¹ As Palmer points out, I was wrong to say there were no tablets found over the southern half of the RSG. I will not dismiss this by calling it a ‘diversionary skirmish’ nor invite him to display similar candour in the confession of errors (it would take too long) ; but I would point out that this observation of upper level finds in 1900 is relatively unimportant (as Palmer has agreed) beside the record of under-floor finds in 1901. The tablets are dated by the earliest context in which they appear, not the latest.

² It is not for me to quote the notebooks at this stage, and Palmer may prefer not to do so himself. I would just point out that the Court of the Stone Spout was dug to its floor in 1901, and that in 1902, when the sealing was found, there was nothing more to do there than remove late walls and their fill.

³ This is the ‘clay floor’ to which Palmer allows such remarkable mobility. In his book Palmer allows a destruction in 1400 (the one we all know about), another at I 150 to bum his tablets, and another just before to try to account for Linear B tablets below the latest floor. Perhaps he could show us evidence for three fires in this period (we ask for superimposed floors with burnt debris) and not just one (at 1400, dated by the contents of its debris).