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MechEngDropout
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 Posted: 07/12/06 - 11:31 Post subject: Archaeology and Grave Robbing
Where's the dividing line?
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gretriever
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Posted: 07/12/06 - 14:46 Post subject:
Science/culture/history/research vs. greed.
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Pug
The Movie Geek
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Posted: 07/12/06 - 15:12 Post subject:
A thousand years.
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MechEngDropout
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Posted: 07/12/06 - 17:05 Post subject:
| Pug wrote: | | A thousand years. |
Is there something behind this answer or are you just saying how you define it?
Watching some archaeology shows makes me really question the dividing line. We pull all of this stuff out of a tomb where it was set with huge significance, only to put it on display - often in another country - for the amusement of people that do not respect it in the way it was meant to be respected. In 850 years, will they be digging up civil war graves and putting it in the museums of China?
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Pug
The Movie Geek
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Posted: 07/12/06 - 18:52 Post subject:
No, you kind of covered it. It's grave robbing when it is done by some average hack or freak who wants to dig up graves, and typically done in a reasonably short period of time after the burial (one month to...what...a hundred years?)
It's archaeology when it occurs so far removed from the burial that the culture that did the burying is no longer around and that it is done for a scientific/sociologic/research purpose.
Or...it's pretty much the same thing except that when you're grave robbing you have a societal taboo and pissed off relatives. When you're doing an archaeological dig the grandson of the decesed is probably not gonna be around to whack you with a shovel.
And yes, if America no longer exists as a society there is a good chance than in 850 - 2000 years there will be digs around this country on Civil War and Revolutionary War graves. Assuming that the country/planet hasn't been completely built over.
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runaroundsue
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Posted: 07/13/06 - 14:27 Post subject:
I'm going with gretriever's answer. Obviously, if the contents are being displayed in another country, the country of origin let money do the speaking. Same way that you or I can go bag a lion or some endangered animal on an African safari. Money talks and it always will. I have a better "feeling" with excavations, because the person putting up the $$ isn't ever guaranteed to profit, so I like to believe that his/her purpose is a better understanding of a culture long gone.
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TimRuns
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Posted: 07/14/06 - 01:38 Post subject:
| gretriever wrote: | | Science/culture/history/research vs. greed. |
true...
Egyptian royal tombs were plundered by tomb robbers for centuries after the pharoahs were buried there...
'Grave robbing' continued till quite recently, involving the sale of artifacts in the antiquities market.
I don't think the time limit applies to grave robbing...as long as there is a motive for greed in the removal of artifacts (together with buying, selling, and illegal smuggling), it is still considered as "robbing".
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MechEngDropout
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Posted: 07/14/06 - 10:32 Post subject:
| TimRuns wrote: | | gretriever wrote: | | Science/culture/history/research vs. greed. |
true...
Egyptian royal tombs were plundered by tomb robbers for centuries after the pharoahs were buried there...
'Grave robbing' continued till quite recently, involving the sale of artifacts in the antiquities market.
I don't think the time limit applies to grave robbing...as long as there is a motive for greed in the removal of artifacts (together with buying, selling, and illegal smuggling), it is still considered as "robbing". |
But the motive is still basically the same - the archaeologists are getting paid to do it. If it wasn't a survivable source of income, you'd see a lot less digging going on. I think it's one place where "the quest for knowledge" gets a little carried away.
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