Is it "curating" or simply good old hoarding ...

ed · Post by ed » Thu Aug 31, 2006 1:54 pm

ReneDescartes wrote:That's a nice idea Stan ,it would be nice if schoolkids could marvel at artefacts from our human heritage ,touch them ,examin them and aquire a taste for history and archaeology .Same could be done with fossils ,they too could be used to create and enhance their curiosity .
I prefer this kind of solution to just selling the stuff to the highest bidder .

It isn't a dicotomy, I suspect that there is more than enough stuff to go around. In any event, selling some to the highest bidder might very well pay for kits for schools.

ReneDescartes · Post by **ReneDescartes** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:24 pm

Since we are now debating the selling of human heritage to provide schoolfunds I suggest to spend a little less on armaments and invest more in education .There is no need for such an incredible defense budget .

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 2:31 pm

Make up archeology kits... and send them to all our public schools.

some schools in korea already have artifacts plus parents and schools religiously take their children and students to the museums here.

for themost part you can get into a museum here (except in seoul) for about $1 or 2 and then the last sunday of each month is free. accessibility to their past makes it a good activity to do for a day. i have been to many a museum and they are filled with little kids (and they are not bored) who love to look at their history.

Frank Harrist · Post by **Frank Harrist** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:19 pm

That is a great idea, Stan and Ed's is a great follow-up.

Post by **Minimalist** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 3:34 pm

ReneDescartes wrote:Since we are now debating the selling of human heritage to provide schoolfunds I suggest to spend a little less on armaments and invest more in education .There is no need for such an incredible defense budget .

Um.....because school districts don't pour the same amount of money in Republican campaign coffers as defense contractors?

ed · Post by ed » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:36 pm

ReneDescartes wrote:Since we are now debating the selling of human heritage to provide schoolfunds I suggest to spend a little less on armaments and invest more in education .There is no need for such an incredible defense budget .

Well ... everything is eventually human heritage. Objects are not sacrosanct, they should serve some sort of purpose. Treating them as means of exchange is pretty reasonable to me.

Recall, we started off with the question of when curating becomes hoarding. I understand that there are warehouses in Egypt full of objects that are pretty much decaying. Not all countries believe that every single object of human manufacture is worthy of curating. I think that there is a middle ground between conserving nothing and conserving everything. There better be because everything cannot be conserved.

You present a false dicotomy. This is not an either/or situation. Governments are essentially corrupt in that they do what will keep them in power. If any government percieves that the population is indifferent to something, why would they support it? Which brings us back to the role of the archeological community as cheerleaders for their own self interests. I submitted that encourging collecting serves the purpose of increasing awareness and thus interest and thus political support.

A quick Google search turned up this Pew study:http://www.pewtrusts.com/pdf/culture_po ... 0sector%22

The situation is summarized here:

As you can see, most of the support comes from private or self generated sources. The Government plays a small role, which is as it should be, IMO. So, again, the task is to make archeology (or painting or whatever) compelling enough so that people will vote with their pocketbooks.

Simple really.

stan · Post by **stan** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:38 pm

The US is a large country with great distances between urban cultural centers, and many school districts in remote isolation. Plus there is great disparity of funding among school districts, and even between individual schools in the same district.
My idea could help overcome some these problems.

Same for fossils, too., though they are more readily available now than archeological items. You can buy fossils readily without having to worry about cultural provenance or authenticity, or federal laws. (I think)

WIth artifacts, I suppose archaeologists think that one little potsherd could be the piece that unlocks the history of mankind, so they don't want to lose anything!

About the funding, selling some would be ok with me. That way it wouldn't be done by raising taxes.

Post by **Minimalist** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:41 pm

This is really a very profound topic.

I have to think about it for a while.

ed · Post by ed » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:44 pm

Minimalist wrote:
ReneDescartes wrote:Since we are now debating the selling of human heritage to provide schoolfunds I suggest to spend a little less on armaments and invest more in education .There is no need for such an incredible defense budget .

Um.....because school districts don't pour the same amount of money in Republican campaign coffers as defense contractors?

I think that you will find that we spend more on education than defense, recall school districts are supported locally so I, for example, pay for my school directly.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:46 pm

The overflow of artifacts can be distributed out to collegiate archaeology programs. They can be overseen by graduate students while undergrads learn to identify, categorize, catalogue, display, and preserve artifacts.

Good for all.

stan · Post by **stan** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:53 pm

Post by **Minimalist** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:55 pm

ed wrote:
Minimalist wrote:
ReneDescartes wrote:Since we are now debating the selling of human heritage to provide schoolfunds I suggest to spend a little less on armaments and invest more in education .There is no need for such an incredible defense budget .

Um.....because school districts don't pour the same amount of money in Republican campaign coffers as defense contractors?
I think that you will find that we spend more on education than defense, recall school districts are supported locally so I, for example, pay for my school directly.

Depends on where you live. I moved from New York to Arizona and there is a hefty difference in real estate taxes.

Besides, what has that to do with bribing politicians?

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 4:57 pm

Thanks Stan, but I still think fossils like trilobites and brachiopods and all that neat stuff that we loved as kids should go to elementary schools. Those kids need those things.

But they might not get too excited about a pottery shard.

stan · Post by **stan** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:01 pm

Since we are now debating the selling of human heritage to provide schoolfunds I suggest to spend a little less on armaments and invest more in education .There is no need for such an incredible defense budget .

Rene, are you speaking of the Belgian defense budget?

stan · Post by **stan** » Thu Aug 31, 2006 5:05 pm

But they might not get too excited about a pottery shard.

I think they would get interested if they had a neat kit of artifacts to get involved with.
I guess we are talking about differences in age groups. I took "Ancient History" in the 6th grade and loved it. THat's when I first became interested in archaeology. Having a box full of neat old stuff to plunder
through and learn about would have been wonderful then.