Monday!

Monday. Up to now spent by catching up on emails, doing some writing, finishing the current round of book-keeping, and preparing a 15-minute presentation for a conference. Also thinking about learning, and teaching, and all the many things involved in this.

I have also found a favourite new way of explaining why trying things out/archaeotechnic/experimental archaeology are important. One of the reasons is that it seems easy to reconstruct a process on paper, but once you get your stuff out and try to do it, there's usually information missing. Why? Because it's surprisingly easy to forget essential steps - sometimes because you are not familiar enough with something, sometimes because they are so normal you don't think about them. 

Like drawing a bicycle. Most people, given pen and paper, will draw something that others will, no problem at all, recognise as the drawing of a bicycle. But if you were to transform it into an actual object, chances are very high that it won't work. Or you could try and write down every step necessary for you to go out and buy a box of eggs (or of cereal, for the American peers who have utterly pricey eggs at the moment). Chances are quite high you might forget something... 

If you do try, do let me know how it came out!