tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post7167267320197819705..comments2024-03-28T22:13:17.139+00:00Comments on Stonehenge and the Ice Age: Parker Pearson et al under scrutiny -- more scientific misconduct?BRIAN JOHNhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-70462468027697334032017-10-25T22:55:56.212+01:002017-10-25T22:55:56.212+01:00Gordon, having just taken a look at an article fro...Gordon, having just taken a look at an article from The Independent on the same Mesolithic subject, i.e. the discoveries off Bouldner, Isle of Wight, there is remarkable evidence for wheat reaching coastal Britain 6000 BC. We have occasionally mentioned this Mesolithic underwater site before. Potential implications for Blick Mead Mesolithic site on the edge of Amesbury, and, indeed, Mesolithic evidence closer to Stonehenge vicinity.TonyHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-41060076555027135582017-10-20T14:50:07.949+01:002017-10-20T14:50:07.949+01:00On a slight aside,i have been reviewing the popula...On a slight aside,i have been reviewing the popular posts playing catch up.After viewing the post referring to rope technology,a valid point i thought,and the responses to your question,i typed solent boat 6000b.c into google the pdf from the maritime archaeological trust was very informative.It seems that certain people were literally grasping at straws.Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-74161462501348994942017-10-20T12:46:23.472+01:002017-10-20T12:46:23.472+01:00Sound thinking, Gordon. I do have a little sympat...Sound thinking, Gordon. I do have a little sympathy with the archaeologists, whi have understandably got a bit fed up with "typology" or with describing and classifying features on the basis of their physical characteristics. Clearly they want to go on and ask "what were all these things intended for?" Investigations of process followed by investigations of purpose. But I do agree that there seems to be an obsession with ritual and a tendency to romanticise -- and an accompanying failure to give due respect to the utilitarian purposes of the great majority of prehistoric features in the landscape. Stephen Briggs and various others have pointed this out, but nobody much listens to them. "Neolithic farmer builds wall to keep sheep from straying" does not make a very good media headline......... BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-66107664465406166632017-10-20T12:38:11.944+01:002017-10-20T12:38:11.944+01:00Unfortunately it seems to be a remit for all archa...Unfortunately it seems to be a remit for all archaeologists to ritualise everything,and create a mythological story of our prehistory.We now live in a land where we have "hillforts"that were never forts,"Roundhouses"that were never lived in,"Settlements that were never settled,"Field systems"that never contained a crop and "Prehistoric villages" that were nothing of the sort.Are these people working to a script? Who sets the guidelines?Maybe,if instead of scrutinising some of their wilder theories sensibly,we just ridiculed them.We could give awards for the daftest theory it could be the Francis Pryor award since he seems to come up with some of the daftest.Could i please put forward the chap who described the process of putting hot stones in water in order to make the water boil as "thermo lithic technology" Gordonnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-91453978517079586332017-10-20T11:02:04.875+01:002017-10-20T11:02:04.875+01:00What really interests me is this: Why is there no...What really interests me is this: Why is there no effective scrutiny from within the archaeological community? OK -- you have 14 authors of that terrible Antiquity paper (essentially all those who are involved in the Pembrokeshire Quarry Hunt) who are now stuffed and forced into silence because of this absurd corporate responsibility convention; but where are all the other professionals who should be going on the record to express their concerns about the lack of detailed publications and the endless regurgitation of assertions and speculations unsupported by evidence? Are they all cowed into silence by MPP's seniority and "eminence"? It really is bizarre.....<br /><br />I know I have been critical enough on this blog of Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright in the past -- but I do happily acknowledge that they have always published field reports in a responsible and timely fashion, and have had the good grace to recognize "alternative interpretations" and to cite papers that they might not necessarily agree with. That is what academic discourse should be like. BRIAN JOHNhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00413447032454568083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-28448016961146132332017-10-19T20:50:15.198+01:002017-10-19T20:50:15.198+01:00Agree wholeheartedly, Chris. And the silence from ...Agree wholeheartedly, Chris. And the silence from other archaeological professionals elsewhere in the UK is deafening, yet speaks volumes.TonyHnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1228690739485734684.post-32668568253283128062017-10-19T17:05:51.425+01:002017-10-19T17:05:51.425+01:00The enthusiasm I witnessed in the first years of t...The enthusiasm I witnessed in the first years of the dig from MPP team has not resulted in the delivery of what they were hoping: spectacular and unarguable results, and best practice conditions for student learning, setting examples how things should be done.<br /><br />The lack of publications detailing what has been found while digging up hundreds of square metres of the most intriguing regions in the Prescellis is particularly disappointing.<br /><br />It would also be professional and an example to the London University students should MPP respond to Brian's papers. chris johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16210890033354730381noreply@blogger.com