What it means (IMO)...is what I always say..."ask 12 archys, and you get
11 different answers" (at least).  And many of these with certainty.
But, we can't all be Right...can we?  :o)

(of course, this 'axiom' applies more so with discussing prehistoric
artifacts; but it seems we got many varied replies to the machine ID
also)

>-----Original Message-----
>From: HISTORICAL ARCHAEOLOGY [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On 
>Behalf Of Marty Pickands
>Sent: Friday, October 06, 2006 7:53 AM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Machine Part ID?
>
>Anthropologically, it seems to mean that archaeologists love to guess.
>That seems to be our role in society, but it's something we 
>have to be careful about. As a master blacksmith once told me, 
>"It seems to me that archaeologists make a lot of unwarranted 
>assumptions." We have all had the experience of being dead 
>sure of something that we later find to have been dead wrong! 
>
>>>> [log in to unmask] 10/06/06 3:21 AM >>>
>The saga of identifying this particular piece of metal debris 
>has been fascinating, but what does it mean anthropologically?
>
>Morgan Rieder, PPA
>