Mighty White, But Not Quite

Dear Kris:

You write:

"But the main thrust of Hitt's argument is that scientists who are looking for pre-clovis in the Americas are... white supremacists. As proof, he discusses in depth the public discussion over Kennewick Man's supposedly Caucasoid appearance. Hitt argues that the discussion is clear evidence that scientists desperately want to prove that European guys settled the New World before the Native American guys."

In fact, Hitt makes it very clear that there's a continuum of interpretations of these controversial discoveries, from mainstream scientists -- admittedly portrayed as clannish and somewhat fuzzy-headed -- to gadflies like Chatters to racist Internet ranters. The "main thrust" of his article is not to pillory "scientists" (a generalization he is careful not to make) but to examine with detachment and wit the intersection of science, culture, and prejudice. I understand that your essay works better with Hitt as a foil, but if you re-read the piece I think you'll see he's really not nearly as simple-minded as you make out. Even Chatters is portrayed as not actively racist but as perhaps -- like many scientists through the ages -- letting his preconceptions cloud his judgement and guide his conclusions.

Also, while he doesn't make the exact point about 10,000-year-old skeletons you make (and admonish him for missing), Hitt does come down squarely on the side of healthy skepticism, as here (p. 51): "The truth is that there exists no coherent history of skull shapes back through time, so to say that a 10,000-year-old skull resembles a modern white-guy skull is to compare apples and oranges." -- a point quite similar to yours, and in favor of the same conclusions.

Hope this doesn't come off as confrontational -- I thoroughly enjoyed Hitt's article and was surprised to find that your article (the only online commentary on it I could find) came to such a different interpretation of the author's motives.

http://www.stinky.com/alex/ Alex Chaffee's site no longer operates

Next, Texas archaeologist R. Clark Wernecke responds with his take on Mighty White...

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