Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

In the summer of 2019, I had one of the best weekends of my adult life. In fulfilment of a promise to my eldest, he and I spent a couple of days and nights exploring London. I wanted to take him to see parts of the city that had particular resonance for me as well as visiting places that were new to us both. Part of our plan was to visit the Manga exhibition at the British Museum. Before we went, I wasn’t a particular fan of the art style. To be fair, I’m still not, though I do have a much-increased appreciation and opinion of it. I can also vouch for the fact that the BM can put on a spectacular exhibition – claimed to be the largest and most comprehensive exhibition of the Manga art style ever mounted outside of Japan. Rather than provide a late review for the show, I wanted to pick out a couple of pieces that caught my eye and attention. The first piece I want to look at is the magnificent Shintomi theatre curtain from 1880. This 17m long masterpiece was created for the ...

John de Courcy arriving at Carrickfergus Castle (Photo: Author) When I first lodged a complaint of plagiarism against Prof Andrew Bevan and a number of his colleagues at UCL and University of Portsmouth I had no real idea where it was going to go [ read more here ]. I certainly had no inclination that it would leave me with the reputation as a staunch advocate for the rights of the plagiarised. Since the publication of that piece, I have been honoured to receive the trust of several researchers who have shared their experiences. I have attempted to listen with compassion and give the best, most constructive advice I possibly could. All the while my disgust at plagiarism and plagiarisers has only intensified and grown. It was in this guise that my dear friend, Dr Nic Wright, recently contacted me. He had been doing some light reading on John de Courcy, that well-known Anglo-Norman knight and general trouble maker who arrived in Ireland at the end of the 12th century and went on t...

In the past while I’ve published two pieces on this blog about some of the exhibits on display at The Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, TX [ here | here ]. For some time I’ve wanted to ‘round out’ the series with a third post about another exhibit that made an impression on me. I have, however, hesitated to tackle this piece and – on a few occasions – scrapped the draft post, considering it a topic best left alone. The reason for my hesitation is obvious enough from the photos – the exhibit that caught my attention was a set of Ku Klux Klan robes, specifically those worn by the Grand Dragon, the highest KKK official in Texas. Previous to walking into the space where they’re displayed, my closest encounter with Klan robes was seeing them on TV and in movies like Alan Parker’s Mississippi Burning and the Coen’s O Brother, Where Art Thou? I’ll admit that coming ‘face to face’ with these robes was quite an experience – it knocked the wind out of my sails and I came to s...

Over the last few years I’ve been lucky enough to get over to London on a number of occasions on my own just to bask in the gorgeousness of various museums. Not doing research on any particular project, just as a tourist out having a look and a poke about. In this series of posts, I want to share some photographs from my excursions to three of my favourites: The British Museum; The Victoria & Albert Museum; and The Petrie Museum. In most cases, my intention is to merely give a few basic details about the piece: the location, provenance, date, that kind of thing. Some will have little snippets of stories to go with them, explaining my fascination with the piece or maybe it won’t. Some of these pieces I consider to be old friends – visited every time I go to the museum – while others are new acquaintances. All of them touched me in some way – intellectually, aesthetically, or emotionally ... sometimes all three … maybe they’ll do the same for you! My intention with this post is...

In a previous post on the wonderful exhibits to be seen at The Bullock Texas State History Museum , I looked at the fascinating display of the hull and artefacts from the 17th century wreck of La Belle . In this post, I want to touch on their display of American flags . While the modern American flag has a ubiquitous presence – even to Europeans – in our news coverage, movies, TV shows, and social media, I’ve never really given much thought to its history and development. Well, that changed once I stepped into the Museum’s vexillology display. In part, my fascination with this exhibition stems from having lived so long in Northern Ireland, where flags and emblems have been a contentious issue and the past continues to intrude on the present. I’m not going to attempt to give you a complete history of the American flag – you can read the rather good Wiki article on it yourself. Instead, I merely intend to share some of my pedestrian photos of these beautiful and historic flags. En...

Books ( Source ) Greetings one and all! Welcome to my 16th (and long overdue) ramble through my selection of the most interesting and exciting of the archaeology and history papers on the Academia.edu site. But first (and it will only take a moment) please divert your attention to Stuart Rathbone’s fantastic book: Archaeological Boundaries. Discussions, Experiments and Unprovoked Attacks . It’s published on the Leanpub platform and, while there is a suggested pricing, you can have it for free! I stand by my earlier claims that it the among the most significant books on Irish archaeology ever published and positions Stuart as among the most interesting and innovative thinkers in the field. Go on! You know you want to! If that’s not enough for you, come peruse my selection of freely available papers from Academia.edu: Marcus J Vandergoes, Maarten Blaauw et al .: A revised age for the Kawakawa/Oruanui tephra, a key marker for the Last Glacial Maximum in New ...