"It's not clear why the shawl pins were on the floor. But the brewery would have been warm from the fires used to heat brewing urns. "Perhaps the heat forced the brewers to remove their shawls, and the pins were lost in the process," speculates Williams.
It's also possible the women left the pins as part of a going-away ceremony."
Now thats utter speculation and not even good speculation. Why, there should have been evidence of shawl dust there too.
I know the author is wanting to do a feel good piece about how important women were to the culture but it could have been as simple as the mens saying "Yo! Get me a beer!"
I agree. Even the discovery of the sprawled shawl pins (sprawled?) doesn't prove the brewers were women. Maybe the brewers were men, who had some expensive prostitutes in for a blowout before they evacuated.
"It's not clear why the shawl pins were on the floor. But the brewery would have been warm from the fires used to heat brewing urns. "Perhaps the heat forced the brewers to remove their shawls, and the pins were lost in the process,"
Let's see -- beautiful women, lots of beer, shawls discarded, shawl pins on the floor -- no mystery here. It's an Inca frat party.