Feb 23 2010
Debunking a Debunking
I’m not fond of the term “debunk.” It implies that something was fully bunk to begin with and then was thoroughly “de”-ed.
A news release at ScienceDaily last week got me thinking about it. The title read, Study Debunks Millennia-Old Claims of Systematic Infant Sacrifice in Ancient Carthage
With a title like that I expected to encounter a slam-dunk argument. But check out the lead paragraph [bold mine].:
A study led by University of Pittsburgh researchers could finally lay to rest the millennia-old conjecture that the ancient empire of Carthage regularly sacrificed its youngest citizens. An examination of the remains of Carthaginian children revealed that most infants perished prenatally or very shortly after birth and were unlikely to have lived long enough to be sacrificed, according to a Feb. 17 report in PLoS One.
And that debunks? Okay, the title was likely written from the U of Pitt publicity department, or something, and not the researchers themselves. But a quote by the lead researcher and argumentation further into the body of the piece raises similar questions. [Again, bold mine.]
“Our study emphasizes that historical scientists must consider all evidence when deciphering ancient societal behavior,” Schwartz said. “The idea of regular infant sacrifice in Carthage is not based on a study of the cremated remains, but on instances of human sacrifice reported by a few ancient chroniclers, inferred from ambiguous Carthaginian inscriptions, and referenced in the Old Testament. Our results show that some children were sacrificed, but they contradict the conclusion that Carthaginians were a brutal bunch who regularly sacrificed their own children.”
Okay, we’ve got to consider all evidence. I assume some of that evidence is the weak stuff of the reports and inscriptions mentioned. Still. And, get this, the researchers’ results show that some infants were indeed sacrificed. But not as many as assumed. Um, does this qualify as a debunking? Moving a line of degree of something doesn’t seem to rise to that level, if you ask me.
And if you do ask me, debunking is a description of an activity better suited to Scoobie-Doo and his gang when they pull back a curtain to reveal the guy running the projector of the ghost image haunting some poor dupes. Now that’s a debunk.
