From: Damien Sullivan (phoenix@ugcs.caltech.edu)
Date: Thu Apr 24 2003 - 16:41:45 MDT
On Wed, Apr 23, 2003 at 08:02:18PM -0700, Lee Corbin wrote:
> our skepticism in any case. The world is full of bleak,
> inhospitable, resource-poor regions whose inhabitants scratch
> out a meager living; but how many such regions have left us
> a cultural legacy comparable to medieval Iceland's? Diamond
Selection effect. The Icelanders managed to get written down without too much
distortion. A lot of others got destroyed by contact with European. Or
simply ignored as savages. And the Icelanders weren't exactly in isolation:
they came out of Scandinavia and the whole Teutonic culture and probably got a
big infusion from Ireland.
-xx- Damien X-)
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