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That Roman wall dating debate at the Norwich conference last March still bothers me
I overheard two professors dismissing the local pottery evidence because it didn't match their textbook timeline, and they didn't even look at the shards themselves. The stuff we pulled from the trench clearly showed a later occupation layer they just ignored. Why do experts trust old papers over fresh dirt?
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robertb4729d ago
That whole Norwich thing really got to me too, actually. @jesse_williams62, you hit it on the head - they claimed it was probably redeposited from a higher level, but we had a clear, sealed layer of dark soil directly on top of a Roman-era floor, which had its own distinct pottery mix. I used to be all about trusting the old published timelines, you know, the ones in the textbooks everyone cites, but seeing those professors wave off physical evidence without even touching the shards really changed my mind. It made me realize that sometimes the "experts" are just protecting their own theories, and fresh dirt with carbon dates and clear context can tell a more honest story than a forty-year-old paper.
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stellachen17d ago
Had a dig in Somerset a few years back where we found a medieval knife blade in a layer that the site director swore was Roman. He kept saying the blade was an intrusion, even though the soil seal was perfect. I asked him to show me one Roman knife that looked like that, and he just changed the subject. It's like once a theory gets printed in a journal, some people treat it as sacred text. You can't argue with a hole in the ground that's telling you something different. That's why I'm not surprised they ignored your shards. The dirt doesn't lie, but people sure do.
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jesse_williams6229d ago
Did the professors give any specific reason for dismissing the pottery, like claiming it was contaminated or redeposited from a higher level? It sounds like they had their minds made up before even seeing the site, which is frustrating when you have the physical evidence right there. Was there anyone else in the room who pushed back on their conclusion?
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