There's something about it, you know? The same gesture, again and again, triggered by the affordances of these cigarette packages, by everyone, from curators to workmen... It creates its own stratigraphy.

Some things hit at the right time in the right way and WILL YOU FUCKING READ IT ALREADY

I went through the same thing. Thankfully left you lots to choose from.

AI: destroying a library not by burning it but filling it to the brim with shit

Same, and I bought it reluctantly at my mother's recommendation, because up until then I respected Agatha Christie's writing but I could take or leave crime stories. It was the summer just before I went off to study archaeology and it was a revelation.

When I lived near Cricklewood, White Teeth was *the* London novel to me.

I don't know if I can find my old pictures of them, but the traditional way of storing small flints in the Aegean is in a specific type of cigarette box. In older museums, you'd open a tray and see rows upon rows of Sante and Papastratos (the typical brands) and it would feel sort of homely.

Δεν ήξερα καν ότι είχες δικό σου αντίτυπο, νόμιζα ότι ήταν ένα από αυτά που έχουμε από ένα, σαν τις μοίρες με το δόντι

That's exactly what I had in mind. A proper ensemble cast too, with a handful of recurring permanent staff and trench supervisors. A cooky archaeobotanist. Hijinks in the pottery shed.

True. Although I've always maintained that you could create an incredible sitcom for a general audience by basing it on very realistic portrayal of a dig. Enough with doctors, our time has come.