Plans are coming together for a visit to Nikumaroro in 2015 sponsored by Betchart Expeditions -- see http://www.betchartexpeditions.com/aus-nz_amelia_earhart.htm. The ship will accommodate about 130 passengers; this is an unusual (at best) opportunity to visit the island and take part in TIGHAR's research at a fairly affordable price. Ric Gillespie and I are scheduled to be among the TIGHAR leaders, and we're busily planning the visit.
This trip is not to be confused with the deep-water search of the Nutirain reef slope with manned submersables, being planned for later this year. TIGHAR will be releasing information on that expedition in the near future.
I suggest that you conduct a dig at the dump at the LORAN station. Maybe you'll discover that some of the artifacts found elsewhere on the island (like at the Seven Site) were in fact Coast Guard throw-aways.
ReplyDeleteOf course, people on a pricey cruise aren't going to want to pick through a garbage dump, so perhaps on the Betchart trip you'll have to look for the WOF instead. My guess: the WOF is a Coast Guard truck wheel to match the one Tighar has already found. But please, on your next Tighar expedition take a look at the Coast Guard LORAN site. Don't archeologists normally want to know about all the cultures that might have left artifacts in their study area?
Allfie, I'd love to dig the LORAN station dump, whose location I think I've figured out, but it would be no small undertaking. It appears that they bulldozed trenches and covered them once filled, and the covering is coral rubble. I wish I knew where/how to raise the money to dig the thing, because I agree with you that we need to test the "null hypothesis" that some of our key putative Ameliafacts are in fact Coastiefacts. But I DON'T know where/how to raise such money. As for the WOF, your guess is not unlike mine, or Ric's, but until and unless we get the thing in hand we won't know.
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