The Counterfeit Murder in the Museum of Man_ A Norman De Ratour Mystery - Alfred Alcorn [71]
She cleared her throat and knit her hands together. “I will reserve any comments on the matter for later. I have moved it to first on the agenda to accommodate Mr. de Ratour’s special guest, Harvey Deharo, who, as most of you know, is Director of the Ponce Foundation and runs the Genetics Lab.”
“He also teaches a course in genomic archaeology,” I put in.
Harvey bowed and nodded to those he knew.
Professor Laluna Jackson raised her palm. “I would like very much to start off,” she said. And, with assent from the Chair, she began reading a prepared statement, one hand open, fingers together jabbing the air in front of her as though to conduct her emphatic speech, the jangle of her brightly colored plastic hairties adding a kind of timpani.
I regarded her closely. Harvey could be right about her origins, the he-to-she transformation. It might have been her jaw and the way she moved her shoulders. Or her slim waist and not much behind. I might have been fascinated in some perverse way by that possibility and from her manner of speaking were it not for what she said.
“First, I want to say, that the plans of the current management to eliminate the multicultural aspects of the Stone Age diorama strikes me as more in line with the museum’s unstated purpose, which many of us view as a showplace of white male triumphalism.”
She glanced around as though for applause and continued. “Speaking professionally, I can assert with confidence that we will be victimizing all peoples of color by filling an exhibition devoted to our ancestors with white-skinned, fair-haired people.”
She paused again, then lowered her voice to signal that she was about to say something profound. “It is not just the vulnerable groups alive today that I am concerned about. No, it is the Neanderthals themselves. To depict them as pale-skinned and fair-haired would be to victimize them all over again.”
My friend Harvey raised a finger. “Could you tell us how they were victimized in the first place?” He wore a quizzical expression bordering on facetiousness.
“Well,” said Professor Jackson, her elocution a touch uncertain, “it’s not my field of expertise, but my research shows that the Neanderthals comprised a peaceful hunter-gatherer society living in harmony with nature when they were exterminated by white Europeans.”
“I see. Could you tell us what research you’re referring to?”
“Research?”
“Yes. Any references, sources, citations?”
“Well, nothing that specific. As I said, it’s not my field of expertise. But it’s common knowledge that the Neanderthals were exterminated. In fact, they comprise a group we call ‘proto victims.’ ”
“Proto victims … Common knowledge, hmmmm.” Harvey had just an edge of British archness in his voice. “It might interest you to know, Professor Jackson, that it is generally agreed among Neanderthal specialists, or, rather, specialists in Neanderthal studies, that the Neanderthals were vanquished by dark-skinned invaders from the east who originated not long before in Africa.”
He had everyone’s rapt attention.
“However, there is considerable debate as to whether the Neanderthals interbred with the invading AMHs, that is, anatomically modern humans, or were driven extinct by them. It’s entirely possible the AMH invaders used the Neanderthals as a food source …”
“You mean—?” someone asked.
“Yes. They probably ate them.”
Harvey handed around copies of a paper he had brought with him. “What I’ve given you is the abstract of a research article regarding pigmentation among Neanderthals. As you can see, a melanocortin one receptor allele with reduced function is associated with pale skin color and reddish hair among people of European descent. I can send anyone interested the entire paper.”
Professor Brattle said, “Where did the specimens originate, the ones they took the DNA from?”
“Italy and Spain.”
Professor Jackson rolled her eyes. “That is precisely the problem. Why does everything have to be so Eurocentric in this country?