15th January 2008, 08:36 PM
This is a tangent, I know, but:
The Vikings inhabited only part of Britain, and only for a shortish period of time, so they aren't going to pop up everywhere, however if you're talking about the later part of the early medieval period there's absolutely loads of sites all over the place and no great trouble spotting them. Sunken Featured Buildings are quite obvious, I'd have thought. Even if you're dealing with a site where the buildings were mass-wall or sill beam construction, you'll typically still find lots of pits and far more material culture than late prehistoric sites in much of upland Britain (e.g. Yorkshire, where the Vikings are). Before anyone shots me down about late Iron Age Yorkshire, I am generalising, which I reserve the right to do on the internet.
Tom
PS I regret use of the word 'ignorant', which while accurate could be regarded as inflammatory.
PPS easy Oz, archaeologists have screwed up once or twice in the past, I'm sure Gary's point was not a general criticism
PPPS Gary, you've said that the archaeologists didn't look all that great on TT (as have others including me), but you've not talked at all about the detectorists on the program. Do you feel they were portrayed fairly, and that the program showed a fair spectrum of detectorists' views? What is Joe Bloggs going to have thought as he switched off last night? If I were you, I'd be pretty conflicted about that.
PPPPS Gary again, what's wrong with Steve's description of how a detectorist finding a site can lead to a custodianship agreement for the farmer? Sounds win win to me.
freeburmarangers.org
The Vikings inhabited only part of Britain, and only for a shortish period of time, so they aren't going to pop up everywhere, however if you're talking about the later part of the early medieval period there's absolutely loads of sites all over the place and no great trouble spotting them. Sunken Featured Buildings are quite obvious, I'd have thought. Even if you're dealing with a site where the buildings were mass-wall or sill beam construction, you'll typically still find lots of pits and far more material culture than late prehistoric sites in much of upland Britain (e.g. Yorkshire, where the Vikings are). Before anyone shots me down about late Iron Age Yorkshire, I am generalising, which I reserve the right to do on the internet.
Tom
PS I regret use of the word 'ignorant', which while accurate could be regarded as inflammatory.
PPS easy Oz, archaeologists have screwed up once or twice in the past, I'm sure Gary's point was not a general criticism
PPPS Gary, you've said that the archaeologists didn't look all that great on TT (as have others including me), but you've not talked at all about the detectorists on the program. Do you feel they were portrayed fairly, and that the program showed a fair spectrum of detectorists' views? What is Joe Bloggs going to have thought as he switched off last night? If I were you, I'd be pretty conflicted about that.
PPPPS Gary again, what's wrong with Steve's description of how a detectorist finding a site can lead to a custodianship agreement for the farmer? Sounds win win to me.
freeburmarangers.org