Coulson, Sheila Dawn

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NYAME AKUMA No. 68 DECEMBER 20072BOTSWANAIt has only just been brought to my attentionthat in the June 2007 issue of Nyame Akuma Robbins,Campbell, Brook and Murphy published a 5-pagepaper in which they express their criticism of alleged“Internet news released by Coulson” (Robbins et al.2007:3). As I was not informed of this article and giventhe opportunity to respond at the time, I feel obligedto take this occasion to resolve a matter I thoughthad been laid to rest before the article appeared.  In their article I am accused of failing to offerlinkage to data or bridging arguments, presentingweak or non-existent interpretations, neglecting toproperly acknowledge previous publications, incor-rectly using ethnographic analogy and basically mis-leading the reader (Robbins et al. 2007:2-3). If any ofthis material had actually been written by me, I would,of course, have entertained these considerable criti-cisms. However, the material criticized appears in me-dia notorious for the inaccuracy and incompletenessof their reporting, and over which I have no control,making it a remarkable basis for this article.Worse, the two lead authors were fully awareof the shortcomings of the media reports.  Threemonths before their article was published, I corre-sponded by email with Robbins and Campbell to tellthem why the Internet was awash in articles with sen-sationalist headlines that no archaeologist wouldhave penned, because the fact of the matter was justthat – no archaeologist had written those articles.The unreliability of the media reports was clearly statedto Robbins in the course of this correspondence.As I explained to Robbins and Campbell inMarch 2007, it was an established tradition that, atthe end of each field season, the University of Bot-swana/Tromsø Collaborative Programme for SanResearch hosted an open day where the archaeolo-gists presented their latest results. The 2006 presen-tation was grander than usual as it marked the finalseason of this long-term program. The Botswanapress covered the event, which focused on the on-going analysis of the lithics from Rhino Cave, thelatest finds from the 2006 test excavation and, par-ticularly, on the night time experiment, where we docu-mented the effects of firelight on the carved wall inthe cave.  To put the new results in context it wasnecessary to briefly outline earlier research but theevent was firmly focused on ‘What is new in 2006’. When I returned to my home institution, theUniversity of Oslo, I was requested to give a similaropen lecture, which was covered by a journalist fromthe Norwegian Research Council.  His article con-tained the usual sound bites gleaned from a talk thatcovered the full history of use of the cave: this in-cluded recent usage, as well as evidence from thecontents of the Later and Middle Stone Age depos-its. Aspects of modern San mythology, the paintedpanel and the carved wall were all mentioned withinthe context of our recent findings. The journalist’snews article was translated to English and placed ona local Web page. The combined effects of Net re-ports from these two lectures unleashed the mediafrenzy that followed.Regrettably, there is a hierarchy in internet jour-nalism: the top reporters get the story first and theinnumerable ones that follow simply change the de-tails to make it appear as if they were there too.  Tocite but a few of the wilder outcomes: the fabricationthat my students and I were simply wandering thehills and stumbled upon this cave, not to mentionthe content of supposedly ‘direct quotes’ which haveme using phrases like ‘it was definitely a eureka mo-ment’ and, my personal favourite, a supposed whis-pered conversation (for that reporter’s ears only) overa beer in a bar in Texas. I obviously could do nothingto steer or stop such widespread coverage and amtherefore baffled as to how I am responsible for thesearticles being “repeated … to the point where onewould think that it is an established fact” (Robbinset al. 2007:2).Response to “World’s Oldest RitualSite? The ‘Python Cave’ at Tsodilo HillsWorld Heritage Site, Botswana” byLawrence H. Robbins, Alec C.Campbell, George A. Brook andMichael L. Murphy Sheila CoulsonDepartment of Archaeology,     Conservation and HistoryUniversity of OsloOslo, NorwayE-mail: sheila.coulson@iakh.uio.noNYAME AKUMA No. 68 DECEMBER 20073I might also add that, reading the coverage, Iwas instantly reminded of the danger of relying onsecondary sources.The authors have consumed a great deal ofspace, time and energy in refuting statements attrib-uted to me in Internet sites.  I would have expectedthat any consumer of such sources of information,especially those in the academic community, wouldhave long ago developed an appropriate sense ofscepticism in regard to the reliability of their report-ing, not least in scientific areas.I see no reason to waste yet more journal spaceby discussing in detail the misreported opinions at-tributed to me in the media. My opinions were ini-tially presented at the two lectures mentioned aboveand will be further detailed, together with those of allmy co-workers, in the forthcoming scientific articlewhich is currently in preparation.I look forward to reading Robbins, Campbell,Brook and Murphy’s comments on the scientific arti-cle. I can only hope that they will devote an equalamount of time and energy to discussing what I actu-ally have said about Rhino Cave as they have doneto obviously unreliable media coverage that theyhave chosen to believe in order to write their article.ReferenceRobbins, Lawrence H., Alec C. Campbell, George A.Brook, and Michael L. Murphy2007 World’s Oldest Ritual Site?  The “PythonCave” at Tsodilo Hills World Heritage Site,Botswana. Nyame Akuma 67: 2-6.

Response to  World's Oldest Ritual Site? The 'Python Cave' at Tsodilo Hills World Heritage Site, Botswana  by Lawrence H. Robbins, Alec C. Campbell, George A. Brook and Michael L. Murphy

Response to World's Oldest Ritual Site? The 'Python Cave' at Tsodilo Hills World Heritage Site, Botswana by Lawrence H. Robbins, Alec C. Campbell, George A. Brook and Michael L. Murphy

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