Click on the YouTube
links below to get a glimpse of how archaeological excavations in and
around Jerusalem/Al-Quds have the ability to reveal past peoples... and
to provoke present ones...
Your thoughts about such projects, and their political & religious ramifications?
4 comments:
I found these two versions of the same event really interesting. It shows how easily a fact (both Israelis and Palestinians have holy sites in the region) can be interpreted by either side as evidence of their own righteousness. The Davidson Archaeological Park version seemed to brush off any Muslim claim to the land with the claim that "2000 years ago, this area looked completely different." [without these Muslim structures.] Does older mean better, or more deserving of excavation? Not necessarily. Archeological sites commonly have layers with history--and have a huge rule book of regulations for dealing with those layers in a way which protects each horizon so that as little damage as possible occurs.
Destroying or reconstructing the past has always been a way that conflicting groups have tried to subordinate the other. A classic example is the Parthenon in Athens: since its initial construction in 438 BC it has been destroyed and reconstructed as a treasury, Christian church, mosque, and for artillery storage by the Greeks, Persians, Romans, and Ottomans.
This is yet another example of this conflict causing a detriment to both sides, in this case, a loss of archeological knowledge, and in the case of the Palestinians, disruption to their daily lives (for instance, with the crumbling floor of the house in Silwan). We can only hope that an agreement (or even archeological armistice) before important archeological findings are lost or destroyed by both sides.
Observant and thoughtful comments, Valerie. Even inanimate objects take on lives of their own (or, lives as imposed upon them) amid this conflict.
pdk
As fascinating as the findings by Israeli archeologists in this area are, the obvious damage their excavations are causing to the property of the Palestinian residents in the area is indefensible. The sinister and underhanded statement that "2000 years ago, this area looked completely different" really set the tone of the video for me. The accumulation of knowledge of human history, however significant, at the physical and material expense of people now living is self-evidently absurd. Any professional and self-respecting archeologist (or scientist of any kind) ought to know this and consider it when practicing their profession. But I seriously doubt that many of these Israeli archeologists are doing this for the benefit and enrichment of all humanity -- I suspect that this, like so many infamous Israeli archeological digs, is either an attempt to justify sole Jewish ownership of Israel or to fulfill some pre-condition for a prophesied event. The materiel suffering of those in the way of either of these goals are considered either trivial or not nearly as important as the accomplishment of their task at hand. From what I've read of recent Israeli archeological activity in Palestine, this grotesque dehumanization of Palestinians is a real problem among the self-professed "professionals" of their field. It's disgraceful and should be stopped; all those who study human and natural history ought to have a strict 'cause no harm' standard of research behavior. The idea that bones or rocks or relics can possibly be more important than people is diseased thinking.
-Nate
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