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Turns out my intuition was right, scarabs and coaled wood are complimentary, the latter enriching the soil with many different nutrients but lacking nitrogen and the scarabs, with their habit of burying mounds of dung add exactly that nitrogen, it escapes from the fermenting dung, evaporates into the earth instead of the air.
These faces are those of ancient gods. Deities adored by a disappeared civilisation,their only existence is in a museum now. And in the imaginary world of those who have had the luck of visiting this museum of mine.