Valley of The Kings

[rabbitearbandicoot]

Just going to watch this show, while I'm gone, please feel free to discuss the difference between a grave robber and an  archeologist.

I am interested in people's opinions.

[fourandsixpants]

It's dinner time

[myoclon1cjerk]

The same difference as a banker and a thief?

[twyngwyn]

a grave robber has no regard & an archaeologist takes years

[rabbitearbandicoot]

they both break into a person's grave / tomb. They both remove all the items from the tomb. They both sell their finds.

[twyngwyn]

their motives are usually different - one is out for self-gain, the other wants a template for history

[rabbitearbandicoot]

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@twyngwyn wrote:
their motives are usually different - one is out for self-gain, the other wants a template for history

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Yes, the grave robbers motive was probably to feed his children - the archaelogist - spoilt rich guys that wanted to make an impression 'at the club' - something to boast about over brandy and a cigar - just like their elephant tusks and their stuffed tigers.

[myoclon1cjerk]

That's just a stereotype perpetuated by fiction writers and the movie industry, rabbitearbandicoot.
I remember when Sir Alistair Shackleton-Smyth and I sailed up the Zambesi on our way to the sacred burial grounds of Cucamonga.Our porters,carrying our stores of gin and cigars.......

[iapetus_rocks]

They are dusty old things buried in the ground by people who never intended that they be dug up out of the ground to be grokked at by people who give them as much attention and consideration as they would a colourful comic book.

The value of ancient artifacts varies according to who you are and how much money you have and who you want to impress by the ownership of such things.

Is there any value in what they teach us about how the ancients lived? Is there any real value? any lesson we could learn from them about how we should live today?

I'm interested in these things too, but i cannot escape the fact that my interest is from a position of page-turning comic book thumbing.

To some of the people in whose lands these objects lie, they are the very means to life itself when they are sold off for an income which they could not hope to otherwise earn.

It is interesting to see these items, but how much importance do they really have even though it might cost much money to buy them?