Thanks for reading! | The Top 10 Posts of 2015

We’re in the last days of 2015 and I just wanted to take a moment to say a sincere Thank You to everyone who has read and supported this blog over the last year. I enjoy writing for this blog, but there would be little point in continuing if there were no readers. So, thank you all for bearing with me and supporting my work.

Going by the numbers, the following have been the ten most read pieces from the last 12 months. Inevitably, the crannog at Drumclay figures prominently, with two entries on the list. I'm afraid that this will be the case for 2016 too as there is much work to be done to secure answers and positive change from Government departments that seem more keen on pretending that all is well (who would have guessed it?). Thankfully, the rest of the list covers a broad selection of topics from aspects of data analysis (Ashley Madison & company accounts) to lightweight photo-essays (The Floral Hall & Poulnabrone), along with my IR&DD research project, a review of the British Museum's flawed Celts exhibition, and The Saw Doctors. I hope you’ll give them a read if you’ve missed anything in particular. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to continuing to write, entertain, frustrate and annoy throughout 2016 … I hope you’ll join me!

Robert M Chapple

1) Mud, lies and hazard tape: Reviewing The Report on the Drumclay Crannog

2) The Saw Doctors | Warwick Hotel, Galway | Thursday 21 September 1989

3) Digging Dangerous Data | Ashley Madison & the Archaeology of the Now

4) Geolocated Radiocarbon Dates from Ireland: An introduction to the data visualisation

5) The Floral Hall, Belfast Zoo | A dilapidated gem

6) Standing next to me in this lonely crowd | Conversation with Rodney Moffett, Amey Plc & A reply to Declan Hurl’s 'Apologia Pro Excavatio Sua'

7) Celts: art and identity | Some thoughts on an exhibition at The British Museum

8) Excavating Irish Archaeology in the 21st century – an imperfect portrait

9) Stonehenge Virtual Reality tour! It’s Super Awesome!


10) Poulnabrone Dolmen Co Clare
Location: Belfast, Belfast, UK

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three Billboards Outside University College London: A case of approved plagiarism by Prof Andrew Bevan et al.

Image
Introduction The oft-recited adage is that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Going by this logic, there can be no higher praise from an academic than outright plagiarism of your work. I have had recent cause to be on the receiving end of just such praise and I can assure you, dear reader, that it doesn’t feel like a compliment at all. In fact, it sucks. I decided that, rather than meekly accept it, I was going to fight back for the recognition due to my work. To this end, I reached out to the two universities involved (University College London and Plymouth University) and the publishing journal (PNAS) and asked them to initiate investigations into the conduct of their employees/authors. I trusted that these institutions would be keen to ensure that their academics adhered to the highest standards and that any deviation would be met with swift correction. I was wrong and my trust was sorely misplaced. Until now I have only really discussed this issue with my cont
Read more

The dreaded first test post!

Image
An irregularly updated blog about archaeology and related madness! ... might just be good! ** I'm always looking for guest writers! So if you have something that you want to say about archaeology, please get in touch! ** [** If you like any of the posts on this blog, please consider making a small donation. Each donation helps keep the Irish Radiocarbon & Dendrochronological Dates project going! **] <A HREF="http://ws.amazon.co.uk/widgets/q?rt=tf_sw&ServiceVersion=20070822&MarketPlace=GB&ID=V20070822%2FGB%2Frobmchaarc-21%2F8002%2Fb7e77064-bfea-4ba8-954d-a415ec05ad0c&Operation=NoScript">Amazon.co.uk Widgets</A>
Read more

"Always remember to draw the swastika turning to the right": Some thoughts on swastika directionality in Early Medieval Irish Art

Image
Swastikas are, for a number of reasons, endlessly fascinating symbols. Like all symbols, they are only invested with the meanings we give them. Otherwise they are just little shapes and drawings that mean nothing in and of themselves. Owing to its long history and brief (if traumatic) association with Nazism, the swastika probably has a stronger resonance than most. You won’t spend long on the internet attempting to discuss the swastika before someone, trying to be helpful, notes that the Nazi version rotated counter-clockwise (elbows pointing left) and was bad, but the good Buddhist/Hindu version rotated clockwise. They may be trying to be helpful, but they are invariably wrong. It’s true that the version Adolf Hitler designed for the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei only went one direction: counter-clockwise. What’s wrong is that not all other ( i.e. non-Nazi) swastikas turn the opposite direction (elbows pointing right). Rather than dutifully plod through a debun
Read more