There are bigger things happening...

During yesterdays class we discussed archaeology and war, and in turn the looting that comes out of it. As I have mentioned in previous entries sometimes things are out of our control and we must simply let our history do to monuments and objects what is intended to happen. That is not to say that we shouldn't do everything in our power to protect objects and buildings, but to recognize when we are being a little rediculous and that we cannot save every piece of the past. In my opinion this becomes very clear when human lives are involved. In all honesty there are bigger things happening in the world than archaeology and it is not worth losing lives over. For example, the case of the Bamyan Bhuddas which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. Yes, this is a horrible occurance and should never have happened, but in all honesty, the Taliban has done a lot worse, and had there been mass protestations of the destruction of the Bhuddas, I'm sure the world would have seen just how much worse it could have been.

In class certain students went onto say that taking items from war torn countries is illegal and should not be done because "stealing is wrong". Obviously, I have some different ideas about this. It is my opinion that it is better to save objects and risk their provenance and risk that they may not be returned to a museum than to lose them forever. Even if the objects are not returned to a museum, chances are 50 years from now they will turn up and provide academics with the ability to study and learn from them. It seems that there is no right or wrong answer because let's say, hypothetically, that I knew the Bamyan Bhuddas were going to be destroyed and I knew of a way to remove them in their entirety without damaging them, and had a location in my home city where I knew they would be safe. So the night before they are set to be destroyed, I go with some colleagues and remove the Bhudda's and they are saved from being destroyed. With this argument, certain students in the class would make this an illegal action, but at the same time those students complain about how the Bamyan Bhuddas have been destroyed! I know this "hypothetical" stretches the argument out, but it just goes to show that there is no winning in archaeology and someone is always going to have a problem with what is being done. Frustrating? I think so.

Furthermore, I just wanted to clear up a statement I made in class when asked about excavations on occupied territories. I had said that when there are bigger things happening, (i.e. war and death) that no, excavations should not be allowed. But I didn't clarify the whole "war and death" thing. So... in the case of Cyprus, I suppose I would say that excavations can be carried out - as long as there is an agreement between Turkey and Cyprus... because then we enter into the argument of "Who does this belong to", which is tiring in itself.