Postings from Alasdair and Cass are of great interest. Hopefully the material described is published in a widely accessible form. I always thought that ceramics were under control as so many of Australia's early historical archaeologists were trained in middle eastern archaeology and therefore clued up on ceramics. 

My concern was that glass wasn't being covered and that there was a need for some dated reference collections of glass in order to test assumptions about dates of technological changes and contents. Hence there were some early publications on glass bottles and a thesis from La Trobe University.

Other finds are even less understood.

But Alastairs comment about culling is also pertinent we shouldn't cull if we don't know what research questions are likely to be asked but then where do we put all the stuff. I know of a surplus ammunition storage depot near Albury which could be used for storage but for how long?

I recall a rather provocative discussion lead by Adrian Pretzelis at the SHA conference in Cincinnati about the rationale for culling a collection of 1000 identifal glass bottles. I imagine the same arguement could be used for other mass produced items such as bricks and tiles?

But where does it all stop. 


Iain Stuart

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