QUESTION:
I want to ask a broad question about what kind of experts have been asked to
review the visuals. Wouldn't it be interesting to ask archeological experts
about the jumble of rocks in this landing site--just as if they came over
the hill in the Middle East, for instance, and saw a pile of rocks in a
river valley? Though I'm not a professional in this area, it occurs to me
(after reading and looking at archeological photos for a lifetime as a
hobby), that many of these stones have dressed edges and interesting
markings.

Of course, if we remain rigidly scientific, we wouldn't entertain such ideas
at all, but this is a wonderful time to have such photos, and I hope
Pathfinder's geologists have the courage to consider the rocks from a
slightly different, yet still scientific, point of view. "Couch" to me looks
like a piece of subtly dressed basalt that I might be proud to have in my
back garden by the lake.

No, I don't expect to see little green men, but a dry planet with a lot of
stones means that looking for stone artifacts is not that farfetched. Flat
Top and it's sister rock of almost the same dimensions look a lot like
lintel stones in some primitive cultures.

ANSWER from Mike Mellon on August 26, 1997:
The team of scientists who spent weeks at JPL viewing Pathfinder images and
analyzing the first data were mostly selected from a larger group of the
science community who proposed to NASA to do just that. Most generally, the
selected team members were chosen to best guide the data gathering process
and provide some initial interpretations. Later, as the data is made
available to the broader scientific community (and non-scientists, too),
many more detailed analyses and interpretations will be offered. While
anyone can examine the images, since we do not expect archeological
artifacts to be present, it is not likely that they will be studied
seriously for such features. On the other hand, if something unexpected were
to be discovered, all the images would be reanalyzed with new theories in
mind. This holds true for geologic and climatic phenomena as well.

Having done some archeological field work as an undergraduate as well as
examining geologic features in the field, I know that some archeological
artifacts can be quite unrecognizable. On the other hand, many natural
geologic features can have unform structure that makes them appear
human-made. For example, in regions of permafrost on Earth, circular rings
of stones or linear furrows can occur that are a natural consequence of
freezing and thawing of the soil, but look like they were piled or bulldozed
into place. Similarly, long linear fractures are a common occurrence in
rocks. Rock strata might initially form solid units hundreds of square
kilometers in size. Sagging and regional deformation of the rock can cause
broad linear fractures, called joints. Joints can form in a variety of
directions and angles and be very regularly spaced. Flat Top rock reminds me
of a fragment of a jointed rock strata that was excavated by a flood or
impact.