researchers are many times wrong because they don’t consider things like the man could have been wearing a costume for some occasion, not necessarily wearing boots of the current time he was living in. Or maybe he liked a certain style and was wearing them even though not in fashion. Reporters are just as bad usually pushing one angle instead of just reporting details or what is obvious and letting people form their own conclusion or opinion.
I recall a Gary Larson "Far Side" cartoon with two panels. On the first panel you have a circled group of covered wagons and a crowd of nervous-looking people, listening to one of their number as he says, "There's no need to worry ... they only attack to the sound of the drums!" Then, in the second panel, you see a bunch of armed and frowning natives, standing around a drummer who has just beaten a huge hole into the side of his drum.