The Emperor's Lack of Clothes

Did a nice piece (about 15 mins) for the Jamie and Louise Show on BBC Radio Wales this morning. It was quite a jolly chat, and they seemed quite entertained by the idea that Stonehenge might never have been finished. It confirmed my belief that the general public is blissfully ignorant of any doubts about the origins of Stonehenge or the mode of stone transport -- the myths about the old ruin are as strongly held as ever. The accepted English Heritage / archaeology establishment line that all is sorted, and that there is no room for any doubt, is profoundly worrying. It shows, at one level, that the "marketing" of the Stonehenge story is incredibly successful -- but it does get me thinking as to why the bulk of working archaeologists (who are honest hard-working academics with a reasonable respect for science) have not spoken up more vociferously on the nonsense about healing stones, neolithic hospitals, long-range stone collecting expeditions etc. These things have NO evidence worthy of the name in support of them.

The Emperor has no clothes -- but why are all those honest working archaeologists too timid to point that out? Are they all scared of stepping out of line, jeopardising their careers and having their papers blocked by senior academics whom they might upset? If so, that's a pretty depressing scenario, which does not augur well for the future of archaeology in the UK.