UNIVERSITY OF COPENAGEN K%BENHAVNS UNIVERSITET
The Carsten Niebuhr Instute Carsten Niebuhr Instituttet
of Near Eastern Studies for n&rorientalske studier
Njalsgade 80 DK 2300 K%benhavn S
Professor Fay Gale
Vice-Chancellor
University of Western Australia
Dear Prof. Gale, March 26th, 1993
From my colleague, Prof Frank Hole, Yale University, I have learned
that Dr David Rindos is up for tenure, and that it perhaps might be
helpful for your considerations with external comments. I therefore
allow myself to address you in this particular case as I have some
information that you otherwise may not obtain, due to the state of
research. I know David Rindos primarily from his scientific work. In that connection I should not hesitate to say that his book, The origins of Agriculture, should be considered one of the central contributions to the theory of domestication processes in recent times with consequences for your understanding of the neolithic (r)evolution. Since 1986 a small group of of the scientist in Denmark under my direction has attempted to work with ancient DNA first to all in order to apply the new methods from molecular biology to the archaeological discipline (e.g. Theusen et al. in Journal of Archaeological Sciences 1990: 679-89). The first pilot projects concentrated on humans, but we are now also designing a project which directly will approach the domestication of plants and animals in the Near East based on the genetic information from DNA. In this initial phase it was obvious to approach David Rindos, as I see his work dealing with genetic models as an obvious platform for this new branch of archaeological science. With the growing research into palaeogenetics there are good reasons to believe that Rindos' contributions will take up a central role in the forthcoming reconstructions of the biological environment of human activities in the past. As a consequent I would also be pleased, if Dr Rindos will be able to visit University of Copenhagen in October in order to give lectures on his theories and eventually in some way become associated with our new research programme.
Sincerely Yours
/signed/
Ingolf Thuesen, Dr.
associate professor