Another one, "Eyes to See" = "Looks Like"

 
The "Looks like" argument again.

1) Suppose the erosion on the Sphinx is wind and salt crystallisation and not flowing water... but I'd like to ask, given the relief of the hill into which the Sphinx enclosure was dug (and its relationship to the causeway to its south), this water was "flowing" from where, though? Why was it not flowing downhill, but along the slope? (Look at the relief of the TOP of the sides of the Sphinx enclosure, highest on the NE corner). Anyone care to draw us a plan of where this imaginary deluginuous water was collecting and flowing from and to - taking into account the form of the land before the tomb cemetery was built...

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2) I would like to ask those who think an outcrop at Yonaguni is a building, to give us a reconstruction of it in use, showing people to scale, using its various spaces and platforms. What were the various bits of it used for? All those superfluous steps that lead nowhere, a threesided "pool"... So you stand on the top... and do what? How do you actually get ON the top without having to scale a sheer wall? Where is the door? How can this rock function as a building? Can we see the othr outcrops in the vicinity? Like the one to the left in this visualisation... 

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What Happens When you Do Public Archaeology?

 I just want to make a record of this behaviour. The sociology of popular science.

Here's a tweet:

In my opinion, in the debate, Flint Dibble produced a very balanced and well-argued response to what Hancock had written and said in the past. Here's some of the reactions of Hancock's supporters. Question: How many of them actually listened to the points being made? 

Pretty mind-boggling. What kind of mind-world do these people inhabit? Why are they reading an archaeology thread if they have not the slightest intention of making any effort to understand what they read there? What kind of social inadequate is it that sees a post like this only as a space, an opportunity to show their own ignioorance, disregard and how 'alternative science' empowers boors like these? This is the primitive tribal mentality that votes Brexit, votes Trump  and drives like an idiot with zero regard for otthers on the road. 

Hancock and Dibble: Public Archaeology versus Amateurish Theorising and gaslighting

 

This evening I suspect I was not alone in spending four hours of my time watching a debate moderated (by Joe Rogan) between popular writer Graham Hancock and the archaeologist Flint Dibble about Hancock's theories presented in the popular 2022 Netflix series "Ancient Apocalypse" [henceforth AA]. Here's the synopsis of the series from the Wikipedia article on the series: 

Synopsis
In the series, Hancock argues that an advanced ice age civilization was destroyed in a cataclysm, but that its survivors introduced agriculture, monumental architecture and astronomy to hunter-gatherers around the world. He attempts to show how several ancient monuments are evidence of this, and claims that archaeologists are ignoring or covering up this alleged evidence. [...]

He builds the narrative around the Younger Dryas impact hypothesis, which attributes climate change between "12900 and 12800 years ago" at the end of the Pleistocene to a massive impact with something falling out of the sky (meteor, comet). 

Dibble had been one of the archaeologists critical of AA and like another one (who refused the invitation) was challenged by Hancock to a public recorded debate. Dibble has previously written very sensibly (among other things) on pseudoarchaeology and I was interested to see what happened. To be honest, I was expecting it to be a trainwreck, and it could so easily have been - Hancock was trying very hard. 

Dibble starts off really well with "what is archaeology" with quite a striking artefact to break the ice.. but more than that as it immediately addresses the "looks-like" approach of pseudoarchaeology (and indeed portable antiquities collection/antiquitism) and draws attention to CONTEXT. A really clever opener. 

The second slide (went over Hancock's head, it later transpired) showed survey data, making the point how much data we have - but also (and this is what GH missed) that archaeology is not just about excavating. Slide three mentions looting (big plus from me there....) and the fragility of the record. This leads into him giving a quick summary of GH's theories, and how he proposes to test them. His whole introductory talk (despite dumb interruptions from Rogan which we could have done without) was really well-prepared, succinct and to the point.

Crimean Site Damaged by Occupant in Infrastructure Works

In occupied Crimea, Russian authorities are accused of not being taking much care of the archaeological heritage (Hague Convention anyone?). In Sevastopol, just south of the walled circuit is an archaeological site with a two-thousand-year history – the Necropolis of Saints in the Каrаntinna Balka ['Quarantine Valley'] in Chersonesos Tavriya. Reportedly, it was partially destroyed by construction equipment during the laying of a sewer, despite local residents expressing concern, the work reportedly continues regardless. This is not the first time that the administration of the Governor of Sevastopol (current incumbent Mikhail Vladimirovich Razvozhayev) has been accused of revelopment of parts of the historical city without the proper preceding administrative procedues to protect the archaeological heritage. 

Hat tip Gyunduz Mamedov

Using Google Can Damage the Archaeological Heritage

    "This belongs in a museum"? (Wikipedia)        

     

This comes as no surprise, researchers have shown that Google Search really has got worse ( Jason Koebler, 'Google Search Really Has Gotten Worse, Researchers Find' 404media.co Jan 16, 2024). "Researchers, from Leipzig University, Bauhaus-University Weimar, and the Center for Scalable Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence, set out to answer the question "Is Google Getting Worse?" by studying search results [...]". I think archaeologists could have answered this question with examples quite a while ago. If a curious member of the public wanted to explore an archaeological topic in detail, they'd do better to get some wisely chosen books on it. If instead they trustingly turn to the Internet for their information and use a search engine then they'll be fed a misleading vision of that archaeology. The picture they would get would be a rather specific one. Instead of unlimited amounts of reliable open access archaeological information, a single mouse-click away, supplied by academia or the museum world, they will primarily be faced with having to peruse page after page of adverts offering examples of artefacts related to that topic for sale and texts about their private collection. This is a reflection of the increasing use of the internet primarily as a commercial tool of modern capitalist trade, a process that has intensified from 2015 onwards.

For example, I've just finished writing about the dolphin coins of Olbia (a Greek colony in what is now Ukraine) of the 6th to 4th centuries BC. Olbia and its environs are fascinating sites with much to tell... and these 'dolphins' are fascinating objects for what they could (if not looted) contribute to that story. Yet, if you do a Google search pn them, you'll get none of that. At the time of writing, scrolling down the search results indicated that the top forty hits were dealers’ sites offering examples of these coins of uncertain legitimacy of origin for sale at the time. Below this, the 6290 search results for different permutations of “Olbia dolphin coins” were strongly dominated by marketing materials for antiquities for sale.

That's it none of that socio-archaeological mumbo-jumbo about exchange networks, the rise of a monetary econonomy [you know, ours] and its co-existence (or not) with a natural one, where all that metal came from and why, how the workshops that made them were organised. Oh no. "Here's a special offer, a real authentic piece of Ancient Greece, we'll even throw in a plastic box to keep it in with a printed card full of cutesy crap information we pulled off wikipedia" (most of the sellers, copying from each other, get the dates of production seriously wrong - they've never heard of stratigraphy).

So, Google-archeology is all about "digging up old things to buy and sell [never mind the paperwork]".This is the origin of the bonkers view taking over that ripping up sites with metal detectors and spades is somehow "good" for the heritage and archaeology as a whole because ... "digging up old things, innit?". That's the "shooting-all-the-British-Ospreys-and-stuffing-them-so-we-can-look-at-them-and-study-them-in-museums-and-private-collections" argument, innit? Would work too with the Red-knobbed Coot. Archaeologists and tekkies who hold these views should try and persuade the birdies. Why not? It'll "save them from being killed by the pesticides, and windfarms".

Julie Muncy @juliemuncy23 · Jan 17
it is unnerving to consider the possibility that there was, in human history, a brief window where all public knowledge was easily accessible for anyone with a computer, and that this window has now closed.

 

The Fate of Poland's Bad Raubgrabungen Law [Updated, but in Polish, sort of]

 A little bit for my Polish readers who asked me a question, the rest of you please just bear with me, it's all happening here, Polish metal detectorists have now declared war with the "traitors and anti-Poles" and "lefty whores" in government (oh yes, every country's metal detecting community has their boorish John-Howland-clones).

A na czym stanęło z nowelizacją ustawy, a w zasadzie z odkręceniem nowelizacji? @PortantIssues...

Well I'll tell'ya, as far as I can make out. 

1 Na chwilę obecną, dokument proponujący odwrócenie zmian dokonanych przez szkodliwą „nowelizację” znajduje się jeszcze w Sejmowej Komisji Kultury i nie został jeszcze przedstawiony Sejmowi.

2. „Aplikacja” nie została utworzona ani przetestowana. I nic nie wskazuje na to, aby w najbliższej przyszłości miało się to zmienić. W tegorocznym budżecie nie przewidziano żadnych pieniędzy na obsługę aplikacji przez WKZ i reagowanie na „ogromną ilość” informacji, które będą napływać (nie?) w wyniku jej wykorzystania.

3. Jeżeli nic się nie zmieni, od 1 maja nie będzie już możliwości ubiegania się o nowe zezwolenie na korzystanie z wykrywacza metali (stan prawny wydanych już na ten okres zezwoleń jest niepewny)*

4. Nielegalne będzie wykrywanie metali bez zarejestrowania przeszukania. Zgodnie z Ustawą, która wejdzie w życie 1 maja (ze względu na sposób jej sformułowania), można to zrobić tylko w JEDEN sposób – poprzez konkretny wniosek wymieniony w ustawie.*

5. Skutek tego jest taki, że NIKT (również archeolodzy) nie będzie mógł legalnie szukać zabytków za pomocą wykrywacza metali, dopóki sytuacja się nie zmieni. To właśnie udało się osiągnąć PZE.

6. Jednakże w ciągu ostatnich kilku dni Komisji Kultury przedstawiono nową propozycję. Dokument ten, jeśli zostanie przyjęty, przedłuży okres obowiązywania obecnej ustawy (i wprowadzenia nowej) do 1 maja 2025 r.*

7. Koledzy sugerują, że stoi za tym zamysl, aby obecny Prezydent, który podpisał tę głupią „Nowelizację”, nie zawetował ustawy ją uchylającej. Nie jestem pewien, czy taki jest motyw (wybory prezydenckie są trzy tygodnie po 1 maja, więc Duda miałby jeszcze czas, żeby je zawetować).

Podejrzewam, że w ciągu najbliższych miesięcy będziemy świadkami systematycznej akcji łapania i demaskowania „nocnych jastrzębi” (poszukiwania bez wymaganej prawem dokumentacji: pozwolenia i zgody właściciela gruntu – „tak jak w Anglii”, jak chcieli). Zostanie to wykorzystane przeciwko poszukiwaczom. Można to wykorzystać do podniesienia świadomości społecznej i przedstawienia poglądu, że choć istnieje LEGALNY sposób poszukiwania zabytków, duża liczba polskich wykrywaczy metali całkowicie go ignoruje. Pokaże, że nie ma znaczenia, czy jest to pozwolenie, czy wniosek, większość poszukiwaczy naprawdę ma to wszystko w dupie. 8. Kilka miesięcy temu złożono petycję, w której proszono o udostępnienie tym pełnym pasji hobbystom tego „sposobu na legalne wykrywanie metali”. Mimo że w Polsce miało być (według MKiDN) 100 000 poszukiwaczy metali... podpisało się z nich mniej niż 30 000 [wraz ze wszystkimi ich przyjaciółmi, rodziną i bliskimi]. Teraz pojawił się nowy, domagający się weta prezydenta wobec odwrócenia „nowelizacji” [NB atakuje archeologów w najbardziej prostacki i agresywny sposób], miał zaledwie 17 000 podpisów. Wygląda na to, że entuzjazm poszukiwaczy w przestrzeganiu prawa słabnie.

Niszczycielska grabież stanowisk i zespołów archeologicznych jako źródło luźnych przedmiotów kolekcjonerskich musi stać się równie nieakceptowalna społecznie, jak noszenie futer.

* Już nieaktualne: Wczoraj na Komisji Kultury przegłosowano wejście w życie ustawy na 1 maja 2025 r. Klepnął to już wczoraj następnie Sejm w głosowaniu. Wejście w życie ustawy przesunięto o rok. Wybieg po to by zdążyć z tworzeniem nowej ustawy. Stara nie może wrócić bo jest to nieprawne wg Biura Analiz. Katarzyna Krzykowska, Anna Kruszyńska, 'Sejm przyjął z poprawkami ustawę zmieniającą nowelę ustawy o ochronie zabytków i opiece nad zabytkami' PAP 12-04-2024.

So all's well, that ends well, for now. Watch this space. A lot can happen in that year, but writing the Act anew is not likely to be one of them. But that actually is what is needed.

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Spotlighting War’s Cultural Destruction in Central and Eastern Ukraine

We can confidently say that Europe

has not experienced destruction of this magnitude,

let alone this quickly, since World War II.

An important essay by  an archaeologist, anthropologist, and film expert in The Conversation (Kuijt, I. Shydlovskyi, P. and Donamaura W 'Spotlighting War’s Cultural Destruction in Ukraine' 9th April 2024)

War does not just destroy lives. It also tears at the fabric of culture. And in the case of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, now about to enter its third year, the remarkable destruction of Ukrainian history and heritage since 2022 hasn’t been a matter of collateral damage. Rather, the Russian military has deliberately targeted museums, churches, and libraries that are important to the Ukrainian people.

A small group of archaeologists and filmmakers working closely with Ukrainian colleagues, made two nine-day trips (in March and October 2023) to the eastern parts of Ukraine to try and get an idea of what was happening. This is something I have been thinking about, looking at the various media reports coming out of the area and some of the recent satellite coverage of defensive systems. The situation in Ukraine is exactly a mirror of what we see in Syria where tells, walled forts and towns have been turned into defensive positions. The authors report:

If traveling in Ukraine has taught us one important lesson, it’s that the digging of trenches can erase history. While the destruction of churches, libraries, and museums viscerally evokes a sense of loss, there’s an entire unseen world below the ground surface—filled with untold numbers of artifacts, bones, and buried buildings—that is exposed when trenches are created.

In fact, it’s likely that this war has destroyed more history and archaeology buried below the ground than above it.

As armies did during World War I, the Ukrainian military built deep trenches and bunkers along rivers and high ground in the early months of the war. Two years later, these defensive trench systems are a central element of the ground war and demarcate the front lines. In many cases, the trenches were dug into the remains of buried archaeological sites, most of which were previously unknown and untouched.

In March 2023, for example, we visited sites around Irpin and Bucha, two villages on the northern edge of Kyiv, to document how medieval and Bronze Age sites buried below the surface had been destroyed by trenches or, in other cases, are now blanketed by minefields to stop Russian military units.

We also went to the 11th-century archaeological site of Oster. Perched on a small hill, southeast of Chernihiv, Oster was an important regional center in the medieval period. It had a brick-and-stone church and a large settlement nearby. As part of the siege of Chernihiv in March 2022, Ukrainian troops built deep trenches and bunkers around the edges of Oster, since the site overlooks rivers and crossing points.

When we visited Oster a year after the invasion, we noticed that the trench system around the church was dug into a large 11th-century settlement and burial ground. Lying exposed on the dirt piles along the trenches were medieval human skeletal remains. The more we studied the system of trenches and bunkers, which encircles an area of about 650 feet, the more human bones we saw.

A crew of archaeologists has returned to photograph the destruction of these burial grounds. But given the ongoing war, it isn’t possible to fully document the destruction, let alone fill in the trenches, which still may be needed by soldiers.

The trenches are also part of the archaeology of this War and apart from the aerial and satellite photo evidence, some will end up being preserved as field monuments to this devastating episode in the future, and the fact that they destroyed archaeological sites will be the least of the problems.



Vignette: Ukrainian infantrymen in a partially dug trench along the frontline near Bakhmut, Ukraine. Photographer: John Moore/Getty Images.