Talk:3129: Archaeology Research

2025-08-15T17:01:03Z

2A04:4E41:5C01:6100:0:0:40D3:2100:

? [[User:CalibansCreations|'''<span style="color:#ff0000;">Caliban</span>''']] ([[User talk:CalibansCreations|talk]]) 14:44, 15 August 2025 (UTC)
: Cueball has misunderstood the purpose of archaeology as being to study things in order to devise improved versions of them. As a result, he has ended up 'inventing' Bronze Age technology. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:13, 15 August 2025 (UTC)
:: And in the title text, he imagines the reason everyone dismisses it is because 'Big Knap' is conspiring to stop him destroying their profits. [[Special:Contributions/82.13.184.33|82.13.184.33]] 15:27, 15 August 2025 (UTC)
: I think the joke is misunderstanding "archaeology research" to mean doing research to extend ancient technology. [[Special:Contributions/2601:18E:C380:4FC0:D4F5:8EE1:51F6:82AF|2601:18E:C380:4FC0:D4F5:8EE1:51F6:82AF]] 15:12, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

It's the kind of research project I can easily imagine my university Classics prof, Trevor Hodge, being on board with. He was very keen on students trying to reproduce ancient tech for themselves, with an eye towards them appreciating the challenges involved and that those people were intelligent and knowledgeable. One of his grad students was an acquaintance of mine, doing a thesis along the lines of "The Two-Bladed Bronze Axe in the Aegean: Tool or Weapon?", and I'd be astonished if the project didn't include constructing one. [[User:BunsenH|BunsenH]] ([[User talk:BunsenH|talk]]) 14:47, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

Possibly referencing new copper tools in Minecraft? [[Special:Contributions/104.28.205.246|104.28.205.246]] 15:35, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

My understanding of the joke is that archaeology enthusiasts are obsessed with using traditional tools. Consequently, Cueball revealing there are other methods of manufacturing tools, would disrupt the entire archaeology enthusiasts community and the surrounding industry. In retrospect, I am probably wrong. [[User:Aqua-chestnut|Aqua-chestnut]] ([[User talk:Aqua-chestnut|talk]]) 16:07, 15 August 2025 (UTC)
: Alternatively, the joke might be that the event is taking place in the Paleolithic age, and Cueball's discovery of copper would advance it to the Neolithic, consequently disrupting the Paleolithic economy. In retrospect, this is also wrong because copper first appeared in [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_historic_inventions#Neolithic_and_Late_Mesolithic 5000 BC according to Wikipedia] [[User:Aqua-chestnut|Aqua-chestnut]] ([[User talk:Aqua-chestnut|talk]]) 16:18, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

My own take on this is that, as a Practical Archaeologist, he's actually gone to live the life of a stone-age toolmaker (a [https://www.butserancientfarm.co.uk/ thing that some people do]) to rediscover the and test theories about the culture of that era. But, obviously some of the ''real'' stone-agers may have been transitioning into early metal-working and the were at the cusp of the bronze-age. His back-to-basics attempt at recreating their lives has ''accidentally'' strayed into independently re-inventing the stage ''after'' the era that he had intended (or been asked) to study, thus instead [[2949: Network Configuration|reinventing human history]]. - Of course, this would also be rather interesting to know about (perhaps help understand the rather fuzzy changeover that happened in our own real history), but missed the point of the original target of study which was more the nature of the mature stone-implement industry than its decline and replacement by waves of 'new-tech' metal-working. [[Special:Contributions/82.132.238.109|82.132.238.109]] 16:37, 15 August 2025 (UTC)

The reference at the end to industry suggests to me that this is commentary on ways that some industries suppress better technology in order to maintain profits. There’s a well documented case of Colgate suppressing technology that would significantly reduce cavities because it would eat into their own premium toothpaste market. Arguably, the same thing is going on right now with the fossil fuel industry (for example, the resistance to widespread adoption of heat pumps for heating in the United States). It’s silly to think that archaeologists might do so to protect industry interests. Why isn’t it silly that we allow corporations to do the same thing?

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Talk:3129: Archaeology Research