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One thing I discovered on my recent trip to Greece is that many ancient sites have been obliterated by modern development. The issue was brought to fore for me when I tried to visit a 2500 year old temple to be told that it had been dug up years ago and the site is scheduled to have a hotel built on it because of its proximity to the beach. The local I spoke with said the temple still had many columns standing and was very impressive. It seems to me that a site like this would draw more tourism than a hotel irregardless of the fact that it represents a piece of history that is now gone forever. I saw the same thing in Rome several years ago as well. Does anyone have an idea how often or how many ancient sites have been dug up and cataloged to make way for modern development.
Short answer – no, I don't know. But I had heard that in Rome, builders normally find ancient artifacts in the ground that are of little archaeological value (pottery shards), so they simply throw the stuff into the foundation of buildings and the like. I think that the problem you're talking about is a classic social one - do we preserve what is important from the past, or allow development of what is important in the present? I do agree that it is sad to hear of an ancient temple being replaced by some hotel, and I wonder where the Greek antiquities council or whatever was when the decision was made. I imagine that there are some hoops that builders have to go through when they want to build on/near historical sites.
Read recently that they want to build a huge rowing (I think) facility at Marathon which would require the area of the swamp and battlefiled to be obliterated as well as the beach. No big deal. It's only the first battle for Western Civilization. >:(
Think about the airport in Rome which was built over the major port for the empire. I suppose that unless cities like Rome want to become ghost towns in which all things old are protected, they have to balance the needs of modern society with the preservation of the past. Actually, this is an issue even in America where old buildings are sometimes put on the National Register of Historic Places, and sometimes they are just demolished.
Its strange, I guess it depends on the artifact. Athens has been fighting with the British Royal something or other over the Elgin Marbles for decades. They are beautiful reliefs that the Brits aquired when the Ottomans were sacking Greece, early 1900's. Greece spent gobs of money to build a museum to house them, since Britain first argued that they had no place to keep them. Now the Brits still refuse to give them up on the grounds that every picayune civilization from here to Timbuktu will be demanding their ancient artifacts back. This will not do. ;D
I just thought it was sad to see the remnants of Ancient Greece so casually destroyed. I imagine there are some bureaucratic hoops they have to jump through to do it though.
Now the Brits still refuse to give them up on the grounds that every picayune civilization from here to Timbuktu will be demanding their ancient artifacts back.
That is probably not too far off the mark. I have heard that the Iraqi?s are trying to pressure the Germans into giving back the Ishtar gate from Babylon that they have in the Pergamum museum in Berlin. I think the Germans have consistently said for the same reason the Brits original refused to give up the Elgin marbles.
It's not like the Parthenon doesn't exist anymore. I can make copies for everyone of the letter I sent to the British Museum DEMANDING they give them back.
And what makes you think they would listen to you when they ignore the Greek government? Just asking, 😀 it has been my experience that most prominent groups only pay lip service to what may be the right thing to do in their zeal to do what is either expedient or what they see as in their own interests. Of course, I can undertsand that attitutde too.
You have to consider though in places like greece, rome and istanbul almost anywhere you dig to build something you find artifacts. In Turkey, Turkish law prohibits construction companies from continuing excavation once they've encountered an artifact. That's why the constructors usually try to finish the excavation as soon as possible and sometimes even at night.
