What else would a goddess/fertility figurine be? You're cutting off our collective nose to spite our face. Any field has hacks, but by jumping to the conclusion that anyone who asserts ritual as a reason for something existing is a hack and then saying that, along with a reference to your archaeology degree, you're…

Then quit reading i09 and read some legitimate academic publications. We DO tell the public; the public wants to listen to shortened and sensationalized versions, which is why everyone gets excited about shit published in the Daily Mail. Just because an archaeologist doesn't appear on your doorstep every morning…

As an archaeologist myself, I have to remind you that archaeology is based on the recognition of patterns drawn from as much cultural, temporal, and geographical data as is possible. Ritual activity may sound like a pat answer, especially when it's not presented with all of the information behind it (as is almost…

We know quite a bit more than the general public thinks we do, but thanks for your complete dismissal of the life's work of thousands of people over more than the last century based on what you read on the internet.

Honestly, I can't help but think of when Giz gave people the ipad 2, said it was new, and filmed everyone saying how much faster, lighter, and better it was. And this is coming from someone as excited about tomorrow's keynote as the next guy.

That skilled laborers built the pyramids has been accepted in academic circles for decades now; there is a preponderance of evidence, such as the tombs of the workmen and their settlement, both of which have been well excavated and published by reputable scholars (Zahi Hawass and Mark Lehner as directors of both…

Lime is certainly a key ingredient in cement, but not the only one, and volcanic ashes are the key element in the Roman concrete that you mentioned, which is why I brought it up. That stuff is particularly amazing - it's stronger than anything we can make today, in fact, and this is why Roman structures have lasted…

Happy to!

I'm not familiar with the book you mention, but this seems highly unlikely. The Giza plateau's geology is sedimentary, and the key material for the Roman hydraulic cement comes from the particular craziness that is volcanic geology - there's nothing like that anywhere near Giza. I've studied Egypt on the graduate…

What you're remembering is probably evidence that the desert was more temperate thousands of years before the Old Kingdom. It's a great part of the story, but a story that's much older than the pyramids.

Oh, for heaven's sake. Those frickin' tour guides. I'm a Roman archaeologist; while we don't know precisely the demographics of the construction workers who built the Colosseum, it was most likely a heterogeneous mixture of skilled free workers and slaves, living in Rome (but as Rome was a hugely cosmopolitan city,…

I do the same thing (I'm a dissertating grad student, so work = intangible 95% of the time) and came down here to say the same thing. I think this is one of the nicest things to having a flexible schedule - time-consuming recipe? No problem! I can babysit that rising dough for 8 hours - I'm in the next room!

Ok, phew. I grew up in VT but haven't lived there since college, so I'm not in the loop. I could see that coming back and was afraid you were confirming it. I repeat: phew.

I really hope you're referring to "take back Vermont", the thankfully ill-fated anti-civil union campaign from 2000, and not any newer campaign facilitating Vermont's intolerant underbelly?

There are a lot of us! #NotAllVermonters

Yep. My parents have the same phones, and we all hate them. I'm no Apple fangirl - I'm a PC in my real life - but I sold them hard on iPhones and they've regretted not going that direction ever since. Sigh.

This makes a lot of sense. And you're absolutely right about Samsung's mushy buttons - my pre-iPhone was a Samsung Reality and I cannot tell you how many times I accidentally hit that side-mounted power button, both with my hands and in my purse/pocket. I thought it was just a stupid design flaw, and then my parents…

Someone please - this is a legit request - enlighten me as to how moving the sleep/wake button from the top (where one doesn't hit it while holding the phone to use the screen or make a call) to the side (where one can easily hit it all the effing time) is a good idea. I had this on an old Samsung phone of mine and it…

Just wanted to update - I'm the person who spent 40 minutes on the phone with two Apple reps, trying to figure out if the battery I had replaced two months ago would have been eligible for this program if it had lasted (that comment is still in the grays). My issue was given a case # and forwarded to the refund team,…

Ah, ok. Thanks for the clarification, sorry to react so strongly.