Real-Life Decision Making
Paleobotanists often work closely with other scientists. They also work
often with historians. That cooperation can cause friction, since history
is often more interpretive in nature than the hard sciences such as botany.
You are a paleobotanist who has been called in to consult on a project.
A group of historians believe they have found evidence of a North American
village that would pre-date the arrival of Christopher Columbus.
They have found artifacts that they say proves the settlers were not native
to America. They speculate that they were Nordic fishers who came across the
coast of Newfoundland up to 200 years before Columbus sailed for the Indies.
You arrive at the windswept location and get to work. Within a few days,
you have collected dozens of samples. You find small twigs inside
fire rings, pieces of wood used to build crude structures and items that might
contain pollen or other evidence.
You return to your lab and begin working. After a couple of days of examining
the materials, you have determined that they are all native to the Newfoundland
area. Nothing surprising there.
But your carbon 14 dating shows that none of the samples are more than
400 years old. That would put the settlement somewhere in the late 1500s --
a long time ago to be sure, but at least 100 years after Columbus.
You call the project leaders to tell them what you've found. They listen
and then abruptly tell you they no longer need your services. They promise
to send a check for your time and hang up.
You understand they plan to move forward with their claims of the settlement's
ancient age.
What do you do?