History turning to dust - A tale of ignorance are stupidity

[Papa Smurf]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4461755.stm

Being an Archaeologist that specialises in the Near East, and having visited Babylon site myself. It fills me with sadness to see it destroyed and looted, especial as the destruction part was so fucking retarded. I mean ffs how much of a fucking moron would you have to be to bulldoze Babylon one of the seven wounders, its just mind boggling.

[Karmashock]

*laughs* Your museums are filled with the loot of ages. The very foundation of your country’s great societies of history are little more then end of auction houses for thieves and brigands. As to things being destroyed, this is nothing new. That any of this happens is unfortunate. That you should make it seem unusual is laughable. That a British scholar should cry foul at looting is simple hypocrisy. And that you should be enraged is merely convenient... for as we all know, you want that rage whatever it's justification. Nothing would annoy you more then to have nothing to justify your hatred.

Again, unfortunate… but I doubt we’ve lost much. Will the history books be any different for it? All that’s happened is that some pieces will move to private collections where the pretty ones will be eventually donated back to museums. Most of those donated to museums won’t even be displayed. They’ll sit in massive museum warehouses.

Love and peace, Karmashock.

[Papa Smurf]

the dawn of civilization and one of the seven wounders of the world I would say would be a great loss to the world lol

Cultural Neandertal

[Tank0]

karma what the hell are you talking about . true many european museums are full with loot from past campaings but you can't make a comparison between looters from a century ago and the scientists that try to solve archeological mysteries nowadays .


its like comparing docters with a midevil bloodletting hack.


to me it was unbelievable bad news . i have a real interest in history and i can' t begin to imagine what damage is done . its like the destruction of the ancients building by the taliban a few years ago . another big loss like the fires of the ancient libraries or the destruction of the aztek writings .

if you know that one single tablet dug up last century lead to the deciphering of many hieroglyphs you can begin to grasp wat knowledge could be gone forever now .

i can hardly blame poor iraqies but the soldiers should have known better .
they wouldnt detonate mount rushmore or the tower of pizza to free some airspace at home .

sad news big loss

[Karmashock]

karma what the hell are you talking about . true many european museums are full with loot from past campaings but you can't make a comparison between looters from a century ago and the scientists that try to solve archeological mysteries nowadays .
And was Saddam engaging in science? Or was he filling his palaces with pretties? As to the loot, you haven't returned it. You took it and you won't give it back. I don't blame you, I think you're museums are better places for them then the rat holes they'd be in if they were given back... but that's aside from the point. Looting is looting is looting. The site was looted and you will get most of the more attractive pieces back over time. Look at your museums and galleries... read the tags... see how many of those came from 'private' collections? Even ancient Egyptian artifacts... how did a private british citizen get an ancient Egyptian headdress? Passed it down from father to son for 4000 years?

to me it was unbelievable bad news . i have a real interest in history and i can' t begin to imagine what damage is done . its like the destruction of the ancients building by the taliban a few years ago . another big loss like the fires of the ancient libraries or the destruction of the aztek writings .
This is being blown out of proportion. It's still there, it's just a little MORE scuffed then it was already.

if you know that one single tablet dug up last century lead to the deciphering of many hieroglyphs you can begin to grasp wat knowledge could be gone forever now .
Don't assume something is there without confirmation. That's the same logic that formulates the extinction statistics and the predictions of extraterrestrial life. All are based upon assumptions of constants that rarely prove true. For example, they say we lose tens of thousands of species every year. While CONFIRMED extinctions are generally less then 10 per year. Now recognize the difference in the two figures... and note that the ten per year generally fairly common species that are simply abandoning a specific river and therefore 'extinct' in that specific river. Or some species of beetle... ever looked at a bug exhibit? Thousands of species of beetles that all look the same, live in the same area, and eat the same thing. They're only different species because they can't interbreed... but aside from that you can't tell the difference with anything short of a microscope.

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The losses at this site are likely exceedingly minor. It's fodder for those starving for an excuse to hate the US. If we saved the site and lost a thousand men to a struggle to preserve it, would these people bow to us? would they thank us for trading thousands of our lives for a bit of rock and old pottery? No. They would call us fools and incompetents. They would say it was Vietnam all over again. They would say nothing about anything good we did at all and just focus on the blood we paid for something that doesn't interest them so long as they can't use it against us.
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i can hardly blame poor iraqies but the soldiers should have known better .
they wouldn’t detonate mount Rushmore or the tower of pizza to free some airspace at home .
No enemy that ever fought on American soil was so retched that they would hide in so much as a church. The enemy over there doesn't play by rules that either of our people's would consider honorable. Or if your people do, then I can assure you that your grandfathers would at least disagree.

You don't hide in national monuments or sacred buildings unless you're willing to have it attacked and battle damaged. We attack them wherever they go because if they know any place is safe, they'll use it. The only way to protect a building is to leave it alone...
sad news big loss
Sad regardless, the loss is debatable.