Re: "The hunt for Odin"

--- In cybalist@..., george knysh <gknysh@...> wrote:

> Thor Heyerdahl's book by that title was published in
> Norwegian in late 2001. An English language version is
> expected to be available in November 2002. Here is a
> link to an extremely unflattering review of this opus,
> which dismisses Heyerdahl and his colleague as
> incompetent pseudo-scientists dabbling in matters they
> know less than nothing about. The rejection is so
> strong, in fact, that it might perhaps generate some
> doubt as to the whether Heyerdahl's book is that
> bad...Those of us who do not understand Norwegian will
> have to wait for the English text. But I find the
> critics' misunderstanding of the mediaeval dialogue
> form as a useful method for serious scientific debate,
> and their obiter accusations against Omeljan Pritsak's
> work (Heyerdahl certainly didn't get any of his Odin
> views from the latter!!) just as troublesome as the
> Heyerdahl contentions (if these have in fact been
> reported correctly).
>
> http://www.hf.uib.no/i/Nordisk/MaalogMinne/artikler/heyerdahl-v1.pdf
>

What is it about this theory of a southeastern component in
demographics and mythology in North West Europe that makes it
anathema to so many? I fail to get it. Personally I've earned a
specific injunction on this list against pursueing this idea plus
several vicious personal attacks against which no one intervened. Why
must this area of Europe be pristine and free of outside influences
since the Bronze age?

The whole attitude reminds me of when I hitch-hiked through North
America (USA + Canada, Glen!) in 1979 with another Dane; she had
blond hair down to her hips. Christ, what a commotion! Getting into
cars, meeting people, everybody started alpha-maleing all over the
place. It was was extremely annoying. So I got in the habit of
telling people one of her ancestors was Central European (which is
true). Ah - peace and quiet! Is that what it's about?

Torsten