Video Review Guide

Neanderthal Tools and Chinese Anchors

1985, 20 minutes, color, Discovery Channel

Summary Two segments from Arthur Clarke's Mysterious Universe show how good science can work on the question of diffusion. In the first segment, archaeologist Mark Newall discovers an obvious Neanderthal tool in the dredging of a canal near the US southeast coast. Rather than jump to a conclusion that Neanderthals were in the US, Newall has detailed examination done on the source of the stone, discovered to be French. By looking at historical records, he determines that the stone was part of ship ballast from the last century, dumped or lost from the ship.

The second segment looks at the discovery off the California coast, of stones with holes that are very much like stone anchors used by the ancient Chinese. Some suggest that the anchors indicate Pre-Columbian exploration of the New World by the Chinese. Examination by a geologist indicates that the stone is of local origin. Search of records indicates that Chinese immigrant fishermen in California made the stone anchors during the last century.

Questions

1. Is the evidence in either video ever "overplayed" and if so, by whom?
2. How does good scholarship provide answers? Is good scholarship more difficult than speculation? What is the role of speculation? Is it always bad?
3. How does Occam's Razor come to play in both instances?

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larry-zimmerman@uiowa.edu
University of Iowa Anthropology
08/18/98