Stone Circles and the Scientific Method

Every once in a while, a story will come up like it did near the end of of January. A stone circle which had been identified as being between 3,500 and 4,000 years old.  At its face value, a story like this may cause us to question whether scientists (in this case maybe archaeologists or geologists) really know what they are doing. Then we might doubt the scientific method. 

 Some things to keep in mind at this point though:
1. The circle never had a completed study done on it. 
2. Even if it had, individuals in science do make mistakes.
3. ^ This is why we have peer reviewed journals as well as plenty of other forums to see if someone's findings are worth believing or not. 
4. In other words, science and the way we carry out the scientific method does not and should not happen in a vacuum. 
5. Testing can and should be rigorous.
6. Question everything. Believe some things. Think about how you know.  
7. Be careful how and when you present things. 
8. Science as a discipline has not been hurt by the missteps of a few people involved in this particular case. 

 Those are my takeaways from this incident. 

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