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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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Posted on 04/30/2006 4:38:05 PM PDT by gd124
THE archeologists could barely hide their excitement. Beneath the main square of Ecija, a small town in southern Spain, they had unearthed an astounding treasure trove of Roman history.
They discovered a well-preserved Roman forum, bath house, gymnasium and temple as well as dozens of private homes and hundreds of mosaics and statues — one of them considered to be among the finest found.
But now the bulldozers have moved in. The last vestiges of the lost city known as Colonia Augusta Firma Astigi — one of the great cities of the Roman world — have been destroyed to build an underground municipal car park.
Dr Sonia Zakrzewski, a senior lecturer in archeology at Southampton University who has worked on the site, said: “It is a real shock when things like this happen. I am surprised it has gone ahead. There is no doubt this site is of fundamental importance to archeology.”
Much of the site has been hurriedly concreted over: the only minor concession to archeologists and historians, is to leave a tiny section on show for tourists. The rest will be space for 299 cars.
The Roman city has proved to be one of the biggest in the ancient world. Its estimated 30,000 citizens dominated the olive oil industry. Terracotta urns from Ecija have been discovered as far away as Britain and Rome.
The region produced three Roman emperors — Trajan, Theodosius and Hadrian — and the research has shown that Ecija was almost as important in the Roman world as Cordoba and Seville.
The socialist council says that had it not dug up the main square, Plaza de Espana, to build the car park in 1998, the remains would never have been found. But it insists the town must press ahead with the new car park.
“Nonsense,” says the town’s chief archeologist, Antonio Fernandez Ugalde, director of the municipal museum. “For some reason, the politicians here think it is more important to park their own cars. It simply does not make sense.”
But despite opposition from numerous other archeological groups and the Spanish Royal Academy of Art, there is now no possibility of restoring the 2,000-year-old Roman town.
The most exquisite discovery was a statue, known as the Wounded Amazon, modelled on an ancient Greek goddess of war. Only three other such statues are known to exist. The one in Ecija is in by far the best condition with some of its original decorative paint intact.
Juan Wic, the mayor, who is responsible for the car park project, said he was happy to have kept one of his main election pledges. He said it was “essential for the commercial future of the square and city”
There is a difference in treating animals with some respect and not inflict pain and stress when it can be avoided and human rights.
Good for them. Do it again!!!! Now, if this had been a habitat for the spotted owl or snail darter then the bulldozers would never have gone forward. In 2000 years the scientist can lament when they dig up a 2007 Nissan and it gets sent to the crusher. It'll be worth the same as some dead guy's community bath tub... LOL
Yep. People travel all over the World to photograph them.
Exactly. Because if the parking lot weren't there, they'd have to travel 50 miles outside of it, then be bussed on an inconvenient, filthy, infrequent mode of public transportation to within 5 miles of it and then they'd have to hike it into the spot and by that time, it's too dark for pictures.
The commercial future of his city would have been assured by tourists if they had reconstructed such a wonderful site.
Socialists are as evil as Islamists.
Not that I endorse losing ancient treasures like this, but this is the kind of thing that happens when your empire fails.
Roman cities have been getting paved over for a long time now. It's just the way it is. Regretable, that this town didn't have the foresight to see the value in this discovery, but value is relative.
There is no such thing as a stupid question. Sometimes, however, it is a case of, 'if you have to ask it, you will never understand the answer.
The obvious 'connection' is that politicians everywhere are more concerned with their own comforts, perks, and agendas, than with the public good they are supposedly charged with upholding.
Hi,
That story about an ancient city comes from a Creationist writer, and as a Floridian I can say it is obviously nonsense. No such city exists, and digging a canal anywhere, and definitely Florida, wouldn't go 'far below sea level'.
But other than that and the aqueducts, what did the Romans ever do for them?
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| GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach | |
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Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. |
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