25 Aug
1999
25 Aug
'99
1:13 a.m.
Well, archeology was, and still _is_ about value, and
I'm not
talking about anything beside money. Just look at your news.
If theres a stupid pile of roman silver, it's top news and
it gets a lot of attention. The historic value is zero, but
it's silver - on the other side, it needs a earth shaking
discovery (like the Keltic statue two years ago) just to
have a few lines...
Non sequitur, I think. I agree that the news coverage bears this out well, but
I don't agree that this is the opinion of _any_ serious archaeologist, amateur
or professional, of my acquaintance.
I think that news coverage is about money. The money mentality that pervades so
much of our society means that the newspapers measure the importance of
_anything_ they don't actually understand by the amount of money involved.
Money is as relevant to archaeologists as it is to the rest of us, but I don't
think it is the main driver for most, or even many, of the people who do
significant work in this field.
Philip.
PS I don't recall hearing about this Celtic statue - can you point me to more
detail?