Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

[** If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the secure button at the right. If you think it is interesting or useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. To help keep the site in operation, please use the amazon search portal at the right - each purchase earns a small amount of advertising revenue **] Sixty Three Thousand Euros ... or Twelve and a Half pence in old money Stuart Rathbone Godwin's law asserts that "a s an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1" . Although this isn't strictly correct it does neatly highlight how quickly internet discussions can become bad tempered, irrational and vitriolic. Any follower of online archaeological discussion groups will know that one subject that almost always goes off the deep end at an alarming speed is the topic of metal detection. After partaking in several such discussions recently my g...

[**  If you like this post, please make a donation to the IR&DD project using the button at the end.  If you think the review is useful, please re-share via Facebook, Google+, Twitter etc. **] Preface: I am delighted to welcome back Rena Maguire to the blog. Rena is an undergraduate student at QUB, in her second year. She is currently working on her undergraduate thesis: Iron Age horse harness Y pieces: function, manufacture and typologies. This sounds like a fascinating lecture, and I'm sorry that I missed it. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with Carver's denigration of the Harris Matrix. For my part, I am of the opinion that Edward Harris' Principles of Archaeological Stratigraphy is the single most important archaeological book ever published. I do agree with his point that a thorough knowledge of its workings does not make an archaeologist, but it was never intended to! The Harris Matrix was only ever conceived of as one of a variety of rese...