This is ridiculous. TIGHAR doesn’t operate on facts; they came up with a hypothesis in 1991 that Earhart landed on Gardner Island and they’ve been finding supposed evidence since then to back up this pre-conceived conclusion. Don’t forget that in 1992 the founder, Richard Gillespie, famously said, “There’s only one possible conclusion: We found a piece of Amelia Earhart’s aircraft.” Only the rivet holes didn’t line up with an Electra, so then he claimed that it was a patch that was later added. He’s also claimed that he found human bones from Amelia, which DNA analysis was inconclusive as to whether they were from a turtle or a human.
This group has essentially settled on the theory that she landed on Nikumaroro and they’re going to great lengths to make findings fit their theory of events.
Now, they’ve gotten Robert Ballard tangled up in this. Ballard has actually don’t something incredible; it’s a shame that he’s lending his name and, apparently, resources to this group’s unsubstantiated theories.
I want to find out what happened to her as much as anyone, but the evidence for this theory is so flimsy that it doesn’t deserve this kind of attention.