SC - Trenchers Oh my!

[Decker, Terry D.]

> What archeologist? What scrutiny? How does the individual archeologist or
> the 
> scrutinizing group make this observation more valid than the author's 
> viewpoint by itself? Inquiring minds need to know....... 
> 
> Ras 
> 
It's not the viewpoint.  It is the method and expertise.

When you do an experimental archeological recreation for the professional
journals, it is considered good form to have an area specialist involved.
In this particular case, it was Mark Lehner of the Oriental Studies
Institute at the University of Chicago who excavated the bakery at Giza.
The bakery and molds used were reconstructed from his work.

The grains used were emmer and kamut, types of wheat commonly in use in
Pharonic Egypt.  The grain was sealed and sterilized by irradiation to
eliminate contaminating micro organisms.

Woods provided the baking and yeast expertise and created a local starter at
Giza for the test.

Since there was a question about what was used to grease the molds, they
wound up using water buffalo fat.

The rest was pure experimentation to learn how to use the bakery and the
molds.  It was an experiment which could stand up to academic scrutiny.  

Bear