Edward Watkinson was, according to Bernice Summerfield, "one of the century's most noted archaeologists", and "a bit of a hero". His name was attached to the Chair of Archaeology which Summerfield once held at St Oscar's University. His appetite for knowledge was voracious. Summerfield claimed that he'd published more than 10,000 papers in his lifetime, though about half those were written colloboratively. Nevertheless, he performed wholly original research into subjects as diverse as ethnomycology, folsom points and Lvan glass megaliths. Summerfield once wryly noted to her students that the fact he had four arms made her "suspect he could type two papers simultaneously", thus aiding his prolifigacy.