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We humans are compelled to play "fill in the blanks" due to our pattern-seeking brains, but it's always unwise to leap to conclusions on the basis of very scant and incomplete evidence. Archeology is littered with hypotheses that are subsequently called into question by later discoveries and later trends. It's better to admit we don't know than to erect baroque hypotheses - but we rarely do the latter and generally default to the former. The supposed Sea People are a classic example of this fill-in-the-blanks tendency, and a salutary example of why we shouldn't leap to conclusions.

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Allan Milne Lees
Allan Milne Lees

Written by Allan Milne Lees

Anyone who enjoys my articles here on Medium may be interested in my books Why Democracy Failed and The Praying Ape, both available from Amazon.

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