A mysterious object on a remote Pacific island is not Amelia Earhart's long lost plane, a US expedition has confirmed.
The Taraia Object is a 'visual anomaly' spotted in a lagoon on Nikumaroro – a five–mile–long island in the western Pacific Ocean.
Several experts have previously suggested it could be Earhart's Lockheed Electra 10E plane, which vanished near Howland Island on July 2, 1937.
However, an expedition to Nikumaroro has now confirmed that the Taraia Object is actually just a collection of large trees deposited along the peninsula's sandspit.
'Amelia Earhart's spirit of courage and curiosity drove every step of the search,' said Rick Pettigrew, executive director of the Archaeological Legacy Institute (ALI).
'We accomplished our goal to determine what the Taraia Object was, and we're deeply grateful to the private donors who shared our vision and made this journey possible.
'Our team remains in great spirits and proud of what was accomplished.'
A mysterious object on a remote Pacific island is not Amelia Earhart's lost plane, a US expedition has confirmed
The Taraia Object is a 'visual anomaly' spotted in a lagoon on Nikumaroro – a five–mile–long island in the western Pacific Ocean
Amelia Earhart was flying the aircraft with navigator Fred Noonan when it vanished near Howland Island on July 2, 1937.
At the time, she was attempting to become the first woman to complete a circumnavigational flight of the globe.
What exactly went wrong, and where her plane landed, has been a mystery ever since.
In 2020, scientists studying satellite imagery of the region spotted a reflective object on Nikumaroro – raising hopes it could be Earhart's plane.
On October 6, scientists from Purdue University travelled 830 miles from Kiribati to Nikumaroro to find out the truth.
The team planned to travel five days by sea, but their journey was extended due to weather, with the crew spending seven days near Nikumaroro, including four days onshore setting up field operations and conducting investigative work.
Sadly, when they arrived, they were left disappointed.
Their analysis of the Taraia Object revealed that a large portion of the debris had fragmented and washed away, leaving only a single Y–shaped segment.
Rather than being the metal of a plane, the fragment's reflective surface was due to a shiny concretized amalgam of coral sand, according to the researchers.
Amelia Earhart was flying the aircraft with navigator Fred Noonan when it vanished near Howland Island on July 2, 1937
The theory for the crash site's location was based on a satellite image showing an unusual object on the ocean floor just feet from the island's shoreline
Amelia Earhart: The castaway theory
The castaway theory suggests that Earhart and Noonan did not crash into the sea, but landed on the reef flat of the remote atoll and were marooned there.
There are several pieces of evidence to back up this theory:
- Radio bearings recorded from transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, which converge on Nikumaroro
- A 2018 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940, strongly suggesting they belong to a woman of Earhart's stature
- Artifacts found on Nikumaroro including a woman's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial — all dating to the 1930s
- The Bevington Object, a photographic anomaly on the Nikumaroro reef captured three months after the plane's disappearance, which appears to represent the Electra's landing gear
Other items found on the island were similarly coated in this carbonate veneer.
'Perhaps no words better capture this expedition than Amelia Earhart's own: "Adventure is worthwhile in itself,"' said Steve Schultz, Purdue general counsel and expedition member.
'We set out to test a hypothesis, not to guarantee a particular result, and we followed the evidence to the end.
'While the Taraia Object did not prove to be what we hoped, the journey produced new discoveries, added to the world's knowledge of Nikumaroro, and wrote another extraordinary chapter in a story of discovery and exploration.'
With the Taraia Object now ruled out, the question remains: where is the missing plane?
The researchers are sticking with the 'castaway hypothesis' – the theory that Earhart and Noonan did not crash into the sea, but rather landed on the reef flat of the remote atoll and were marooned there.
Several pieces of evidence back up this theory, according to the team.
Radio bearings recorded from transmissions at the time by the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Coast Guard and Pan American World Airways, converge on Nikumaroro, they point out.
The researchers are sticking with the 'castaway hypothesis' – the theory that Earhart and Noonan did not crash into the sea, but rather landed on the reef flat of the remote atoll and were marooned there
Meanwhile, a 2018 analysis of human bones discovered on the island in 1940 strongly suggesting they belong to a woman of Earhart's stature.
Other key pieces of evidence include artifacts found on Nikumaroro dating to the 1930s, including a woman's shoe, a compact case, a freckle cream jar and a medicine vial.
There's also the Bevington Object – a photographic anomaly on the Nikumaroro reef captured three months after the plane's disappearance, which could be Electra's landing gear.
The team plans to keep searching for evidence in the hopes of answering exactly what happened to the explorer.
'Amelia Earhart never gave up — she kept pushing boundaries and flying into the unknown,' Mr Schultz said.
'That same fire fuels our search. She kept flying, and we will keep searching.'
WHAT ARE THE THEORIES ON AMELIA EARHART'S FINAL DAYS?
Theory One: Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan crash into the Pacific a few miles short of their intended destination due to visibility and gas problems, and die instantly.
Theory Two: Earhart and Noonan crash land on the island of Nikumaroro, where they later die at the hands of coconut crabs, which hunt for food at night and grow up to three-feet long. The name comes from their ability to opened the hardened shells of coconuts.
Theory Three: Earhart and Noonan veer drastically off course and crash land near the Mili Atoll in the Marshall Islands. They are rescued but soon taken as prisoners of war by the Japanese and sent to a camp in Saipan. Noonan is beheaded and Earhart dies in 1939 from malaria or dysentery.
Theory Four: Earhart and Noonan make it to Howland Island as planned and are eaten by cannibals.
Theory Five: Earhart was an American spy sent to gather information on the Japanese ahead of World War II.
Theory Six: Earhart and Noonan are unable to locate Howland Island, and head toward their 'contingency plan'. After a ten hour journey back toward the location they came from, they crash in the jungle of East New Britain Island, in what is now known as Papua New Guinea.
There are several conflicting theories about Earhart's disappearance. The alleged details of Earhart's final flight, and where she is believed to have ended up based on different theories over the years