Five hundred years later and the ‘IFL Science’ crowd still can’t stop yammering about Galileo. The volume of their sputtering indignation is invariably inversely proportional to their actual knowledge of the case, of course. (Spoiler alert: far from implacably hostile to science, the Church initially feted Galileo and his work, and the astronomer, who was to put it mildly a bit of an asshole, only got in hot water when he deliberately picked a theological – not scientific – argument with power people.)
Yet, when we come to a very real modern case of primitive superstition standing in the way of scientific progress, suddenly the IFL Science crowd are bending the knee and solemnly chanting ‘Ooga booga!’
The oldest known human remains so far discovered in Australia, Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, are a potential treasure trove of archaeological knowledge. Instead of being preserved for study, they’re being hastily squirreled away in the dirt, in secret, and kept from the eyes of the world forever. All because of some ungabunga fairy stories.
The reburials were due to start in secret locations on Monday in the Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area of far southwest NSW, despite concern by scientists and some traditional owners that this could breach Australia’s international obligations.
If this was a church doing the same thing, the social media ‘science’ types would be howling in outrage.
The unearthing of Mungo Lady in 1968 and Mungo Man in 1974 by [Jim Bowler] were watershed finds that led to the unearthing of the fossilised remains of another 106 ancient Aborigines who lived during an ice age more than 40,000 years ago. This represents one of the largest concentrations of such relics outside Africa.
As reported at the weekend by The Australian, legal action is under way in the Federal Court to have Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to halt the reburials by the Indigenous traditional owners who have custody of the remains.
Prominent archaeologist Michael Westaway warned that only a fraction of the cache had been analysed, and its “destruction” could undermine the 1981 listing of the Willandra precinct on the World Heritage register.
In addition to taking up his concerns with Ms Plibersek, Professor Westaway said he would advise World Heritage keeper UNESCO and the International Council on Monuments and Sites that the relics’ “potential to rewrite the story of modern human origins” would be lost.
Not just modern human origins, but the arrival of humans in Australia.
British human evolution expert Chris Stringer, credited with helping develop the “out of Africa” theory of where people originated, said the remains “have great potential to further illuminate early human presence in Australia and its links with human migration across Asia”.
“They also have potential to broaden understanding of the complex patterns of occupation and movement in Australia itself and the history of the present Indigenous populations,” he said.
Which begs the question: what are the activists trying to hide about the ‘history of the present indigenous population’? Are they worried the research will turn up the sort of embarrassing revelations that Ancestry DNA tests often do?
Willandra Aboriginal Advisory Group chair Warren Clark said the relics would, from Monday, be transferred to “five or six” burial sites known only to a select number of elders. This would take about two weeks.
No photos or filming would be allowed to preserve security, he said.
Why such skulking secrecy? What are they trying to hide?
