TNZ wrote:
"Is he not going to let his philosophical leaning influence his report?"
Given that she is human ... he may. Given that she is a scientist I would expect not. I would expect that she would carbon date organic materials buried with the gate, ask other scholars in her discipline to compare markings with others they have seen, look for pottery shards, etc. that would help date it. In other words ... look for supporting evidence.
And the more outrageous her proposed conclusion ... the more likely she would delay announcing it and the more thoroughly she would seek confirmation. No one wants to be embarrassed in front of their peers.
This isn't to say, as I said at the beginning, that we aren't all human with a boat-load of weaknesses. But the vast majority of the history of modern science supports the conclusion that she would become more wary the more unsettling the implications.
