GIGO

"Natural" Explanations

In these times, the natural is much preferred over the manufactured except, apparently, when it comes to anything with a whiff of the mysterious -- lights in the sky, noises in deserted houses, or rock walls in the North Island.

Any "natural" explanation -- Venus, settling timbers or ignimbrite formations -- is dismissed as far too prosaic to explain what appears, to some, as an obviously strange phenomenon that requires investigation. If one dares to suggest that such investigation is unwarranted in terms of cost or time, then accusations of a conspiracy or cover-up inevitably surface. Even when such investigations are undertaken, there are those who will see a non-result (that is, the natural explanation prevailing over the mysterious) as further evidence of some nebulous attempt to stifle inquiry.

I was startled to see an NZPA report editorialising along these lines recently in a story on the Kaimanawa "wall". It accused the Department of Conservation of attempting "to stop debate about the mysterious wall by declaring it a natural rock formation".

The X-Files-prone reporter was implying that DoC's laudable effort to shine some sensible light on the issue was in fact a devilishly clever plot to put us all in the dark. DoC is to be commended for taking the time and trouble to demonstrate clearly that the wall was and is a natural formation produced by the geological forces that have shaped this land. Those forces are no less wondrous -- and in some cases more mysterious -- than any suggestion of megalithic pre-Maori settlers or ancient alien astronauts, and they deserved to be recognised and respected.

As for the accusation that showing how the wall was formed, how it is an intimate part of the underlying rock, how it has no artificial foundation or shaping features, is an attempt to stop debate, this only serves to show the naivety of the NZPA reporter. Had there been any indication that this natural feature was, in some fashion, unnatural, it would have sparked major debate amongst serious archaeologists. The True Believer will continue, no doubt, to bow down before the wall and claim it, rather presumptuously, as a man-made wonder, despite any evidence to the contrary.

Vicki Hyde is the editor of New Zealand Science Monthly.