This is terrific post, Kestrell! I'm glad I got to see this panel.

A problem I often have is how to take research like this back to earlier eras. I have a fantasy series based on Late Antiquity that includes a few spies. When I was writing a lockpicking scene, I happened to have on hand a children's history book, Robert Kraske's Silent Sentinels: The Story Of Locks, Vaults, And Burglar Alarms, which had some information on locks in ancient times. But I really should hunt down a range of historical resources on this topic.