The cultural, social and scientific management of death--how to postpone it, how to prepare for it, what to do with remains, how to remember the deceased--forms the rarely acknowledged framework for the formation of society. Community is only possible if its members avow and disavow, the fact that e[...]

The Stone Age is not over Whether nestled in a dark corner of the gall bladder or hurtling toward us at fearsome speeds from the Kuyper Belt, whether yielding to the sculptor's delicate chisel or used to decorate the human body, stones continue be an integral part of sociopolitical economies. "Cabi[...]