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History is full of instances of barbarism masquerading as archaeology, so gently investigating then reburying sites seems like an enlightened approach.
by altacc 4y ago
History is full of instances of barbarism masquerading as archaeology, so gently investigating then reburying sites seems like an enlightened approach.
- throwawayacc2 4y agoI get the wish to preserve but I don’t understand why burry it back? Why not encase it in a temperature/climate controlled structure? I’ve seen plenty archaeological digs like this. Is it due to money or why?
- vanderZwan 4y agoThe soil itself also contains information. Not disturbing that unless necessary will let future archaeologists with better technology extract more information. Also, I'm guessing that the sand encasing the site is a temperature/climate controlled structure when buried properly. No sunlight and no air, for starters.
- fluoridation 4y agoThat's a valid argument against ever performing any dig whatsoever, since it's always true that future archeologists might have better technology to extract more information from anything you find.
- gchamonlive 4y agoCompared to a fully equipped and financed archeology team from today, which is not the case. Those who discovered the site know they are underequipped and underfunded for the specific site. In this case, reburying is cheap and effective.
- ziddoap 4y agoThankfully, there is a suitable middle ground of extracting some reasonable amount of information now and preserving some of the site for later.
- eurasiantiger 4y agoCatch-22: since future archaeologists have better technology, no digs are performed right now—thus archaeological technology is not needed, and there is no pressure to improve it.
- corobo 4y agoI imagine the newer tech comes from outside archaeology Radar, X-ray, that sort of thing
- louky 4y agoThey had radar and geomagnetic mapping back in the 1990s, at least - Time team did ~250 digs that were broadcast on channel 4 and are now all on youtube, most in HD now. And "geophysics" were used to decide what and where to dig in most of them. They're making new episodes now, as well. https://www.youtube.com/c/TimeTeamClassics https://www.youtube.com/c/TimeTeamClassics
- corobo 4y agoThey were examples of technology that came from outside of archaeology. I don't know what the future tech is called as I've not seen it yet :P
- AlotOfReading 4y agoExactly right. This is a question that archaeologists are always supposed to ask before digging. If there's a justification for having the answer now (like an immediate research need or a threat to the site), then excavation may proceed. Even then, you excavate as little as you need as nondestructively as possible. Usually that'll be a single trench/pit you excavate with hand tools and re-cover when you're finished. Most regions have databases full of known sites that are unexcavated because there's never been a justification for digging.
- throwawayacc2 4y agoKnowledge for knowledge sake is not considered justification?
- vanderZwan 4y agoI suspect the missing bit of context here is that we have a lot more potential sites than that we have archaeologists with the time and budget to investigate all of them. So in programmer terms, most potential sites never make it out of the priority queue
- fknorangesite 4y agoIt might be, if you have infinite amounts of time and resources and expertise.
- alrlroipsp 4y agoCorrect. This is why like 99% of all known archeological sites is still unexcavated in parts of the world.
- tantalor 4y agoFrom the article: > In some cases, resources (like money, staff and proper materials) are not available to properly maintain the site.
- jq-r 4y agoThis. This stuff happens all the time. So there is a new construction planned somewhere, workers accidentally find some walls etc. Archeological team is dispatched, they remove much more ground, as much as to see how big the object(s) are, what era, figure out they have a archeological gold mine. But they don't have resources (money) allocated for it yet, so they will rebury it. Next year, or in the coming years they'll come back and do the proper excavation. And if I may add a bit sarcastically, a PhD or three.
- spenczar5 4y agoYes, cost. Enclosing an entire estate in a climate controlled structure in northern England is very expensive.
- curun1r 4y agoDamage comes in many forms and temperature/climate controlled rooms only prevent a certain kind of damage. The ancient city of Palmyra was irreparably destroyed by Isis in 2015. No amount of climate control would have protected it from the explosive charges that destroyed it. Reburying sites like these will better protect them from deliberate damage and incidental damage from wars and such. Archaeologists deal with a timescale that often can’t assume political stability of the area where they dig stuff up. It’s better to not assume that future generations will pay the electric bill to keep the site preserved.
- yk 4y agoThe archeologists basically studied for the last year, what being buried in that climate and that kind of soil does to the structure. So they understand extremely well if reburying is a good idea or not.
- RC_ITR 4y agoSure. The main tensions in archaeology are: 1) It was first established by European men and women looting to fill their “curio cabinets,” which makes it hard to position it as a noble field. 2) digging something up later (with more advanced technology) will always be better than digging it up now. There’s even some people who believe the only ethical archaeology is that which occurs before an area would be otherwise destroyed (i.e. before a construction project happens) The above makes career archaeologists (at least the good ones) a bit neurotic. This seems like an example of that, I just hope their preservation methods aren’t accidentally destructive.
- whatshisface 4y agoI can't think of a single field of study that wasn't established by Europeans seeking status, except possibly for mathematics which was established by Babylonians seeking grains.
- XorNot 4y agoRecognising that history is important to not repeating it.
- whatshisface 4y agoA whole lot of status-seeking goes on in science today.
- RC_ITR 4y agoSure but physics wasn’t “this thing in your country is cool, I’m taking it home with me” There is a clear difference there. Imagine if the British Crown Jewels were in a museum in Iran right now!
- whatshisface 4y agoIf physics had somehow involved taking stuff from India they would have done it, which shows that the problem was with the attitude of the colonial era conquerors to the countries they took over rather than with archeology. In fact, a lot of the "they took the crown jewels" stuff has nothing to do with archeology at all.
- hinkley 4y agoI went to the British Museum when I was in my twenties and it was not an experience I will repeat. That is not a place of honor, and even in a time before I became more aware of the concerns and troubles of indigenous peoples I felt uncomfortable the entire time I was in there. It wasn’t a celebration of history. It was a dragon’s hoard.
- golergka 4y agoWould you rather have Rosetta used as a recycled building material? And half of the artifacts recovered in Mesopotamia later destroyed by radical islamists?
- capableweb 4y agoI think they are saying that they would prefer the artifacts to remain in the countries where they were found. Saying that the artifacts would be destroyed if they were not taken to the British Museum seems a bit too much.
- CryptoBanker 4y agoI don't think it is "a bit much" https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/150901-isis-destruction-looting-ancient-sites-iraq-syria-archaeology https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/150901-is...
- VictorPath 4y agoIraq? From 1958 to 2003 Iraq preserved its cultural heritage fine. Then the UK invaded and the Iraq museum treasures were lost. The UK of course blames this on the Iraqis. The country is thrown into turmoil, to a tut-tut by upper middle class white westerners about how the Arabs aren't preserving their cultural heritage. This is why Arabs fighting against colonialism and imperialism fly planes into the Pentagon.
- 4y ago
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