Well Alan, i've made no questions nor judgements of Marco's writing skills and other than a few spelling errors this article seems quite well written regardless of his language of origin. I don't quite see your point there.
As to the word "academic", it can be taken to many higher levels and extremes to be sure. But we have a well written and illustrated article that uses footnotes and references in it's writing (including a reference to your own writing). I don't know much about Marco, but it seems his approach was indeed an academic one even if Marco himself does not appear with a litany of letters after his name. He was not writing an opinion piece after all, but a well researched paper on the subject of keris hilts which, i am sure, he intended to be taken seriously.
As such (though of course i cannot know for sure) i do not sense that Marco was writing from a place of "belief" nor that he would feel animosity if any of his writing were to be brought into question. He is simply repeating things he has read or heard (as you have stated, there is nothing in this paper you have not heard before). Now i am speaking on assumption, a dangerous thing indeed, but given Marco's full name i reckon he is probably a Western collector or enthusiast, not member of any keris culture per se. So my sense is that he is not speaking from a place of "belief", but rather he is attempting to write a well researched and factual paper on the subject that will be informational, educational,interesting and, hopefully, correct. Yes, this "correct" thing can indeed be a spurious word, especially in the world of keris where many things are regarded simply as a matter of belief. However, i don't get the impression that he is necessarily culturally tied to a "belief" or series of beliefs when it comes to keris. Now, as you said yourself: "Insofar as the old meteoritic myth goes, well, that has been so often quoted as fact that I'm sick to the back teeth of reading it and hearing it. In fact only in the last few days I read something written by somebody with a lot more letters after their name than I guess Marco has, there was the old meteoritic thing again. Yes, agreed unconditionally, this meteoritic thing has been put to bed long ago."
And yet, it hasn't been put to bed, has it, because it keeps coming back again and again each time someone uses an old reference book that makes an unsubstantiated point of saying it is true. And the myth is extended and supported by its own weight.
If you feel it is useless to point out these questionable points of the keris mythos that is, of course, your own affair. However, i disagree that it does nothing to advance the understanding of the keris and would encourage further discussion on this very interesting article including honest and straightforward critique of its contents.
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