One of the things an archaeologist really needs is a good imagination. Let's face it; every day we start with a few pottery sherds, burnt and blackened seeds, bone splinters and broken rock and from that recreate a three-dimensional image of a people, with diets and customs and political systems. Sometimes it's hard to come by, this font of imagination, and all of us have our methods of refreshing the well. Me, I read what Ursula LeGuin calls "social science fiction."Social Science Fiction - SciFi for Anthros is an introduction to the work of Ursula Leguin, Kate Wilhelm, Octavia Butler, and Suzette Haden Elgin.
The photograph on this blog entry is of retired Chinese gentlemen painting calligraphic signs on the pavement at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. The central gentleman just painted the character for 'flower', and the photo was taken by Kymai100.
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