Should We Stop Excavating And Uncovering Ancient Civilizations?

[Mesopotamian]

What's the value of uncovering ancient civilizations?

In some places like Egypt, his has led to tourism boost, but here in Iraq, it has led to nothing! yet in fact, uncovering these civilizations has led to inflation of ego of the Iraqi people, claiming that they are descendant of those civilizations, when in fact all of those uncovered civilizations were vanished and buried under tons of sands thousands of years ago.

I tell my folks that these civilizations are nothing but the product of western universities, so better stop saying that Iraq, and Iraqis has taught the world how to read and write! 

I go on and add that professors in western universities make whole careers and as an Iraqi what are you gaining out of that?

But seriously, what is the value of excavating and searching for ancient civilizations, if in particular it's not even done mostly by the people of a certain country?

 

[Hatfort]

I don't mean to convince you about the value of anything, you seem to have your mind made up. But I'll share some thoughts anyway.

We human beings not only live through our lifespans but have also developed a natural curiosity about different fields such as science, natural history, human history, astronomy, etc... We want to know, we value knowledge for itself, and it drives us. When we find a fossil of a giant or tiny animal that lived millions of years ago, we observe the type of stones of a mountain or the mountain itself, they give us real pieces of evidence of a bigger picture of time. We make the puzzle as accurately as we can with many blank spaces, we probably make wrong assumptions along the way, but yet we do pretty well overall with the resources we count.

About human history, we have the biological pieces of evidence of evolution found in excavations, like human skeletons mostly. Things we know now about these matters people wouldn't be able to understand 2000 ago. So with this understanding of ourselves as living beings that evolved from the animal kingdom, what has made us different from other animals? The use of complex languages and the capability to significantly transform objects and our surroundings, civilization. It is not static, we are using it right now because we inherited it from the ones that were before us. Yeah, I'm typing letters on a laptop in my bedroom and that can be viewed on any other device in any part of the world. That's cool. I'm rambling.

The further to the past we go, the more difficult is to find evidence of civilization, so the more ancient, the more valuable in these two senses. Because it was difficult to find and because they tell us a real story of something that was done or happened at the hands of our ancestors so long ago.

I don't fucking care if these shreds of evidence are Mesopotamian, European, Asian, African, or American, and I don't think you should either.

 

[Mesopotamian]

16 hours ago, Hatfort said:

We human beings not only live through our lifespans but have also developed a natural curiosity about different fields such as science, natural history, human history, astronomy, etc... We want to know, we value knowledge for itself, and it drives us. When we find a fossil of a giant or tiny animal that lived millions of years ago, we observe the type of stones of a mountain or the mountain itself, they give us real pieces of evidence of a bigger picture of time. We make the puzzle as accurately as we can with many blank spaces, we probably make wrong assumptions along the way, but yet we do pretty well overall with the resources we count.

in today's world that applies on western universities and people who go there, other than that, the other people are struggling to go through their days. I live in Iraq, and a state rich of oil and natural resources, and I don't have access to power 24/7. I spend month sometimes sick or trying to avoid hot whether or cold whether just because I am unable to secure a damn room with controlled climate. 

So what you say is actually a luxury for few people..

16 hours ago, Hatfort said:

About human history, we have the biological pieces of evidence of evolution found in excavations, like human skeletons mostly. Things we know now about these matters people wouldn't be able to understand 2000 ago. So with this understanding of ourselves as living beings that evolved from the animal kingdom, what has made us different from other animals? The use of complex languages and the capability to significantly transform objects and our surroundings, civilization. It is not static, we are using it right now because we inherited it from the ones that were before us. Yeah, I'm typing letters on a laptop in my bedroom and that can be viewed on any other device in any part of the world. That's cool. I'm rambling.

I feel seeking knowledge is just a luxury, at one point you gotta ask yourself, what significance it has to find older and older skeleton? for me it only fuels the careers of some people. Museums, professors...etc

16 hours ago, Hatfort said:

The further to the past we go, the more difficult is to find evidence of civilization, so the more ancient, the more valuable in these two senses. Because it was difficult to find and because they tell us a real story of something that was done or happened at the hands of our ancestors so long ago.

I mean can't this energy spent there finding those be used in other places? 

Thanks

[Hatfort]

Yeah, man. Guess what, not everything is about you. We all have our own sack of problems.

Welcome to the world!