The Leonard Lopate Show

I'm someone who can not watch horror movies or look at grizzly crimescene photos, let alone watch those anti-smoking commercials showing the gross effects of cigarette smoking to the body. YET, I'm really looking forward to downloading this interview. I've read the excerpt and have added the book to my wishlist.

Now, if only I can find the guts (pun intended) to purchase it.

Dear Leonard, In class we are reading an essay about the controversial Kennewick Man remains. I was wondering if perhaps Dr. Blass could comment on that case, and also, in general, whether anthropologists can validly reconstruct the race of human remains and what that says scientifically about race.

The correct spelling of his name is Bass, not Blass.

this is a bit grim for lunch time chat,

I thought a skeleton couldn't determine the race of the person when they were alive.

Dr Bass is wrong about Kennewick man who has no particular resemblance to modern Europeans.

I don't have my bibliography right in front me now but believe me there is a consensus on this based on very sophisticated statistical analyses of measurements on the skeleton. The skeleton does not fit that well in with any modern population but the closest are the Ainu of Japan and some other Pacific peoples.

In general, the racial divisions that are found among modern people did not exist 10,000 years ago.

Dr. Bass mentioned that there were other prehistoric skeletons of possibly non-Asian race found in the North American. I am very curious about other non-Asian skeletons that have been found. Just who came here and from where?

Can the doctor recommendany sources of information or is it too controversial ?