Comment of the day: Retired archaeologist chimes in on the question of "Is Bigfoot Real?"

This latest "Comment of the Day" is from a previous blog post titled, "Kid asked distinguished professor of anthropology: Is Bigfoot Real?"

Due to fear of being ridiculed, the comment was posted anonymously. The author is happy to see serious research going into the subject of Bigfoot and explains how this wasn't something you would want to talk about if you were an "up and coming anthropologist."

"I've never voiced these thoughts before to anyone, much less to anyone in the field of anthropology fearing browbeating and ridicule. As someone who wanted to be taken seriously as an up and coming anthropologist and later as professional archaeologist with 30+ years of experience in the field, the answer that Dr. Little gave was very much along the lines of what I would have said in the same circumstance."

Read the full comment below.

Little does my colleague know (pun intended).

I too am an anthropologist. Perhaps, not as distinguished as Dr. Little, but I do have a BA and a Masters degree in the field and have recently retired after a long and distinguished career as a professional archaeologist.

As an undergraduate student in the early 1970's I studied human evolution and the fossil record. When in my studies, I came across the evidence of Gigathopithecus in the anthropological literature, it was easy for me to make the link between the fossil evidence and the yeti. I'll never forget the epiphany that I had thinking that there was scientific proof that fossil evidence existed for a ancestor of the yeti.

That said, I've never voiced these thoughts before to anyone, much less to anyone in the field of anthropology fearing browbeating and ridicule. As someone who wanted to be taken seriously as an up and coming anthropologist and later as professional archaeologist with 30+ years of experience in the field, the answer that Dr. Little gave was very much along the lines of what I would have said in the same circumstance.

Now that I'm retired, I can say what I really think (although I am doing this anonymously via comment on a blog).

The young lady asked a good question. It's a question that I too asked myself back in the 1960's when I was her age. It was about that time when Argosy Magazine published photos of the Bigfoot in the Patterson-Gimlin film. I admit that it certainly sparked my interest and I've been interested in the question ever since.

I am thrilled to see the big up-tick in both professional and amateur field research attempting to answer the question once and for all.

Granted there seems to be more hoaxes associated with the search that have only reinforced the skeptics point-of-view and also on the light side of things there seems to be more humor about these creatures on both sides of the fence. I like the humor, but not the hoaxes.

For what it's worth, here's my opinion. Given the increased interest combined with all of the new technology from thermal imaging cameras to DNA analyses not to mention the popularity of of TV shows like Finding Bigfoot and websites like bigfootevidence.com, it is just a matter of time before indisputable proof will finally come along that finally moves it out of the realm of fantasy to reality. Until such time, it is safer for scientists for the sake of the careers to be skeptics.

Once that happens, I hope that the search turns from "Are there Bigfoots?" to the search for knowledge of who they are and how they live. I myself would like to learn more about our relatives on our family tree and look forward to a time when I can read anthropological studies on the subject matter.

The Chinese have an old saying that says the smartest animal is the one that is still undiscovered by Man. If that's true, maybe we can learn a thing or two from our distant relatives with big feet.