Should archeologists be excavating tombs?

Vixen

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A story today is that the tomb of an ancient Egyptian High Priest has been discovered in the Saqqara pyramid complex.

Archaeologists in Egypt have made an exciting tomb discovery - the final resting place of a high priest, untouched for 4,400 years.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, described the find as "one of a kind in the last decades".

The tomb, found in the Saqqara pyramid complex near Cairo, is filled with colourful hieroglyphs and statues of pharaohs. Decorative scenes show the owner, a royal priest named Wahtye, with his mother, wife and other relatives.

Archaeologists will start excavating the tomb on 16 December, and expect more discoveries to follow - including the owner's sarcophagus.
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-46580264


The guy in the video excitedly says they ought to find furniture and other items within the sarcophagus itself.

I have been to the British Museum many times and the sight of the mummified remains seems mildly distasteful to me, although there are usually parties of school children who head straight for this section.

Should the dead just be left alone undisturbed, or is the curiosity of archaeologists supreme?
 
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Many times the tomb is emptied by the officialsin charge before black market pillaging can happen.

In Mexico there are so many sites oversight is near impossible. The items have to be taken away on discovery.
 
Go ahead and dig me up, if you can find me. I'm not there.

Ok, that was too easy. I'd be upset if someone dug up my parents, or grandparents. But once it gets back a few hundred years, it really doesn't much matter. I intend on being incinerated anyhow.
 
I kinda dig the thought of being an archaeological score in a thousand years...
 
I really shouldn't post in futile threads

Should? What in hell does that mean? People could lead a helluva lot happier and more useful lives if they didn't should all over themselves.
 
I particularly like the part where the archeologists talk in hushed tones about my favourite toys and <ahem> speak on about how they all had particular religious significance.
 
Vixen said:
A story today is that the tomb of an ancient Egyptian High Priest has been discovered in the Saqqara pyramid complex.




https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-46580264


The guy in the video excitedly says they ought to find furniture and other items within the sarcophagus itself.

I have been to the British Museum many times and the sight of the mummified remains seems mildly distasteful to me, although there are usually parties of school children who head straight for this section.

Should the dead just be left alone undisturbed, or is the curiosity of archaeologists supreme?
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The knowledge gained for study/gathering more/better information kind of sides with disturbing some things. I am a gather information where you may kind of guy!!!
 
There are things to be learned so I'm not too squeamish about it. As a kid I went to Carnegie Museum in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh and there was a great display of Egyptian mummies and artifacts.

But it also reminds me of the book Motel of Mysteries by David Macaulay about a future archeologist who excavates what he believes to be an ancient tomb and his interpretation of the artifacts is really a motel room.
 
I had a similar thought at The Body Worlds exhibit. Corpses turned into entertainment does seem a little macabre.
 
Yes...but the serious question is whether excavation should wait for science to advance. A lot of tombs were excavated improperly, with destructive results, in the early era of archaeology. Had those tombs been left alone for decades, then excavated by professional scholars using more advanced techniques, we'd have learned so much more. But depending on where it is an unexcavated tomb would be looted if known and left...it's been a serious dilemma not just in Egyptology but all branches of archaeology. Whichever way you chose there are risks.

I have to wonder about this latest find, though. I've read some articles that go on about the tomb decorations but don't mention any actual grave goods--weren't those tombs usually stuffed full of objects? Furnishings, offerings, etc? To find one empty suggests it was either never used, or was previously looted. But I may have just been reading careless reports that left out details of the contents. If it's not gold or jewels it may not be "newsworthy".
 
The questions is legitimate: what if a delegation of Chinese Archaeologists showed up at the Vatican and asked to excavate the Catacombs?
 
Trebuchet said:
Go ahead and dig me up, if you can find me. I'm not there.

Ok, that was too easy. I'd be upset if someone dug up my parents, or grandparents. But once it gets back a few hundred years, it really doesn't much matter. I intend on being incinerated anyhow.
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Same here. And if they had a good reason (seeking to understand a disease, or even migration patterns in human populations) I wouldn't mind too much if they dug up dad's remains. Dad's long gone. I was there when he left and I felt no particular link to the body he left behind.
 
The Great Zaganza said:
The questions is legitimate: what if a delegation of Chinese Archaeologists showed up at the Vatican and asked to excavate the Catacombs?
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Given the Vatican displays some of their former Popes publicly in glass cases I'm sure some deal could be arranged.
 
To answer Tragic, it us common to find tombs pillaged in Egypt. If by a rival cult or king the tomb is cleaned out and the name erased from the walls. If by peasants the mummy is stripped of gold but left defiled. The grave goods taken.

If by Western explorers the mummy taken along with any even worthless grave goods. The mummy would have been broken up for gold bits and sold as fuel for steam engines or medical magic. If by early archeology attempts the mummy went to a museum or private collection.
 
I think 8enotto is on the right track.

The only way to learn the correct way is to do it and figure out what was done wrong. Even now I'm sure the protocols will be revised and some found to be lacking in ways.

Be pretty funny to see a contingent of Chinese archeologists show up at the front door to the Vatican to dig up the old Popes and saints.
 
If ancient funeral directors didn't want their tombs raided, they shouldn't have stuffed them full of ammunition, medical kits, ingenious booby traps, and apocalyptic magical relics.

The Chinese archaeologists seem to be doing pretty well with many of their own archeological sites. They can have a crack at the Vatican catacombs if they take a good and well-documented look inside the First Emperor's Tomb first.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I have to wonder about this latest find, though. I've read some articles that go on about the tomb decorations but don't mention any actual grave goods--weren't those tombs usually stuffed full of objects? Furnishings, offerings, etc? To find one empty suggests it was either never used, or was previously looted. But I may have just been reading careless reports that left out details of the contents. If it's not gold or jewels it may not be "newsworthy".
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There are four sealed shafts yet to be explored. I’ll bet there will be many objects there.
 
What I guess the original question is asking isn't about carrying away other cultures' grave goods as museum trophies but rather about whether the dead should be left buried in perpetuity.

It's something I never really thought about until I read a news article some years ago about reusing graveyard plots. Presumably it varies by country but in England a graveyard plot can be reused after 100 years, or exceptionally 75 years if efforts are made to contact whoever held the rights to the plot. I *think* the preferred method for reuse recovers the existing remains and buries them deeper. I had previously just assumed burial was forever, but it seems not.
 
dudalb said:
If they wanted to protect their tombs they should have filled them full of snakes....
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Yeah man!

And had big round boulder things that roll after you, cryptic pathways, where if you get the next step wrong either spears fly out of you or the bit you step on falls away to a fathomless pit! and maybe a bridge you have to go over to get there that is really thin and invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen, or used by throwing dirt on it or taking a "leap of faith" and just knowing it is there.

Otherwise she is all fair game
 
Belz... said:
Because learning about history and past cultures is a good thing.

No one will strike at us from the grave for doing so. I'd be delighted to know that some bloke in 5000 years will dig up my remains and study our culture.
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Wouldn't be so sure about that.

I remember seeing a documentary years and years ago about it, hosted by Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

Real eye opener
 
cullennz said:
Wouldn't be so sure about that.

I remember seeing a documentary years and years ago about it, hosted by Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz.

Real eye opener
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You can scoff. However, it is known that some of the Egyptian tombs have 'spells' engraved against its incumbent/s being disturbed. Put statues (which they worshipped as idols [i.e., real gods]) such as the jackal-headed Anubis to guard the entrance.
 
cullennz said:
Yeah man!

And had big round boulder things that roll after you, cryptic pathways, where if you get the next step wrong either spears fly out of you or the bit you step on falls away to a fathomless pit! and maybe a bridge you have to go over to get there that is really thin and invisible to the naked eye and can only be seen, or used by throwing dirt on it or taking a "leap of faith" and just knowing it is there.

Otherwise she is all fair game
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Where do you think the idea of stakes and heavy headstones came from? People believed it stopped the dead from rising up and roaming about.

Its why ancient Crete buried their high and mighty in maze-like labyrinthes.
 
theprestige said:
First, the tombs aren't going to excavate themselves.

Second, excavating tombs is the archeologists' job. They should do their job.
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That's true. I find archaeology fascinating and there is much information to be gleaned in how people used to live, what they wore and their funerary customs.

However, the ancient Egyptians have been excavated to death (no pun intended). The British Museum is stuffed full of mummies. Archaeologists have even been able to tell us which ones had arthritis. There is little else to know. I guess a high priest might have a few interesting artefacts in his tomb. However, I doubt there will be anything we did not already know about.
 
Vixen said:
That's true. I find archaeology fascinating and there is much information to be gleaned in how people used to live, what they wore and their funerary customs.

However, the ancient Egyptians have been excavated to death (no pun intended). The British Museum is stuffed full of mummies. Archaeologists have even been able to tell us which ones had arthritis. There is little else to know. I guess a high priest might have a few interesting artefacts in his tomb. However, I doubt there will be anything we did not already know about.
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Okay, that makes sense. Archeologists should excavate tombs as long as there is something new to be learned. And obviously they should continue excavating tombs until they're sure that there's nothing new to be learned.

Do you agree?
 
They should not be entered if the tomb contains a body of a known person who still remembered within a family who revere the grave (unless they give permission). If not it should be used for historical scientific discovery.
 
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