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Thanks to Peter Fogg for being kind enough not to point out that I said
that the traces of Homo erectus were on Lombok, when they really were
(as he says) on Flores (3rd major island east of Lombok). The critical
water crossing on the shortest route to Flores was the Lombok Strait and
thus it is likely that they either established themselves on Lombok
before moving on or at least coasted along its shores. I failed to store
the details in memory and muddled the essential point (crossing of
Lombok Strait) with the particular island on which traces of the human
presence have been found so far. [Only a small proportion of all human
artefacts survive in the archaeology record and only a small proportion
of that has yet been found. Much of archaeology is a classic case of the
absence of proof not being proof of absence.]

And thanks also to Peter for pointing out that the newly-found "hobbits"
  (which appear to have been hobbit-like only in their stature) were
connected with this voyaging, at least in their origins. I hadn't
grasped that point when their discovery was announced several weeks ago.


Trevor Kenchington




Off-topic P.S.:

Wallace and Darwin co-authored the first formal statement of their
independently-developed theory, though Darwin subsequently put out the
book-length version under his name alone. He had been working on it for
years but, when Wallace sent a manuscript to the great man for review,
Darwin volunteered to stand aside and let Wallace take all credit -- or
perhaps all blame. (It seems that Darwin anticipated the social
implications and consequences of his theory and was reluctant to release
it for that reason.)

But they must both share the credit with several earlier thinkers who
provided the foundation for the theory without quite achieving it. As
Newton observed, even the greatest scientists are but midgets standing
on the shoulders of giants.

Unfortunately, the popular imagination needs to single out particular
heroes and hence the work of many is credited to the likes of Newton,
Darwin, Einstein and Hawking -- great scientists all but not quite as
singular as most people suppose. Much the same can, of course, be said
of the big names in navigation: Harrison, Maskelyn, Sumner and the rest.




--
Trevor J. Kenchington PhD                         Gadus@iStar.ca
Gadus Associates,                                 Office(902) 889-9250
R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour,                     Fax   (902) 889-9251
Nova Scotia  B0J 2L0, CANADA                      Home  (902) 889-3555

                     Science Serving the Fisheries
                      http://home.istar.ca/~gadus

   

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