A new study suggests remains found on a remote island in the Pacific belonged to Amelia Earhart. A researcher says he is “99 percent” sure of this latest discovery.
University of Tennessee anthropology professor Richard Jantz conducted research and determined that the bones likely to have belonged to Amelia Earhart. According to Jantz’s research data, the bones “have more similarity to Earhart than to 99 percent of individuals in a large reference sample.” The new study was published in the Forensic Anthropology journal.
In 1940, three years after Amelia Earhart disappeared, remains were found on a remote Pacific Island but a researcher at the time, D.W. Hoodless, measured the bones and concluded they belonged to a man. The bones have since disappeared since 1940, but according to the University of Tennessee, Jantz was able to use several modern quantitative techniques including a special computer program that is able to estimate data based on skeletal measurements. Jantz was able to analyze old photographs of Earhart to compare bone lengths to the measurements made first by Hoodless.
According to Jantz, the above photos were some of the photos used to conduct research to determine bone length.
Amelia Earhart mystery solved?
This latest discovery comes almost a year after it was reported that Amelia Earhart survived her 1937 crash in the Pacific when a photo surfaced. Just ahead of a History Channel documentary about Amelia Earhart, researchers and investigators came up with the theory that Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan survived the crash and were seen in the photo.
A Japanese blogger researched the photo and it was later determined that the photo was published two years prior to Earhart’s disappearance.
While looking at an old and blurry photo to determine what happened to Amelia Earhart did not help figure out what happened to her, Jantz’s research using technology and sophisticated computer applications is a step closer to solving the 80-year-old mystery surrounding the famed aviator.
