Italy has returned the 3,000 year old religious monument to the holy city of Axum, from where it was stolen by dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937.
Posted on 04/26/2005 12:32:38 AM PDT by nickcarraway
The head of the global body of archaeologists says the theft of sacred and historical artefacts is a huge problem in Asia.
Claire Smith, an Adelaide-based academic, says this weekend's return of the second part an ancient Ethiopian obelisk, looted by the Italians in the 1930s, highlights the importance of restoring lost history.
Dr Smith, head of the World Archaeological Congress, says Asia suffers particularly from looting.
"It is a big problem in Asia and you can see objects in Asia, say, Buddhas that have had their heads chopped off, and the heads are stolen, and I think things like returning this obelisk is part of educating people that these things should be with the cultures that originally made them, understood in context, like the Buddha without the head, how can you understand that?" she said.
"The story it tells is a story of destruction, and looting."
Ping.
This person is like, head of World Archaeological Congress? Like wow, like, can you understand the context of that? can you like, get your head around that? Like a buddah without a head, can you like, understand that?
sheeesh!
This is a HUGE problem. Iran (and all of what is considered "Mesapotamia") is very rich in archaeological history. Unfortunately, for years and years due to a corrupt government (yeah, I know, what am I talking about, there is no corruption in the government of Islam...geez *rolling eyes*) much of the national treasures there have been dug up and sold off to private collectors...citizens regularly loot sites there. It's a huge problem.
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
The GGG Digest -- Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)
"Thanks rdl6989. Tried to find a topic on the Taliban's destruction of the Bamiyan Buddha statues using Google but didn't find anything specific."
*******
Now that computer technology has advance so much.....it has become harder to find both sides of an issue......years ago you use to be able to get a Bio now it is more like a resume....
Try Dan Rather bio and what do you get?????
It seems like only the left agenda is reveal positive and the everything else is losted.....or just the negative on the right!
I wonder if only Lexus Nexus (sp)you can get all sides....but the common man can't aford LN!
Of all these report you gather.....but how accurate are they an is for someone else agenda......
I love the subjects but get really disappointed that it seems agenda driven.....
My advice is to put in your library as many copies of history books before 1940 be it secular or religious, Great Works, 1911 Britannica encyclopedia, Philosophy before those things were/are edit or revised...
Maybe someone who has the ability will make these things availible on CD or what ever new storage method!
Taliban toiled for a month to topple ancient Buddhas
http://www.detnews.com/2002/nation/0203/21/a08-445913.htm
Bamiyan Buddha found on my personal home page...MyYahoo.com
http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Bamiyan+Buddha+&tab=Web&fr=my-vert-web-top&btn=Yahoo%21+Search+
The guy makes his living writing books on dangerous places.
Any way, talking with the then-Taliban leader, the "reason" for the destruction of the Buddhas was to show the
Western aid providers that "stone statues are nothing compared to the needs of the people".
Obviously, their culture didn't keep up with the intended use of a soccer stadium, let alone "modern" aid in the form
of vacinations, etc.
Google isn't what it used to be, I don't know why. I used to love Google.
The Statues Did no WrongWhen the Indian archaeologist Rakhaldas Sengupta first went to Bamiyan in Afghanistan in 1964, it was a tiny little village with two gigantic stone-cut Buddha statues in a state of utter disrepair. When he was there last, in 1977, Bamiyan was a bustling tourist spot, and the Buddha statues had been fully restored... The two governments shared the cost of the project, with India contributing Rs 2 million towards it. Afghanistan provided the Indian team with material and the labour - convicts who came for work heavily escorted every morning. Chemicals were shipped from India via Karachi, Pakistan... The vandalism, Sengupta believes, started in the ninth century. Medieval emperor Genghis Khan burnt a portion of the wooden armature and Mogul ruler Aurangzeb destroyed the legs. Modern vandals damaged the statues too, for Sengupta's team found the colossi riddled with gunshots and arrowheads... The big Buddha, the fourth tallest Buddha statue in the world, was 55 metres high and the smaller one, a kilometre away, was 38 metres tall. Work came to a standstill for six months every October, as the mountains turned white with snow. A guard took care of the colossi until the Indians returned in the spring.
even worse, in an ancient rome history class we were told that about 50% of the marble was burnt to make lime, also a good portion of it found its way into St Peter's Cathedral
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