Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

According to many commentators, we now live in an era of ‘post-truth’ or ‘post-factual’ politics. We have seen it in action in the US with the election of Donald Trump and in the UK with the pro-Brexit campaign. I had presumed that it was largely confined to that political realm and had not entered other aspects of our lives. My naivety on this matter was rudely shattered recently when I saw a piece from The Fermanagh Herald reporting that the consortium behind the A32 Cherrymount Link Project had received an award for their handling of the excavation of Drumclay crannog. I’m not particularly familiar with The Fermanagh Herald , but I still had to check to ensure that it wasn’t affiliated in some way with such reliable news outlets as The Onion or Waterford Whispers News . But, alas, no. The Fermanagh Herald is, as I suspected, a real newspaper that was reporting on a real event. On Monday 28 November last the CEEQUAL Outstanding Achievement Awards 2016 were held at the Inst...

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 pro...

< Back to main article Edited transcript of meeting between Robert M Chapple (RMC) and Rodney Moffett, Associate Director Amey NI (RM), accompanied by PA. Meeting: Friday July 31 2015, East Belfast (Chapple Residence) What this document consists of: a transcript of the meeting between the two participants regarding the Drunclay crannog events. Agenda based on questions emailed to Amey plc, resulting from blog post ( http://rmchapple.blogspot.com/2015/07/mud-lies-and-hazard-tape-reviewing.html ) Material omitted from this document: personal names and details of given individuals; confidential material not in the public domain; comments not germane to the matters at hand. Wording has been changed for readability and to preserve sense. All edits and omissions are mutually agreed between the parties. [Introductions & preliminaries] Question: How do you feel that the actions of Declan Hurl reflect on your company and how they may reflect on Amey’s corporat...