Noto Bene: As one of the team during the First Phase Excavations of the (infamous) "Miami Circle Site" (8/DA/12) in downtown Miami, FL, 1998-99, I was often appalled at the unchecked speculation and sloppy fieldwork of my associates, and the super-hyped, near-daily reports on same by the equally uncritical writers of the Miami Herald. Later, when I sought to contribute a report on my dig observations, I was denied a platform in the 'relevant' literature by the-then editor of the state anthropological 'journal' on the grounds that I must seek 'official permission' (!) of the onetime site director. (Said editor himself by then adopting a most paternalistic attitude about and toward the site as having been moved up to direct the next phase of investigations there himself... Elsewhere these 'networks' are called 'old boy networks' or just plain 'cronyism.') Nor was I 'allowed' even a Rejoinder to the many dubious statements and interpretations of those who were permitted to publish thereon (including numerous favored 'authors' who minimally visited or never dug on the site themselves at all!)
Perhaps then, a picture (or many of them!) is 'worth a thousand words' - for notable in the 'permitted' publications is a dearth of supportive graphics which might otherwise have bolstered (or refuted!) their assorted assertions. Since many excellent digital photographs, painstakingly drawn profiles, and meticulously kept field logs (mine and others) did in fact exist at that time, failure to include them, or even to refer to them in the 'official' reports, was (and is!) inexcusable! Moreover, and simply put: such activity is not Science, whatever else it is.
It is not Science simply because these practicioners do not recognize Independent Research, as it is well known in more developed disciplines, and must rather survive ("publish or perish") like those residents in the Isle of Man who do so by taking in each other's washing - as Winston Churchill once pithily put it. Their reluctance to defend their views and theses in open give-and-take says volumes about the quality of their 'research'...Over the years since, I have desired to post this additional 'raw' dig information (the majority of the pictures having never been publicly shown!), and to post additionally my own 'refused' submissions - here on my own website. But many affairs and demands have intervened - personal and domestic - let alone the fact that I did not really "know how" to create and post a website or its links (relying instead on the volunteer efforts of others). Now, six years later (01/17/06), I have at last mastered enough "know how" to post these overdue links here myself. 'Better late than never' t'is said (perhaps), and hopefully, said postings will 'right some wrongs' or at least give 'food for thought' at last in those quarters where it most counts.
(The following slides are from a much more extensive Powerpoint Presentation (make request), on the behind-the-scenes-antics that constituted the "first phase" excavations at the Miami Circle Site. FOR CONTINUITY, CLICK PROGRESSIVELY ON INDIVIDUAL TITLES BELOW, THEN RETURN ALWAYS TO THIS PAGE TO SELECT THE NEXT-SLIDE-IN-ORDER!)
