All-Embracing But Underwhelming…

I’m in the midst of marking essays so I don’t really have the time to devote much more than expressions of exasperation in regard to this puff piece on Doutré and the boulders.
Gah.

Due to popular demand, here are the three letters sent to the Herald (mine included) dealing with the publication of the puff piece on the Celtic New Zealand Thesis.
New Zealand Herald, Thursday, May 7th, 2009
New Zealand Herald, Friday, May 8th, 2009
New Zealand Herald, Thursday May 14th, 2009

So, the Celtic New Zealand issue rumbles away at the Herald. My letter, a support letter from Paul Moon and yesterday a letter from an archaeologist-cum-astronomer12 debunking Doutré and his ‘archaeological method.’
But no retraction, no (as far as I know) responses from Wayne Thompson and thus no closure. Doutré has had his puff piece and [...]

Well, my letter on the Doutré article saw print in the Herald today. I reprint it here with my own permission.
In a recent article (‘Call to save hilltop boulders’) Wayne Thompson presents the idea that there was a pre-Maori Celtic culture in New Zealand as if it were an uncontroversial thesis.
This Celtic thesis claims that [...]

So, Martin Doutré has himself some free publicity for the Celtic New Zealand thesis in today’s issue of the Herald. The evidence; boulders.
Celtic Boulders.
Well, round concretions; about a dozen of them. These concretions, up to 3 metres in diameter, were uncovered about thirty-eight years. The mystery, apparently, is how they ended up on top of [...]