The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source:
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:39 PM
UT Researcher: Remains Found In South Pacific Island Likely Those Of Legendary Amelia Earhart
Richard Jantz, professor emeritus of anthropology and director emeritus of UT's Forensic Athropology Center, re-examined seven bone measurements that were originally analyzed in 1940 by Physician D.W. Hoodless, who concluded that they belonged to a man.
However, Jantz used several modern quantitative techniques and found that Hoodless was incorrect in his assessment that the bones were those of a man.
Jantz's new data found that the bones had more similarity to Earhart than to 99 percent of people in a large reference sample. The findings were published in the journal Forensic Anthropology.
Jantz also compared the length of the bones with those of Earhart's, the measurements of which were taken from a photograph with a scalable object and a historic seamstress' measurements. Jantz concluded that "until definitive evidence is presented that the remains are not those of Amelia Earhart, the most convincing argument is that they are hers."
Earhart was the first female aviator to fly alone across the Atlantic Ocean. She mysteriously disappeared in 1937 while she was flying over the Pacific. A group of researchers, including Jantz, believe she died as a castaway on the island of Nikumaroro.
To read the full findings of the study, click here.
Read the original study published in Forensic Anthropology here.
