Amelia Earhart Found? University of Tennessee Professor Says Yes

KNOXVILLE, TN -- A respected University of Tennessee anthropology professor says bones found on a remote South Pacific island in 1940 are likely those of Amelia Earhart, the renowned aviatrix who, along with her navigator Fred Noonan, went missing during an around-the-world flight attempt in 1937.

In 1940, skeletal remains were discovered on the island of Nikumaroro, a tiny and isolated atoll. At the time, physician D.W. Hoodless determined those bones belonged to a man.

Richard Jantz, professor emeritus of anthropology and director emeritus of UT’s highly regarded Forensic Anthropology Center, re-examined seven of Hoodless's bone measurements. Using modern techniques unavailable to researchers 78 years ago, Jantz determined the bones in fact belonged to a woman and that the bones have more similarity to Earhart than to 99 percent of individuals in a large reference sample. Jantz published his findings in Forensic Anthropology.

Using photographs which included scalable objects, Jantz and fellow researchers determined the length of Earhart's humerus and radius. A historic seamstress also took measurements from clothing at a collection of Earhart's papers at Purdue University, giving Jantz the length of the pilot's tibia.

In his report, Jantz writes “until definitive evidence is presented that the remains are not those of Amelia Earhart, the most convincing argument is that they are hers.”

“Forensic anthropology was not well developed in the early 20th century,” the paper states. “There are many examples of erroneous assessments by anthropologists of the period. We can agree that Hoodless may have done as well as most analysts of the time could have done, but this does not mean his analysis was correct.”

The first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, Earhart was a legendary figure even in her own time and the now 81-year-search for her and Noonan has captivated the world.

Along with bones found in 1940, a search party on Nikumaroro discovered part of a woman's shoe, a sextant box designed to hold a Brandis Navy Surveying Sextant, similar to the one Earhart’s co-pilot used, and a Benedictine bottle, something Earhart was known to carry.

The bones have long since disappeared but Hoodless's measurements of the skull and three long bones remained.

Jantz also examined other theories about the Nikumaroro bones, including that they may have come from a 1929 wreck of a British freighter, but Jantz said the woman’s shoe and American sextant box also are not artifacts likely to have been associated with a survivor of that wreck.

Earhart "was known to have been in the area of Nikumaroro Island, she went missing, and human remains were discovered which are entirely consistent with her and inconsistent with most other people," the paper concludes.

Jantz conducted the study in collaboration with the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery. TIGHAR Director Ric Gillespie has been one of the long-time advocates of the Nikumaroro hypothesis, writing a book detailing it in 1998.

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