Pete Clarke Wrote:
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>
> Excavations in the Great Pyramid, particularly
> anything destructive, are obviously problematic as
> the structure is so historically important. I
> would argue against drilling simply because the
> shafts in the GP are unique, and by extention so
> are the caps, plugs call them what you will.
> Fundamentally WHATEVER is behind the plug is of no
> more intrinsic or scientific value than the plug
> itself.
Hear, hear!
>
> However, your point about "pointless" desecration
> doesn't stand because the whole of archaeology is
> essentially pointless - at the end of the day the
> only reason for it is to satisfy our curiosity.
Oh, I strongly disagree. The study of archaeology is no different than the study of history.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
ATTRIBUTION: George Santayana (1863–1952), U.S. philosopher, poet.
Life of Reason, 'Reason in Common Sense,' ch. 12 (1905-6).
What we can learn from the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Toltec, the Maya, the Inca, the Aztecs, the Celts and the Druids is at least as important as what we can learn from Ivan the Terrible, Abraham Lincoln or Louis the XIV.
> It
> can be sensibly argued that any archaelogical
> artefact has an intrinsic value afforded to it by
> its survival and that our decisions on what to
> preserve and what to destructively excavate or
> sample are simply a reflection of our own cultural
> values and biases - we cut through Victorian to
> get to medievel, we remove C12 to get to Roman,
> etc, etc. We treat Christian graveyards with
> respect and rebury the bodies excavated but place
> other remains from other cultures into drawers in
> museums.
When I looked into the face of Lindow Man, my perspective on physical anthropology changed forever.
>
> I think my basic point remains - what does it say
> about our culture that we will debate damage to a
> building in the name of science but not debate
> damage to a human body for the same reasons.
I don't know if you have noticed, but I seem to be the only one debating one side of this discussion. I think that says even more.
Anthony
You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think.