Controversial Archaeologist Stuns Science World with ‘princess’
Eminent but controversial archaeologist Dr. Ernst Voorst announced to the world earlier this week that a team of archaeologists and anthropologists from his recently established Reinhard Van Gelder Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology have excavated the first solid evidence of a once-thriving prehistoric culture in the Rhine valley.
Dr. Voorst’s analysis of the age and function of two ancient fortresses in the Rhine valley, co-published with Dr. Van Gelder in 2007, claimed that pre-modern cultures had waged a long war culminating around 10,000 years ago in the complete defeat and apparently utter destruction of the eastern fortress.
However, skeptics in the scientific community doubted the accuracy of the investigation citing, among other deficiencies, a complete lack of human remains. The latest report, in which Dr. Voorst’s team claims they have excavated the nearly complete remains of a “Princess of the Golden Wood”, appears to dispell those doubts by finally offering credible evidence of a burial contemporary with the period and the warring cultures.
However, members of the expedition team say they have not yet decided whether to make part of the remains available for DNA analysis, which would answer many questions. The notion that a prehistoric war has been confirmed elicits extreme skepticism in the scientific community. “Where are the graves of the warriors?” one archaeologist who has spent 30 years digging around Europe asks in an anonymous news group posting. “Why has no one else documented these finds?”
Dr. Voorst and his associates maintain that complete secrecy was maintained around the project, despite several leaks that appeared on the Internet in 2007 and 2008. The archaeologist has his supporters, including Professor Felecia Bonnet, a French archaeologist who accepted a teaching position at the new institute.
Dr. Voorst’s career undoubtedly hinges on the widespread acceptance (or rejection) of this latest report. If his findings are once again rejected, specialists in the field predict that Dr. Voorst will be forced into early retirement. He remains confident that his work will be vindicated, even though he himself may not live to see that happen.
Dr. Van Gelder passed away in early 2008.
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