Dissertation Time

I’m sorry that there haven’t been a lot of updates on here recently. More are coming soon, I promise (I need to get Traci and the kids working on contributing too… this is not just a one-man show). Anyways… I’m now done with all the work for my Masters degree, except for the dissertation that is. This is supposed to be a 20,000-word piece of critical scholarship. My topic has been chosen, and I’ve given it considerable thought. For those who are interested, here’s a brief little abstract I wrote for my department:

Arthur’s O’on was a circular stone structure located on the river Carron near Falkirk, Scotland. Widely accepted as a Roman monument, the O’on has variously been interpreted as a temple, shrine or mausoleum. As its name implies, the O’on (= “oven”) has long been associated with the legendary King Arthur; this connection continues to recur from time to time in popular and pseudo-historical dialogues. Unfortunately, due to its destruction in 1743, the monument’s date of construction and original purpose remain uncertain. Fortunately, however, the O’on was the object of intense study by early antiquarian writers who have provided detailed drawings and descriptions, which were used to create a full-size replica atop the stable blocks of Sir John Clerk’s Penicuik House. This reconstruction, and many of the antiquarian accounts remain available, yet the last study to focus on the O’on was published by Ken Steer in 1958. This dissertation seeks to bring Arthur’s O’on back into the dialogue of British archaeology. It will emphasise two key aspects: the historiography of accounts from Nennius’ Historia Brittonum to the present; and an assessment of the archaeological records, comparing the available descriptions, drawings and physical reconstruction to known examples of other Roman temples, shrines and mausolea to arrive at a current interpretation of the monument’s dating and possible purpose. While the archaeological analysis will follow traditional archaeological methods, the historiography will seek to break new ground by framing the O’on’s history of research and interpretation within dialogues of the “archaeology of knowledge,” classical reception and studies of mythical landscapes.

So, now that regular work is done, I need to buckle down and get this thing written. I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading in preparation, and have also been collecting the various sources that I need (which is no mean feat, considering that most of these are more than 200 years old and rather obscure). To give things a little kick-start, though, I spent today preparing technical things like Table of Contents layout, page format, headers, footers, and also got started on the real text. Beyond my 6-7,000 words of notes, I actually wrote some 2,000 words of dissertation text today…. 10% down, 90% to go. Final deadline is 11 September. Wish me luck!

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