[Uncle Miltie]

"Looking again at the shaping of the 13-foot poles that rise from the prow of each woman's boat, the archaeologists concluded that the poles were in fact gigantic phallic symbols."

Clearly not Asian, then. ;-)

[stripes1776]

And where tombstones might stand, declaring pious hope for some god's mercy in the afterlife, their cemetery sports instead a vigorous forest of phallic symbols, signaling an intense interest in pleasures or utility of procreation.

Only a very uninformed journalist or a pointy-headed academic would presume to interpret a symbol of an ancient people by modern ideas.

[Doulos1]

Gosh, now that was funny! I LOL’d out loud!

[donhunt]

My minds made up. I want one of those phallic symbols marking my grave.

[wildbill]

Considering the amazing amount of (phalli? phalluses?) entombed with the women, one can surmise that they didn’t contemplate an afterlife reunited with their husband’s or lovers.

Or, terrible thought, perhaps that’s exactly what they thought—no 72 male virgins there—and wanted to be prepared.

Or they were placed next to the bodies just in case they weren’t dead and came back to life in the coffin.

I tell ya, the theories you can come up with when explaining archeological artifacts are limitless.