Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2018 - 8

LETTERS

FROM OUR READERS
REINDEER VS. CARIBOU
In "Where the Ice Age Caribou Ranged"
(January/February 2018), Jason Daley
points out the fact that the species
called reindeer in Europe are usually
called caribou in North America. True,
taxonomists now classify reindeer and
caribou as a single species, but the
morphological differences that originally
led scientists to identify each as a
distinct species are still evident and of
note to modern indigenous peoples.
Ron Boggs
Helena, MT

A SPECIAL SPECIES
I was intrigued by reading about the
dolphin skeleton found in a grave on the
Channel Island of Chapelle Dom Hue
("World Roundup," January/February
2018). There is a phenomenon known,
somewhat unscientifically, as "friendly
dolphins," in which dolphins will seek
out the companionship of humans, and in
some cases even save human lives. This is
well attested in historical stories as well as
more modern examples. There are, even
today, fishermen who cooperate with wild
dolphins (or is it the other way around?)
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to catch fish-the dolphins herd the fish
into waiting nets. Was this individual
dolphin a friendly dolphin to the religious
community, deserving of a special burial?
Perhaps less romantically, while we
know dolphins are mammals, since they
come from the sea, perhaps they can be
consumed during Lent when meat is proscribed from religious diets? Perhaps this
dolphin was miraculously stranded just in
time to provide some meals to the monks,
who buried the animal in thanks to God? I
enjoy your magazine very much.

Mary Wackerle
Midland, MI

I read with amazement your article "Super
Fruitcake" (January/February 2018),
which describes finding a completely
intact, unopened 106-year-old fruitcake.
This article serves as confirmation of my
wife's theory concerning fruitcakes. She
posits that the recipient merely regifts
the fruitcake to someone else, who does
exactly the same thing, and this process
continues year after year. Therefore,
I conjecture that this 106-year-old
fruitcake is not really special. If anyone
were to actually unwrap a fruitcake they
received as a gift, it is very likely that
they would discover that the fruitcake
is approximately the same age as that
discovered in the article.

I was quite amused by your story about
the 106-year-old "Super Fruitcake" from
Cape Adare, Antarctica, which brought
back to mind a personal experience. I
spent 20 seasons serving as an LC-130H
navigator with the New York Air National
Guard in support of the National Science
Foundation's Antarctic Research Program.
About four years ago, the weather
went bad quickly while we were out on a
remote research camp mission. Low on
fuel and with a lack of alternative landing
sites, we opted to spend the night at the
CTAM/Beardmore Glacier science camp.
Life at a remote Antarctic science camp
is challenging, and the one thing that
brings comfort to the scientists who work
and live there through the short austral
working season is good, hearty camp
food. While we were there, to show their
hospitality, the camp's residents, who
seemed to be gobbling up a fruitcake,
offered some to my stranded flight crew
for dessert. On further discussion, they
divulged that the fruitcake was sourced
from a nearby abandoned U.S. Navy food
cache from around 1967! The cold, dry
conditions appeared to have perfectly
preserved it in the tin container-but we
respectfully declined the offer.

Steve Weston
Lompoc, CA

Lt. Col. Kurt Bedore, U.S. Air Force (Ret.)
Burnt Hills, NY

Mark J. Palmer, Associate Director
International Marine Mammal Project
Berkeley, CA

NO ONE LIKES FRUITCAKE

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8

The fruitcake! Was it forgotten? Or
deliberately left behind? We'll never know.

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ARCHAEOLOGY * March/April 2018

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Archaeology Magazine - March/April 2018