what if....?

[stan]

Frank Harrist wrote:

As always in archaeology, the jury still isn't in. Everything we say in the field of archaeology should be prefaced by the phrase, "as far as we can tell so far". It's an on-going process and theories which may seem foolish now may one day be proven correct. Discussion is very helpful and healthy, but actual evidence and proof are better.

OK, people, a thought experiment: WHAT IF, due to new technologies, lots of resources,
overcoming political opposition, etc., archaeologists could excavate and/or evaluate ALL extant sites and relevant data in our lifetimes.
So that all information about ancient cultures....time lines, migration routes, evolutionary patterns, dna traces, religions, conquests, the identity of the inventors of culture, everything...could be made public?

Isn't this the logical extension of the pursuit of archeology (and anthropology and history, etc.)?
Would it be a good thing to do? What would be the repercussions?

[Frank Harrist]

Religion won't ever let that happen. Not to mention the fact that the money will not be made available because most people don't care. It would be great if that all came to pass, but it never will. Never, ever.
Even if it did, we will never know the whole story(s). Things will still keep turning up that are "new" and say different things about what we think we know. Archaeology will always be an ongoing process like any other science.

[Guest]

I fail to see what religion has to do with it. I can't think of many occasions in recent European history when an archaeological dig has been stopped due to pressure from the church. If it happens stateside, it's your own fault for letting non-entities dictate to you.
It would be great if all archaeological sites were dug, but there are still sites dug 30-40 years ago in Britain which haven't seen the digger's notes written up yet. That's the real reason it'll never happen.

[Frank Harrist]

I fail to see what religion has to do with it. I can't think of many occasions in recent European history when an archaeological dig has been stopped due to pressure from the church. If it happens stateside, it's your own fault for letting non-entities dictate to you.
It would be great if all archaeological sites were dug, but there are still sites dug 30-40 years ago in Britain which haven't seen the digger's notes written up yet. That's the real reason it'll never happen.

Wake up and smell the coffee. Religion dictates everything. It does it from behind the scenes. It don't show up in the newspapers because the church never lets it get that far. Why do you think the dead sea scrolls took 40 years to be translated and then they were nothing but slightly different versions of the same shit that's in the bible? You think they actually told the public everything? What kind of stink do you think would be raised if we found evidence to prove evolution beyond a doubt? or to prove jesus or muhammed were frauds? or to prove that the vatican has been hiding important records pertaining to archaeology and it's discrediting of the bible? Open your eyes! And stop nit-picking every damn thing I say.

[Barracuda]

This is an amazing time. DNA and genetics are providing information I never thought possible.

But some things were hidden for thousands of years before being found, and some things will remain hidden for thousands of years before being found, if ever.


For me, that is what makes archeology so cool. We will never find it all. There will always be more to find

[stan]

Yes, but WHAT IF????

[Frank Harrist]

OK, IF, in some fantasy world, this could happen as you said.......

We'd find out that the bible is not a reliable history book (some of us already know that), but that some of the things in the bible did happen, but were heavily embelished for the good of the story.

We'd find out that the Egyptian civilization was much older than we thought.

We'd find out that there were several different civilizations which lived on earth which we never knew of before and that they were here much earlier than we thought.

We'd find out that people came to the americas very early on and then succesive cultures wiped 'em out through conquest or disease.

We'd find out that stonehenge was originally built as a launch pad for an alien spacecraft. J/K

Is this the kind of thing you had in mind, Stan?

[Guest]

Wake up and smell the coffee. Religion dictates everything. It does it from behind the scenes. It don't show up in the newspapers because the church never lets it get that far. Why do you think the dead sea scrolls took 40 years to be translated and then they were nothing but slightly different versions of the same shit that's in the bible? You think they actually told the public everything? What kind of stink do you think would be raised if we found evidence to prove evolution beyond a doubt? or to prove jesus or muhammed were frauds? or to prove that the vatican has been hiding important records pertaining to archaeology and it's discrediting of the bible? Open your eyes! And stop nit-picking every damn thing I say.

I'm not nit-picking, and you really need to do something about that anti-clerical paranoia chum! So the church rules the press, eh? Perhaps in America. Try making that comment in the 'Have your say' section in http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/default.stm and see how long it takes to become a prize laughing stock.
Who cares what the Vatican has allegedly been 'hiding'? They haven't been the 'Christian church' for around 500 years now, except in their own minds.

[Frank Harrist]

Ok. Never mind.

[Guest]

Hey! I'll still talk to you!

[Frank Harrist]

I'm in a different kind of mood today. I'm generally anti-religion so I tend to try to pin everything that I can't pin on dubya on "the church" collectively. It goes way deeper than I have time to explain.

[stan]

I guess I was thinking of things that would happen after these discoveries were made and promulgated....

would some religions be destroyed, or would some be vindicated?
would there be warfare caused by ethnic groups demanding
access to their mesolithic homelands, or to be set up as the dominant group in their area?
would there be demands for reparations from neolithic conquerors?
would it upset the state of things very much?

something along the lines of a sci-fi plot....

[Rokcet Scientist]

This ain't good for my health. My doctor warned me to avoid hot air.

[Frank Harrist]

This ain't good for my health. My doctor warned me to avoid hot air.

I ain't gonna say it......

[Guest]

No problem, Frank.
I have the same sort of pathological hatred of sport!

Stan,
Don't know about religions being destroyed, they would probably find ways to adapt. As for ethnic tensions, much of Hitler's ambitions for conquest were fuelled by a special SS amt set up for no other reason than to find archaeological 'evidence' of the Aryan/Germanic homeland. Any such discoveries were used as propaganda to justify an invasion of somewhere. It's not new, and the world is a damn sight less obsessed with proving Anglo-Saxon cultural 'superiority' than it was even 50 years ago. I don't think ethnic tensions need archaeology to explode-look at the Hutsis and Tu-Tus a decade ago.