-lately" Christopher Columbus.

According to McMenamin, markings on Carthaginian gold coins from 350 BCE
showed that Phoenician and Carthaginian mariners had discovered the Americas
at least 1,300 years before the Vikings might have dropped anchor off North
America.

When he presented it, his theory that the previously unrecognized markings
were actually maps of the Atlantic Ocean and the landmasses surrounding it
caused some significant shockwaves among archaeologists and students of the
ancient world (the theory was discussed in Biblical Archaeology Review and
was the focus of a January Term course at Mount Holyoke), but now
McMenamin's idea has appeared in a completely new venue--in the latest novel
by one of the nation's leading adventure writers: Clive Cussler. (Ed. note:
Cussler has another novel since this article was written, The Treasure of
Khan)

In their new novel, The Navigator, Cussler and coauthor Paul Kemprecos use
McMenamin's theory, with full credit to the Mount Holyoke scholar, to
underpin the book's premise: an ancient Phoenician statue will lead those
who can understand its secrets to gold aplenty buried in the Americas many
centuries ago. I invited Cussler to appear with Mark, but I haven't received
a response.



Unburied Gold: Cussler Digs MHC Prof's Theory



McMenamin Offers New Evidence for Controversial Theory

Did Africans Discover the New World?

Mark's publications are available at http://phoenicia.org/press.html

I hope you can give a listen this week: Thursday at 9 PM EDT




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Op/Ed: A Matter of Interpretation



Often, researchers possess evidence and data that lead them to conclusions
in very short order. Sometimes those conclusions also lead to "new"
theories. This week's guest, Professor Mark McMenamin of Holyoke College,
interpreted evidence that had been known for centuries and formulated such a
new theory. The theory is controversial and his interpretation of the
evidence is equally controversial within the ranks of his fellow scholars:
Designs on Carthaginian 4th century BC coins show the outline of the
Atlantic Ocean and the North American land mass.



Most of the folks who subscribe to this newsletter already knew that and
already suscribed to that theory, thanks, in part, to the efforts of the
late Gloria Farley. Don't get me wrong, I'm in no way belittling Professor
McMinamin's work, rather, I'm using his work as an example that if one of
the lay researchers or a scholar with the "wrong" credentials postulates
something like this, we are, at best, ignored and, at worst, subject to
character assassination and blackballing (censure). Mark McMenamin is a
geologist, not an historian or archeologist, so he got some of the same
treatment, though not as much as is usual. The evidence is too strong.



Another example of such treatment of a scholar by his fellows, although this
example has a bit of role reversal and is in a completely separate field, is
Dr. Jeffrey Meldrum, a tenured Associate Professor of Anatomy and
Anthropology and Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of
Anthropology at Idaho State University. Meldrum is also Adjunct Professor of
Occupational and Physical Therapy and Affiliate Curator of Vertebrate
Paleontology at the Idaho Museum of Natural History. Meldrum is considered
to be among the world's foremost experts on the Sasquatch. Jeff has been
ostracized by some of his fellow faculty for pursuing this field and
proclaiming a confidence in the creatures' existence, mostly by scholars in
other fields who have no credentials to challenge his position. There were
even calls for his censure, and those by fellows who had no training in any
of the fields Jeff pursues or teaches.



Meldrum received his B.S. in zoology specializing in vertebrate locomotion
at Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1982, his M.S. at BYU in 1984 and a
Ph.D. in anatomical sciences, with an emphasis in biological anthropology,
from State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1989. He held the
position of postdoctoral visiting assistant professor at Duke University
Medical Center from 1989 to 1991. Meldrum worked at Northwestern
University's Department of Cell, Molecular and Structural Biology for a
short while in 1993 before joining the faculty of Idaho State University
where he currently teaches.

Meldrum’s interest in the Sasquatch took off after being shown 15-inch
footprints by Paul Freeman, in a plowed field near Walla Walla, Washington.
Although initially believing the tracks to be forgeries, upon further
examination noticed what he believes is evidence of a high degree of
flexibility in the print and a mid-tarsal break, traits he has come to
believe belong to Bigfoot. Meldrum has published several academic papers
ranging from vertebrate evolutionary morphology, the emergence of bipedal
locomotion in modern humans and Sasquatch and is a co-editor of a series of
books on paleontology. Meldrum is the author of the 2006 book Sasquatch:
Legend Meets Science (ISBN 0-7653-1216-6), a companion volume to the
Discovery Channel documentary of the same name.



The point is that the resistance is a manifestation of dogmatic response to
new ways of thinking or new ways of interpreting well established evidence
or data. It shows up in all academic realms, from physics to
pharmaceuticals.



Gloria's book title says it all when it comes down to interpretation, In
Plain Sight.





This section is for you, the audience. You are welcome to contribute to it
either as a letter to the editor or an editorial. Submit your "stuff" to

oz@...




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NEW FEATURE! This Day in History

June 9: Shavuot (Judaism, 2008); St. Colmcille's Day in Ireland


a.. 68 – Roman Emperor Nero (bust pictured) committed suicide after he was
deposed by the Senate.
b.. 1310 – Italian artist Duccio's Maestà with Twenty Angels and Nineteen
Saints, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, was unveiled and
installed in Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy.
c.. 1772 – In an act of defiance against the Navigation Acts, American
patriots led by Abraham Whipple attacked and burned the British schooner HMS
Gaspée.
d.. 1856 – Mormon pioneers began leaving Iowa City, Iowa and headed west
for Salt Lake City, Utah, carrying all their possessions in two-wheeled
handcarts.
e.. 1928 – Australian aviator Charles Kingsford Smith and his crew landed
their Southern Cross aircraft in Brisbane, completing the first ever
trans-Pacific flight from the United States mainland to Australia.
More events: June 8 – June 9 – June 10

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Possum Holler News:

It;s not often that my home county makes the news and it's almost never good
news.

Severe weather kills 8; water rises in Indiana - Yahoo! News

I grew up in the town of Elnora and I lived in Plainville for a total of
about 6 years. I still have several friends in those places and they are
scrambling to get their possessions to higher ground.



Fortunately, the Possum Holler Studio is out of the flood plane.







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Other news: Will work at Allendale County archaeological dig rewrite human
history?



a.. BillingsGazette.com :: Students catalog tepee rings where ancient
tribes lived
b..
c.. The 2,000-year-old 'supertanker' - Scotsman.com News


a.. State could determine if one man's treasure is his to keep - Vero
Beach Press-Journal (subscription) - 1 week agoState could determine if one
man's treasure is his to keep Vero Beach Press-Journal (subscription), FL -
May 30, 2008 The state has three people dedicated to underwater archaeology
, sai...

a.. Cyprus researches millenia-old wine jars in wreck - Reuters - 1 week
ago Cyprus researches millenia-old wine jars in wreck Reuters - May 30, 2008
... Mediterranean dating from the classical period," said Dr Stella
Demesticha, visiting lecturer of underwater arch...

a.. Old ship gives up treasures in Cyprus - Famagusta Gazette - 1 week ago
Old ship gives up treasures in Cyprus Famagusta Gazette, Cyprus - May 31,
2008 Dr. Stella Demesticha, Visiting Lecturer of Underwater Archaeology at
the University of Cyprus, in charge of th...

a.. Shipwreck’s treasures see light of day - Cyprus Mail - 1 week ago
Shipwreck’s treasures see light of day Cyprus Mail, Cyprus - May 30, 2008 Dr
Stella Demesticha, Visiting Lecturer of Underwater Archaeology at the
University of Cyprus who is carrying out th...


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a..

Events: Send your organization's events to oz@...



The Atlantic Conference



/|\ Ancient Kentucke Historical Association


June 22nd, 2:30PM AKHA Meeting at Marilyn Michael’s home
Update on Lee Pennington’s film trip to the Indian Kettles in Fleming
County.

Film: Barry Fell, Bronze Age America



June 28th, 2:00 PM Falls of the Ohio MESOPOTAMIA



If I weren't going to be in Norway on these dates...

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Last week's show D Day



Okay, this one didn't pan out as planned due to technical problems. My
internet access was hosed and William's computer / operating system doesn't
hash with the new network software. I give him credit for trying and I
apologize to the listeners. We'll give this subject another go in late
summer.




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Next week's show: Live from Oslo, Norway

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Site of the week: Archaeological Outliers



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Your host
Rick Osmon, aka Oz
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oz@...


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