Taking the -ology out of Archaeology

Katy Prickett, 'Beautifully made' Bronze Age gold torc fragment found at Erpingham', BBC News, Norfolk

A tiny, twisted fragment of a gold torc made thousands of years ago has been uncovered by a metal detectorist. The "beautifully made" Bronze Age piece was made from a twisted gold rod just 0.09in (2.4mm) thick and had been bent into an 0.43in (11mm) loop. The piece was found in a field near Erpingham, Norfolk, in September and dates to between 1400-1100BC. Dr Helen Geake, the Norfolk finds liaison officer, said: "It's been tidily tightened and folded. "Maybe it was to put back into a pot to be melted down and used to create something new - or it could be a neat little offering to the gods."

"Maybe it was to put back into a pot to be melted down and used to create something new - or it could [have been] a neat little offering to the gods." huh? 

So the fact that we have no context - not even the nature of the site it was/was not associated with, means we've again lost information. Because surely the -ology of archaeology is about not having simply to speculate and use make-believe like an eight-year old kid all the time. That's not -ology but taking archaeology back 100 years to naive antiquarianism and Treasure Hunting.

Archaeology, still carelessly dismembering sites to get portable fragments to display as trophies in museums.