[2001convSVT]

You have a point. I learned recently that no valve was place upon Egyptian antiquity until Napoleon took control of the country in the early 1800's. Up until westerner archaeologist told the native Egyptian that these relics were valuable and offered money for them the Egyptians treated them like garbage.

The only reason the Egyptians want all the ancient Egyptian stuff back now is to extort money from westerns to view/study the stuff.

[bwteim]

It's not just the Egyptians.

[stormlead]

That's because nationalism as an ideology didn't really arise until the 18th and 19th century.

Egyptians have incorporated Ancient Egypt into their national myth (we are better because we are older, etc- see Italy, Greece, Iran & Japan for more on this theory), and consequently, old rocks become culturally very significant around this time.

That, and they didn't get formal independence until 1922- its kind of hard to chase after your national treasures when you are part of the Ottoman Empire.

[Androcles]

Up until westerner archaeologist told the native Egyptian that these relics were valuable and offered money for them the Egyptians treated them like garbage

That happened/happens everywhere. In a subsitence or non-rich culture, locals always quarry the ancient ruing for stones for their house or grab the assorted oddities for mundance purposes.It's only richer societies who have the resources and leisure to promote the importance of preserving the past.