I was a little disappointed that the April 2016 TIGHAR Tracks discussed the Niku bones issue in general but made no mention of the only peer-reviewed paper that has looked at the same measurements taken by Dr. Hoodless in 1940. It came to a different conclusion.
Pamela Cross and Dr. Richard Wright's paper, published in
The Journal of Archaeological Sciences, concludes that, "Without access to the missing original bones, it is impossible to be definitive, but on balance, the most robust scientific analysis and conclusions are those of the original British finding indicating that the Nikumaroro bones belonged to a robust, middle-aged man, not Amelia Earhart." See
https://www.academia.edu/12660477/The_Nikumaroro_Bones_Identification_Controversy_First-hand_Examination_versus_Evaluation_by_Proxy_-_Amelia_Earhart_Found_or_Still_MissingTIGHAR's efforts hinge on Dr. Richard Jantz, who with the late Dr. Karen Burns reanalyzed Hoodless's measurements and concluded they more likely fit a European female. To date that effort has been presented at a scientific conference, but it has not been formally published. Dr. Jantz is awaiting a better estimate of Earhart's height from TIGHAR before he does another analysis, which is a prudent step; you can never have too much information as far as scientists are concerned.
Jantz is a world-recognized leader in his field of expertise, and I'm extremely gratified that he's taken an interest in the Niku Hypothesis to the degree that he has. I hope that this latest analysis will lead to a peer-reviewed paper published in a recognized scientific publication so that others can perform their own analysis and arrive at their own conclusions.
LTM,
Monty Fowler, TIGHAR No. 2189 EC