Anybody see the PBS special on the Amazons?

[Nicator]

Hello All,
Recently, there was a PBS special on excavations around the Black Sea that revealed a female warrior. The woman doing the study seemed to be pressing her theory on the find perhaps a bit too far. As always happens when someone tries to prove their case with evidence, instead of letting the evidence prove what it may. There was some compelling stuff there, the skeleton was very well preserved, and dated to be around 2300 years old. There was no mention of the Alexander histories, but quite a bit from the Iliad and some other Greek sources. I found that to be a bit telling about the limited scope of the so called expert conducting the research, particularly with the carbon dating putting this woman right smack dab in the middle of Alexander's era. They were able to glean some DNA from the specimen and then found a 12 year old blond haired Asian girl in Mongolia who had a perfect mitochondrial DNA match. So, this young girl, and the woman in the burial mound shared a common ancestor. They also did a computer generated facial reconstruction to reveal her probable appearance. The woman conducting the study complained that she pictured a blond haired woman, and just didn't understand that the computer could make the hair color any way they wanted it (clueless). It bugs me when someone passes this fluff off as real scientific proof that the Amazons really existed, without at least offering some alternative theories. Sure, it is possible, maybe even likely, but definitive...no way!
later Nicator

[ruthaki]

I didn't see it right from the beginning but I saw most of it. Found it fascinating the way they connected the young blonde girl to the 'amazon' skull. It was an interesting film but I agree with some of your comments as I found some of the study a bit vague. Worth watching though.