One of the most basic scientific principles is Occam's Razor: 'entities must not be multiplied beyond necessity”; it's also seen in manufacturers: 'Don't double-handle material!” This is notably absent from MJ Anderson's letter ‘Unproven facts' (The Weekend Sun, October 7).

I take it for granted a species can't be driven to extinction twice. This puts a limit on when the first humans arrived in New Zealand. So the date of the moa's extinction is simultaneously the date of the first humans to settle New Zealand.

Moa hangi sites have been found. Now if these mysterious ‘Ngati Hotu' had arrived from Persia 1800 years ago as Anderson alleges, moa would've gone extinct 1800 years ago, not 800 years ago.

And since the favourite weapon of the Iranian-language speakers - Medes, Persians, Sogdians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Parthians - was the bow, we would find metal arrowheads in moa carcasses. Where are they?

There's a simple reason for 110 archeological sites ‘embargoed' - archeologists recall with horror Schliemann's hamfisted excavation of Troy. Everything above the ‘Troy' level was thrown away. Professional NZ archeologists don't want hamfisted amateurs destroying valuable sites for tenditious reasons. MJ Anderson take note!

W Parish, Papamoa.