One might say that funding public works projects (including art museums, libraries, weird tunnel systems, etc) is a pattern of "curious obsessions" fueled by wealth and guilt... A lot of that went on on the late 19th c.
 

 

Carl Steen
 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: geoff carver <[log in to unmask]>
To: HISTARCH <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tue, Mar 12, 2013 10:54 am
Subject: Re: Liverpool's lost Williamson tunnels unearthed


Well, as I understand it, by "patterned" Binford et al. usually meant that
those "patterns" would be reflected elsewhere, from whence "laws of human
behaviour" could be constructed (including, for example, predictive
modeling). Depositional patterns can, of course, also be altered by
post-depositional transformations, and so, theoretically, contextual
information should be recorded, which should indicate which patterns are
being observed.
But overall, this just seems to be too idiosyncratic to be really
representative of anything other than the curious obsession of a rich man...

-----Original Message-----


Actually they seem to have quite a lot of patterned discard behaviour the
assemblages from which could inform on the activities above the tunnels.
However they don't seem to be collecting context information on the
extensive collection of Victorian artefacts they are cumulating.

Also the tunnels themselves are representative of a form of behaviour. Early
form of subsistence work for returning soldiers? Both Australia and America
have later examples of these types of schemes.

But why tunnels what did he plan to do with them. He was a business man, I
bet he have something in mind other than getting to the pub without getting
rained on.