This week, ending in October 20 2016:
Today's thread is for open discussion of:
History in the academy
Historiographical disputes, debates and rivalries
Implications of historical theory both abstractly and in application
Philosophy of history
And so on
Regular participants in the Thursday threads should just keep doing what they've been doing; newcomers should take notice that this thread is meant for open discussion only of matters like those above, not just anything you like -- we'll have a thread on Friday for that, as usual.
Are the methods used by Christopher Mathew in A Storm of Spears considered valid to historians? For the unfamiliar, there's a debate about how Greek hoplites used their spears, so the author and his team strapped on armor and spent a long time practicing military drills and formations with the spears both ways. I'm not asking about his conclusions, but are reenacting and trial and error actually considered to be a useful way to investigate history?