[Aqualist] megafaunal straw poll results

[Judith Field]

Dear Ausarchers/Aqualisters,

I apologise for not getting back to the list sooner.  I was waiting for any 
further input, but after the initial flurry of respondents there was little 
action on this issue.

So the guts of this is:
Of the 84 respondents, 52 were archaeologists, 27 Earth Scientists 
(geomorph/botanist/biogeographers/geocrhnologists etc) and 5 did not indicate.


So to the first question posed:
In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald today, Professor Barry Brook 
was  quoted as saying the "... the consensus among Australian scientists 
was that Aborigines had been mostly responsible for the extinctions."

Do you agree with the statement by Barry Brook?

Yes: 11

No: 68

Undecided/don't know: 5


The second question:
Do you believe that Aborigines were mostly responsible (by whatever 
mechanism) for the (megafauna) extinctions?

Yes:  10

No:  64

Undecided/don't know:  10

It would seem to me that 'consensus amongst scientists' is not supported, 
nor is there any broad agreement on cause.  While I did not offer a third 
choice of answer, judging from the response, many would have ticked the 
undecided box for the second question.

This is just a brief response.  I am preparing a fuller version for QA, 
especially considering the essay responses and diversity of opinion.

I appreciate the enthusiastic response from my colleagues.  I also 
appreciate that many may not have replied because of the nature of the 
question.  The word 'belief' was put in intentionally, call it bias, but at 
this stage the dataset is too thin for us to be making definitive 
statements on the process or cause.


Judith Field

****************************
Dr. Judith Field,
Research Fellow (Microscopy and Archaeology)
School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, and
Australian Key Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, F09
Electron Microscope Unit
University of Sydney, 2006
N.S.W., Australia
Phone: 612 9351 7412
Mobile: 0412 605 046
FAX:   612 9351 7682
Email: judith.field at emu.usyd.edu.au