ON MYTHS, MYTHMAKERS AND POST MODERN SCIENCE: A COMMENT ON JEANNE ARNOLD'S DISMISSAL OF A PREHISTORIC POLYNESIAN CONTACT EVENT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

In a recent lead article in American Antiquity, Jeanne Arnold (2007) challenged our assertion (Jones & Klar 2005; Klar & Jones 2005) that prehistoric Polynesians made contact with Native societies in southern California. While we responded to some of Arnold's charges and an earlier critique by Anderson (2006) in American Antiquity (Jones & Klar 2006,2008), we feel that it is also important to carry on this dialog with the Pacific specialists reached by the Rapa Nui Journal. Here we review some of the points made previously and develop several others in response to Arnold's rejection of a Polynesian contact event.