Since there seems to be interest in the discussion about the potential for circa-1937 trails at the Seven Site, I felt I should qualify what I said yesterday about my "agreement" with the idea of the trails. I was agreeing only with the idea that the trails may have at one time been worth exploring in the New Zealand photos. Time and further analysis showed this idea to be flawed.
One point I'd like to make, and it's sort of a procedural one, is that agreement, in the true sense, is not the ultimate objective to these discussions. We can all agree or all disagree with one another and still be wrong concerning the true facts. Agreement, which after all is only another word for group opinion, needs to be balanced by the science to support it. Groups can often be wrong in their opinions. Is it testable? That's an important question. Is it worth testing? That's another important question. To both of these questions, with regard to the trails, the answer to me seems to be no.
I still think the New Zealand photos are fascinating and may yet offer promising avenues for discussion. I just don't believe that the trails are this type of avenue.
Joe Cerniglia
TIGHAR #3078C
I think it fantastic that TIGHAR has done the analyses of the New Zealand photos that it has done. It's so much to TIGHAR's credit that they report their findings.
Evidence exists that the body found there lived and died at the Seven Site for a period of "weeks to months", that a campsite routine was established and adhered to and that the Seven Site holds many valid reasons for the castaway to have dwelled there.
Further to those facts, the standard requirements of any human living there are self evident and from which one can extrapolate or interpolate.
I'm saying that any trails that were or were not evident in the photos taken at least 18 months after July 2nd 1937 aren't necessary to provide any proof of existence of the castaway.
1. The castaway had to have some means of acquiring nutrient, especially water.
2. The castaway had to have some means of moving around to achieve that end.
Whether or not that movement left a lasting impression in the coral does not change things greatly. Would it do any more than confirm - look, the castaway walked around some?
So that's how the stuff found at the Seven Site got sourced.