ScienceTrending
A joint expedition by Purdue University and the Archaeological Legacy Institute found no conclusive evidence that Amelia Earhart’s plane wreckage is on Nikumaroro Island. The team determined a suspected object was likely debris from trees.
A recent expedition to Nikumaroro Island in the South Pacific has failed to find conclusive evidence that Amelia Earhart’s lost plane wreckage is located there. The joint effort, led by the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI) and Purdue University, concluded that a visual anomaly previously suspected to be aircraft debris was likely a collection of large trees.
The primary goal of the expedition was to examine the "Taraia Object," a blurry shape first detected in satellite imagery in 2020. Team leader and archaeologist Rick Pettigrew, ALI’s executive director, had hypothesized that the plane-shaped figure was wreckage from Earhart’s Lockheed 10E Electra.
According to a news release from Purdue University, the team "found no conclusive evidence to confirm a hypothesis that wreckage" from Earhart’s plane was "in a lagoon on a remote atoll in the South Pacific." Evidence gathered on the island indicated that the anomaly was "likely a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula’s sandspit."
The team noted that by the time they arrived on October 12, a significant portion of the debris had fragmented and washed away. Only a single Y-shaped segment remained, which was described as "a fraction of the anomaly’s original size observed in imagery when the Taraia Object hypothesis was developed."
Researchers determined that the reflective surface of the remaining fragment, which had previously suggested a metallic substance, was due to a "carbonate veneer." The university stated that other items found by the team were "similarly coated with a shiny concretized amalgam of coral sand."
While the specific hypothesis regarding the Taraia Object was ruled out, the expedition did recover numerous artifacts through maritime and terrestrial archaeology efforts. These included a steel tube about 30 inches long discovered in the lagoon near the Taraia Peninsula. Purdue University stated that these discoveries will continue to be studied as they may provide additional evidence for the broader castaway hypothesis.
Despite the lack of conclusive proof regarding the plane's location, the expedition leaders maintained their support for the theory that Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, landed on Nikumaroro and became castaways.
"The evidence for the castaway hypothesis, which brought us here, remained very, very strong," Pettigrew said in a video statement. "We think that it’s very likely that Amelia and her navigator, Fred Noonan, did in fact end up here on Nikumaroro Island."
Steve Schultz, Purdue general counsel and field assistant, said that ruling out the Taraia Object hypothesis "doesn’t detract from the existing, very strong, compelling case for the castaway hypothesis." The castaway theory, developed by The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, suggests the pair landed on the reef flat rather than crashing into the sea.
Earhart and Noonan disappeared on July 2, 1937, during an attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world. They were last seen taking off from Lae, New Guinea, heading toward Howland Island. The official determination of the U.S. government-led search at the time was that the plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the Pacific near Howland.
Dorothy Cochrane, an Earhart expert and retired curator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, noted that Nikumaroro has been searched more than 15 times without success. "They are one of many who have not found bona fide evidence of the Electra or Amelia or Noonan at Nikumaroro," she said.
The search for Earhart’s plane is expected to continue. Deep sea exploration company Nauticos is attempting to raise $8 million to $10 million for a final expedition to the ocean around Howland Island, utilizing new information from experiments with a replica of Earhart’s radio system.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
The day's checked news, by email
One short email a day with the top stories. Free, and you can unsubscribe in one click.
Or follow for the latest news:
No comments yet. Start the discussion.
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy identified a second jet in galaxy Mrk 501, suggesting a binary black hole system that could merge within a century.
Researchers have theoretically described a new quantum state where ultracold atoms maintain order despite high energy. The study, published in Physical Review Letters, challenges existing theories of one-dimensional quantum systems.