Yeah, I also wonder what those lines of evidence about the skull are -- and how their forensic anthropologist knows it is of an adult female. Well, as I said, DNA analysis might help. If we got really lucky, there might be a close match to an Earhart or Noonan relative (as far as I recall from my reading, there are no positively identified DNA samples from Amelia or Fred themselves, but relatives have contributed theirs). Next best would be at least determining if it was someone of European descent, or not. However, they need to get a good sample. DNA degrades over time, and from heat and other environmental conditions. Remember the finger bone that was found, and the difficulty of determining even what species it was from. And even so -- there aren't labels on chromosomes saying "European" or something like that -- it's all based on comparing to other samples of known origin. That's why the testing companies want to amass big databases, to have that consensus. This strikes me as subject to a circular-argument fallacy about what ethnic origin the DNA actually indicates.
As for the landing site -- I do remember reading about the 281 theory and I went back and read it again while writing this -- it seems to have been dealt with at the time that it's possible that was what they were reporting -- though it seems an odd way to report a position -- but that their accuracy would not be sufficient to pinpoint a specific location on the island. It's also occurred to me that Fred would have not only had to be physically able to take a sight and calculate it, and have a sextant with which to sight, but also have what was needed to reduce his sight into a position. This gets back to the question of what they removed from the airplane -- though if Fred were able, attempting to find their location is likely a high priority. Indications seem to be that they were not able to get a good position and had no idea of the name of the island (hence using the shipwreck as a clue for listeners).
Ballard saying he would go back to that section further south along the beach because it's easy to search seems a bit like that old joke about the guy looking for his lost keys under the street lamp instead of in the dark place where he dropped them.
Well -- we don't know for sure where the airplane landed nor where it went after it landed -- it is (or was) wherever it is (or was). We do have indications of a possible location. If it is ever found, then we might work out how it got to wherever it got to -- for now, we are still trying to figure out where it got to, including theories about how, pointing to a possible where. This is also like looking for lost keys. When I misplace my keys, I retrace my steps and use my memory to help narrow down where they are. But in this case we are figuratively looking for someone else's lost keys, without the owner's help, and with some question as to whether they are still there to find. This is more like not being sure whether something I've misplaced is in my living space, or in my garage, or dropped in the street, or I got rid of it and forgot I didn't still own it (this has actually happened). Then when I do find it (it was usually put in a different place from where I would normally put it) it seems obvious that it would be where it in fact was.
And the thing about having searched 100% of some area -- there are still 100% of a lot of other areas not yet searched. Maybe further examination of the video will turn up something, though TIGHAR knows how that can go with ephemeral clues and things that look like other things. What Ballard said is they searched 100% of a given area and did not see evidence of the plane. He did not say that it is not there, only that they did not see it. We don't know if this is because there is nothing to see in that location, or it simply hasn't been seen yet. As Ric said once, this is harder than finding a big shipwreck that you know exists and have some idea of where it is. This is more like looking for bits of shredded documents that may have been thrown into a dumpster that may have been emptied since then, and may not even be the right dumpster.
Anyway, I do think at least a bit more is known than was a month ago.
LTM,
Don