Tuesday 20 October 2020

Dig for History

 

Have you ever been on a dig? I don't mean digging your own garden to plant vegetables. I mean a historical dig in an ancient site in the hope of finding ... I don't know ... Shakespeare's Stradivarius violin perhaps!

Anyway, the other day I went to a dig not far from us. As a guest of course. They said it was some old burial ground dating back to the stone age, or bronze age or other such thing. But not as old as my mother-in-law I suspect. 

So there they were, these experts with their tiny brushes and little toothpicks gently tickling the ground so as not to disturb anything valuable. The guide was explaining it all to us whilst I was sleep-walking hoping I was at home with a Guinness as a companion rather than him. He was a sure cure to insomnia and was so old I thought they'd dug him up as an exhibit for the visitors. Can you imagine? A real-live bronze age man telling you in perfect English (Cornwall accent) all about life back then.

I suggested they would dig much faster if they used one of those great JCB diggers or excavators you see on building sites, or in farms. I got a sharp elbow in the ribs by you know who.

As we toured the site I noticed on the ground a broken shaving razor. It was old and rusty but you could read the letters Gillet ... I asked the guide whether Gillet was perhaps an ancient bronze age leader, or Roman Centurion perhaps from when they conquered England. He did not reply. Perhaps he was a little hard of hearing. I also noticed several stubs of used cigarettes, proving maybe that these ancient people smoked the same brands as we do.

The dig area was the size of a tennis court; although the whole site to be excavated was perhaps ten times that. I thought it would take ages to get on with this historical dig, and in the meantime hold back whatever work is scheduled to be done here. A new road perhaps, or an apartment block or whatever.  

Is it right that we spend so much time literally digging for history? And if we do find something from the bronze age; a bronze electric kettle perhaps; what would we have learnt? That they were an advanced race who invented the kettle before discovering electricity?

The find would end up in a museum somewhere and then what? People would visit to gawp at it and school children would be asked to write an essay about it. Lord ... how I hated those museum visits in my school days. Our teacher was so old when he retired he became an exhibit at that museum; next to mom-in-law!

And what of the future? Will we leave things underground for future generations to discover?

I remember of a project some years back where they buried a box with various artefacts of today's world for future generations to discover and learn about us. Amongst the things in that box were DVDs of current music, and CDs with photos of our town at the time the box was buried. They forgot to bury with it a DVD/CD player!

I suggested they put in the box my string vest to show the future the size of moths we have.

They ignored me!

23 comments:

  1. ...an archaeological dig seems too tedious for me. When I was in the landscape/nursery business I learned that digging a hole is the only job where you start at the top and work your way down.

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    1. That is true, Tom. When I dig the garden I always dig a big hole first to put the dirt in from the holes I'll dig afterwards.

      God bless.

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  2. When I was younger, I thought it would be fun to go on an archeology dig, Victor. However, the tedium of such an activity today would make me want to take a nap, too! Love the humor in this one today, my friend.
    Blessings!

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    1. I remember years ago visiting a dig of what was supposed to be an ancient burial site. The people were there in the dirt with little brushes moving the dust here and there slowly. It was terribly boring and I thought somehow it was wrong to disturb those who'd have been buried there. My sense of humour got my imagination running wild about zombies rising from the dead and sticking those little brushes in peoples' ... ears! But I said nothing and pretended to be interested.

      I think I'm a coward, Martha.

      God bless.

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  3. I’m afraid that, with my hyper-ness, I would be a bit overwrought at the tedium. It would be nice to dig up some gold pieces or such. Good story sprinkled with just the right amount of humor. I needed that today. Thank you.

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    1. Great to see you here again Nells. Thanx. Call again when you need more humour. Invite your friends too.

      God bless.

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  4. You can aways dig up some humour on this blog, that's for sure. :)

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    1. Thanx Bill. I need humour to keep me cheerful in these times.

      God bless, my friend.

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  5. A few years ago I took part in building and burying a Time Capsule at my former workplace. Funny, how full of ourselves we seemed. I realize these digs have their place, but can't think of a more boring exercise. Unless you were there, perhaps. *smile*

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    1. Yes I was there; and I didn't realise that bronze age people smoked the same brands of cigarettes that we do now.

      When I expressed my discovery I was told to shut up. People don't appreciate my insight, Mevely.

      God bless.

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  6. I'm always amazed that they know what they are digging up.

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    1. They're still looking for Shakespeare's cell phone.

      God bless Happyone.

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  7. No! How could they even think of ignoring you, Victor! Impossible ...

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    1. Everyone ignores me, Linda. Even my reflection in the mirror.

      God bless.

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  8. Dearest Victor,
    You are so right about this...
    We once worked an entire week in North Dacota, as a matter of fact I worked for FREE alongside Pieter in minus 40 degree Celsius. Never ever would I go back there in January!!! BUT the owner that faced bankruptcy in his mushroom growing business, had also a gravel business. He told us the story of one day, they were excavating for gravel and grinding it fine before loading, and a skull was found. So he called the department for having a look at it, knowing that maybe some early native Americans had lived there. Well, he said he was terribly sorry for even having called them. Indeed, they came and they worked as you described here above and by doing so, they shut his business down for weeks. Quite a loss for him. So his mantra since then has been: 'Whatever skull or bone you see, keep grinding!'
    My best friend's son did for his kids at the day of baptism something unique. Putting a bottle of wine, letters from all the guests present, aimed at the 18-year old, who would open up this crate at said birthday. Now that will be valuable as there also are video tapes and photos from the event and several of the older ones will no longer be with us...
    As for that DVD/CD player you mentioned, indeed it will be useless in no time!
    Hugs,
    Mariette

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    1. That's quite an interesting story, Mariette. Both the dig of the skull and the souvenirs for your friend's son. It is good to leave something for our children when they grow up.

      God bless you always my friend.

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  9. Sweetie was an archaeologist, and i once went with him to pick up dinosaur poop they had dug up at a national park out in Texas. Yes, really. True digs are mostly boring, Indiana Jones is just in the movies.

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    1. Thank you Mimi; for agreeing with me that it was boring. I guess they learn a lot from what is discovered in digs.

      God bless.

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  10. Actually I did once participate in a dig. It was local to my area and with an archeological team from a college. But I have always said that I want to be buried and preserved as well as possible, so that centuries from now they can dig up my skeleton and place it in some university lab!

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    1. What? You want to be the one dug up in a dig? But your name is Manny, not Doug. It would not be suitable would it?

      God bless, Manny.

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  11. I've never been on one, but I think an archaeological dig could be quite tedious
    Having said that, I'm pleased there are those who don't find they are, indeed there have been many good finds.

    All the best Jan

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    1. I only visited one, and yes, it was tedious. One needs a lot of patience for this work.

      God bless, Jan.

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