Meggie Macdonald

UPDATE  – June 2009:

In an article recently brought to my attention written by a Medievalist blogger, Jonathan Jarrett, and the online publication of the scholarly article in contention, I felt it was important to draw readers’ attention to the very plain fact that all earlier discussion on this topic was based on press releases rather than the actuall scholarly article itself. 

Mr Jarrett makes fine points about issues concerning the variability of temperature in the historical record, the margin for error being much larger than was originally reported – not by any insidiousness on the part of the academics but rather on the misunderstanding and sensationalist tendencies of the hoi polloi – and the fact that the authors of the article are discussing the fact that fired-clay ceramics absorb moisture and that this can be measured. 

Drs Moira A Wilson, Margaret A Carter, Christopher Hall, William D Hoff, Ceren Ince, Shaun D Savage, Bernard Mckay and Ian M Betts are not suggesting that this dating technique will make all other dating techniques obsolete or that its accuracy can be pinpointed to within the year.  They are publishing work done that confirms that the moisture absorption of water into ceramics can have the potential for archaeological implementation.

A lesson to everyone to respond to the article itself and not the reports about its content alone.

The article itself is, as Mr Jarrett comments, a piece of not inconsiderably scientific detail, however sorely lacking in an example of the basic arithmetic for all us plebs.  However, as I stated in my original post, nowhere do the authors of the article comment on the effectiveness of this technique on glazed and painted pottery fragments which are just as prevalent as the ‘ruder’ varieties.  Considering pottery was the ancient world’s most recycled material, akin to the plastic bags we now feel guilty about throwing out but do nonetheless, I think that there would have been much more value in experimenting with these kinds of pot fragments as well.  True, no new technique can be implemented immediately and yield fantastic results, but a new technique with such a limited scope leaves something to be desired.

It will be interesting to reflect in ten years’ time on the archaeological papers that are published and used the rehydroxylation technique to see just how useful it is to field archaeologists and their lab technicians.