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Thursday, August 03, 2006
Ancient Ruins and Respect
When describing the archaeological ruins I have visited such as Tikal, Copan, or Lamanai, I often remark that it’s like Disney World for nerds. Climbing the highest temples constructed and utilized over a thousand years ago is an emotional experience for me. Here is a structure that was built not for me to study or excavate, but instead for another generation of human beings with a very different view of the world to incorporate into their existence. Perhaps that is too much of a romantic view of ancient cultures, but I have yet to meet an archaeologist who doesn’t enjoy trekking up and down temples and mounds for hours on end in the hot sun.
A post this morning on Tasbir suggests a “hubris of Western travelers, who desecrate sacred spots of the past by their attitude.” The post’s author, Daniel Martin Varisco, quotes Pierre Loti in a magnificent passage about his feelings while observing a group of travelers at the ancient temple of Abydos. Here is a passage from that passage:
Oh! poor, poor temple, to what strange uses are you come. . . . This excess of grotesqueness in profanation is more insulting surely than to be sacked by barbarians! Behold a table set for some thirty guests, and the guests themselves – of both sexes – merry and lighthearted, belong to that special type of humanity which patronises Thomas Cook & Son (Egypt Ltd.). They wear cork helmets, and the classic green spectacles; drink whisky and soda, and eat voraciously sandwiches and other viands out of greasy paper, which now litters the floor. And the women! Heavens! what scarecrows they are! And this kind of thing, so the black-robed Bedouin guards inform us, is repeated every day so long as the season lasts. A luncheon in the temple of Osiris is part of the programme of pleasure trips. Each day at noon a new band arrives, on heedless and unfortunate donkeys. The tables and the crockery remain, of course, in the old temple!
Varisco’s post reminds me of an issue in archaeology that doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. That is whether or not Western imperialism and the attitude of the Western traveler inhibits a respectful understanding of sacred spaces. At the risk of sounding imperialistic myself by suggesting the superiority of Western science or science in general over sightseeing, a distinction can be made between the typical traveler and the legitimate researcher. This thought crosses every archaeologists’ mind, if only briefly: who has the right to be at this site, either to take pictures or to excavate its surface? Surely I, the trained archaeologist, have more knowledge of the area, the environment, and the ancient peoples than the typical shutterbug! But, does that give me more of a right to experience the beauty and intrigue of the site’s history? Moreover, do I, the trained archaeologist, have a right to be here considering I am an outsider, one who did not participate in the activities and lives that played out here hundreds or thousands of years ago?
Posted by Will at August 3, 2006 10:59 AM in Anthropology