Grave Robbing

And that is not only my exact point, but also what led me to wonder this... watching shows like ancient discoveries and so on...

King Tut is a perfect example. His people beleived their was a connection between the body, grave and afterlife. Thats why they buried so much stuff with him. So he could have it in the afterlife. Now, we come along and totally ignore their beliefs and literally destroy his grave. It doesn't matter if someone is really careful or clumsy when they do it, if you remove any item or worse yet the body from a grave, you are destroying everything about that mans beliefs that you claim to want to learn about and understand.

As for, it being to learn about the past... shouldn't we explore all the non grave desecration related avenues before we start grave robbing? There are private collections (one of them is below the vatican) of history, art and knowledge from thousands upon thousands of years that would teach us 1000 times over what we know from diggin up more dead.

This actually goes back to another thread about funerals... this topic is exactly why I want to be cremated. I'm not leaving a body around for vultures to dig up in 1000 years and put on display.


Seriously, how freakin creepy is that?

 

That's just what I thought when I saw it. Everything separated from him and put in glass boxes. It meant so much to them, then we practically destroy it.

Absolutely, churches have so many things that the public are not allowed to see, it's ridiculous. There is an amazing library in St Paul's Cathedral that only certain members of the church are ever able to see - the books in there would be so interesting to see and I think people have the right to see them.

I have never liked the idea of cremation. I think I'll be buried with a deadly virus and a note to say they should have left me be

 

See, I disagree with the 'practically destroy it' part... There is no qualifiers needed for that statement. As soon as they remove a single object from a tomb or grave that was placed there on purpose, you are attacking and destroying someones belief about their afterlife.

As for cremation, when this body dies, I am done with it. That in no way means I want others to play with it, therefore, ashes it is...

 

Archeology is not really done for personal profit, more for study and knowledge.

People who died recently have already been studied (ie, autopsy) and they are buried on private property that they paid big bucks for. They aso have living relatives who will come after you when you pawn that ring... Nobody buries people with mega jewelry these days anyway, they pass it on.

In a related story, I used to date a gravedigger. He told me that the graves have shifted under the ground due to freezing, thawing and such, and sometimes when digging a fresh grave he would find someone's head and have to kind of stick it back in there...

 

Bad Idea

Several years ago the CDC was in Alaska digging up bodies from the early 20th century in order to attain a sample of the Influenza virus of 1918-1919

The bodies were preserved in the permafrost so the fear was the virus could still be active, and If let loose upon the Aleuts it could wipe them out then proceed to wipeout another 500,000,000 people worldwide


Hotwater

 

That will teach them for digging me up...

 

That virus is the reason I exist. My grandfather's family was wiped out and he got sent to Canada.

 

So you think archeologists all work for free?

You think museums where these artifacts go let people in for free?

You think that all those people who work in those museums do it for free?

Seems to me, it is all about personal profit.

As for no living relatives... Is that the line then? If there is nobody alive who can trace a connection to the dead, then it's okay to dig them up?

 

Hotwater

 

No, I am not retarded, you think archeologists are in business for themselves?

And personally I believe that once you are dead, you are worm food, so as long as nobody alive has a personal connection to the dead, I don't care who digs them up. If someone wants to play with my bones in 100 years, I am pretty sure I'm not going to care.

 

I'm confused now... because the archeologists aren't in business for themselves, that makes it okay that they are profiting off of graverobbing?

That sound an awful lot like, 'it wasn't my fault I shot that guy, I was just following orders'

As for the second part, I guess that means we can go dig up all the Unknown Soldiers, and pauper 'john and jane doe' graves?

After all, no living person can trace a line to an unidentified corpse.

 

Only 500 million people... fuck, its not worth it unless we can get at least 75%...

 

I'm confused too, how is killing someone the same as digging up a long dead pile of bones?

What would you be digging those guys up for? I'm curious. I have watched the docu of the two Franklin Expedition sailors getting dug up and studied so that we would finally know what happened to them. It was very interesting and it answered many questions.

And yes, go ahead and dig them up, why not? Are you going to use them to decorate for Halloween?

I was more thinking of the living relatives who don't want to remember seeing Grandma's jaw fall out on the floor and shriveled up eyeballs.

 

Maybe we can get WHO to up their mortality figures


Hotwater

 

I didn't say it was, I said that excluding an archeologist from blame because he isn't running his own business is claiming it isn't their fault because they were just following orders, like when someone uses that as an excuse for (as an example) shooting someone.,

It doesn't matter WHY you are destroying a grave and violating the beleifs of somoene, it is still destroying the grave and violating their beliefs.

 

Well, violating beliefs when there is no one left to have said beliefs is not a problem to me.

Beliefs are made of air. They only mean anything if someone is here to believe in them.

 

and people accuse me of a lack of respect for other's beleifs??

lol

 

I think I've established that respect of other's beliefs is for the living.

For example, I would tell you to roll that "lol" up real tight and cram it up your balloon knot, but I would get in trouble for disrepecting you, so I can't say that. If you were dead, I could say it all I want.

Also, how does a pile of 10000 year old bones have beliefs?

 

I bet a lot of people here would just dance on people's graves.

 

When a person is alive and has the opportunity to defend their beliefs, you will respect them... but once they are dead and no longer able to defend them then it's okay to attack or ignore them...

got it...