Archaeology – Being Made, Lost, Found and Restored

UNESCO criteria

Thru time, the peoples of the world have interacted with their environment and wanted to build. They wanted things to bring them shelter and comfort. To show reverence for their faith and ancestors. And to show their understanding of their world.

Maybe it was even pride at their skill. They wanted to show others passing by that they were craftsmen.

From the stone age on, they’ve left behind monuments of their experience. Some fell to ruin from disuse, some were destroyed by armies passing thru and some deteriorated over time.

Some ignorance has been shown of their larger cultural purpose and meaning. Because they were recovered and studied by outsiders. Seeing many mounds and mountains, outsiders thought they were trying to emulate nature. And that may have only been part of their purpose. They may also have been built and placed to study the stars. What better way than to raise yourself above the bustle of daily living?

Why were they placed where they were? The oral history talks about places of ‘power’. It may have been a battle fought, where a temple once was, where a shaman had a vision….. who knows? It could even have been early understanding of things like energy (some call them ley lines now). The original purpose may have been lost to time, but the people know that it was important to their ancestors.

So they tried to keep it. And lost the battle to the climate, armies, other religions and even their own changes of govt. When a ruler’s heir wanted to mark their own stamp on the people. So they built over what had been before. Or changed the purpose of it’s past use.

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Centuries later, people came by and ‘discovered’ this monument to the past. And they may have picked it apart or ‘restored’ it, in the name of ‘study’. They may have allowed people to traipse thru it who the early people would have been offended to have within it’s walls if they’d had a say. They may have relocated it to a museum or even another land in the name of ‘protecting’ it. Or because they felt like playing a game of ‘finders’ keepers’. They felt entitled to keep it for themselves.

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What had been hidden was ‘discovered’, almost by cheating. Modern man used tools that no ancestor could possibly have known of. Like sonar on an sea or river bed, or carbon to date it. Disclosing secrets that were never meant to be understood or even seen by outsiders. And used colours and materials to ‘restore’ the monument that would have offended the early people.

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That’s the duality involved when you effectively go back in time to ‘study’ early people. And you have to ask if you even should. But do we have the responsibility to know the global history so we can learn from it? The people are gone, or we could ask them how they feel. In some cases we can’t even ask people of that faith or language/culture group to help. And some don’t even think of doing so anyways.

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Doesn’t that mean though that we don’t have a full understanding of the meaning of the monument to the people who created it and used it? Could we be insulting them?

Probably.

Q – Skepticism – Do you have to see evidence of something or is nothing sometimes evidence?

Getting into debates of science vs religion, creationism vs evolution, often leaves me feeling like only half the discussion is had and it’s a waste of time for both sides.

Most creationists who argue this topic do so from the xtian POV first of all. It isn’t the only religion though. And the problems faced then aren’t the same.

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For eg. If you take the Bible literally, there is a timeline of approx 6000 yrs since creation.

But not all xtians take the Bible literally. And what about the other faiths?

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Scientists, esp astronomers, consider the possibility of null space or voids when they study the universe. But they rarely consider applying that to whether things exist in faith that you just can’t see. Like the existence of God. Or maybe it’s not by seeing the thing, but the thing’s actions or effects. Like we know wind exists because we see effects and feel it. But we’ve never seen wind. Radioactive isotopes were studied long before ‘proof’ of them was found too. Sometimes it’s about the equipment we study with. Scientists theorize that things like worm holes and black holes exist. But they’ve never seen those either.

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Anthropomorphism is an issue when you look at other species, the possibility of the divine, and other cultures. We expect them to be like us rather than considering them as they are. Which in the case of divinities, we project human definitions of things like good and evil onto them.

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Do miracles exist? We certainly do know that we can’t explain everything. But does that mean it’s a miracle?

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What about the existence of the soul? We’ve scanned the body and brain head to toe. We might not have an explanation for how everything works or it’s purpose for being there (a good eg is the appendix), but there are no empty places where a soul could exist. But however you see humans in the chain of species, either we are unique in deed or in hubris. Which in the end, doesn’t make much difference. We’re then unique.

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I could go on (and have in separate discussions IRL and on line). But I think you get the idea of what type of things you either take on faith, as cultural thought, or you discount as a skeptic. But as a skeptic, should you discount them altogether? That’s what I’m really asking.

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If you’re familiar with Einstein, you know he was actually a man of faith as well as science. I think based on what I’ve read about him, he’d say that the absence of proof doesn’t automatically mean something doesn’t exist. It just means you have to keep looking,

What Makes a Good Podcast?

• Do you like science or magic?
• Do you like debate or certainty/expertise?
• How about some kind of behind the scenes drama/gossip? Does it create more interest if you see people on social media dragging the author or view thru the mud?
• Does the presenter have to be an expert themselves? Or is it ok if they’re basically the MC and they just talk to the experts?
• Do you like just the talking heads (or voices) or do you prefer pictures and video changes?

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It’s all there. You can say yes or no to any question. And you’ll find something to enjoy. Or maybe even do yourself in whatever interests you.

But It’s your own culture….. (points to ponder only)

I know you’ve grown up on the inside of whatever group you belong to, but what do you know of the history of your group? Do you know the place of origin for your practices and languages? Were there any times when your people were targeted or martyred? Did the faith of your people change? Did your people come to the land where you now live of their own free will? Because they wanted to discover new lands? Or as part of a diaspora due to war or persecution?

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Do you speak your mother tongue? Or wear the traditional dress? Do you cook traditional foods, at least on feast days? Do you go to your temple? Who in your family is the keeper of the traditions?

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It’s so important to look at whether or not you’ve been assimilated now and then. And to what degree.

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In my family, I’m the only one who can still speak, read and write in the languages of my culture. I don’t wear the clothing but I do eat the foods. Which isn’t that hard, considering the makings can be found in most grocery stores, even if the end product isn’t. I have taken courses about the history and have read a biography of the main leaders. I know when and why we left our place of origin. Which in my family would make me the keeper. If I were still in touch with my siblings anyways.

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Why am I thinking of this? Cultures, people and religions change for many reasons thru time. How we arrive here is often a really interesting story. But it’s often one of pain and terror. And many of these stories are coming to light in the hands of researchers. Or are they? Do you know if the story of your people is being told fairly? I guess I’m one of the lucky ones in that. I think it’s mostly true,

Dear Ivory Tower – A New Thought Came to Town!

When you’re getting your education, there are times when you get kind of blinded by what you’re learning. Stuck in field ruts. And it nearly takes an act(s) of God to get you to look up and around.

I mean what you are learning is accepted, right? Better minds than yours and all, ya know? How does a student DARE question the theory and the teacher??!

How does one theorist stand against all their colleagues when they risk everything by doing so? Even being called a kook or a junk scientist.

You’d have to have pretty sturdy evidence, right? Because you’re going to blow up the ivory tower you rely on.

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How do you correct for that? You don’t really WANT to be that blind, rigid, do you? There is such a thing as ‘hive mind’.

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It’s a lot of the reason why you begin your studies with at least 6 separate credits. For eg, I majored in psych (when on campus learning) and my first year creds were sociology, business, English tech writing, religion and philosophy. And I came into univ with medical science training (cert and experience). So the next years of study kept tweaking what I had learned in those courses as well. So instead of writing about just neurotic development, I was looking at cultural variance, economic interests and disease patterns that aren’t necessarily specific to psychology. Like the difference between dementia and early childhood development. It is in many ways a linear regression. More of an epidemiological approach. But about mental health vs bacteria or viruses.

It also meant I didn’t always fall in line when profs were telling me what field thought was.

Sometimes I had experienced things that I took into study or study validated. Like a family of addicts led me to read up on that and family violence/bad dynamics. Growing up in a religious environ that was almost cloistered for women led me to look at cult/occult groups.

Which to the people trying to guide me must have looked pretty odd. But to me it was therapeutic. I had an education like few others in the world would want or have.

And a serious search underlying both my on campus and online learning has been ethics, Which to me meant learning current techniques and a broader view of human study. That doesn’t allow for as in depth on one field either.

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What brought this thought up for me today was hearing on twitter that there was a show that was ‘out there’. So me being me, I watched it. And where they were saying it was bizarre, I was making connections. And I saw where the guy was going.

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If you want, you can watch the show. Or you can just leave it at reading this post. But it explains exactly what I mean by not being 100% into the hive mind of academia and the consequences you can face as a result.

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Ancient Apocalypse – Death on the Nile is about an Egyptologist who sees or doesn’t see what his field says he should and gets called a kook for it. But you know what? He just might be right…. Let me know what you think if you watch.

Learning – Subliminal Messages in Content

But is it though?

When course content shows a majority or course placement of white, European, Christian, male views…. at what point does it lose it’s credibility?

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Even if it does show other views, but doesn’t stick to historical place or even place of power in religion or military purpose, is it really inclusive?

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When religion and military are the arch focii of studies of culture, and we know they show as predominantly male, how do we correct for this?

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War discussions look at the strategies and tools of the winner. Not what they were up against and why they won.

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Even in discussion of tools, most of the reviews focus on hunting, war rather than craftwork or meal preparation.

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Can you compare fairly between cultures? And how would you do this? Perhaps by dividing the culture into smaller criteria – like tools, architecture, trade, written language, social roles, familial groupings, gender/sexual definitions? ….

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There has been some progress in this. But historical reviews are still in early stages. And in learning, that can be a real frustration. It can often harm the people you claim to be including. So at what point do we do more than review? More than study? And actually change our methods of learning?

Yale on Long Covid

Q – Is Public Health Just About the People?

People and their movement/collective behaviour has been a huge element of the discussion in this pandemic. Which is why the focus has been on things like masks, vaccines and lockdowns. As well as watching the presence of the virus in waste water, the people who need to be tested and treated. And the people’s risks, injuries of the disease and deaths. We have even looked at compliance to mandates and getting the vaccines.

But what if I suggested that we have a complete area of public health and behaviour that isn’t getting the focus it should be in precautions?

And what is that Ms P you ask?

In the past few years, there have been some efforts to circulate the air with fans and open windows, and use filters on HVAC systems and air filter boxes.

Sure these things all help and they help now. Which is important.

We’ve even discussed changing society by having school and work at least be hybrid if not having people stay at home rather than go to school or the office.

But is anyone seeing discussion of things like zoning: building codes about max residents in care facilities/wards, separate circulation systems maybe even bidgs for clinics, apts. office towers, about layouts, window placement. street width and patios, take out windows, drive thrus, sheltered wait areas, bike and walking paths.

See? There are shifts that need to be made in how we deal with pandemics. Because this won’t be the last one, and maybe not even the worst one. But no one is really looking at how our world/society needs to reorganize so we can buffer ourselves a bit better.

Why is that?

Mask Mandates in Ontario? – Polio, RSV, flu and COVID-19.

Just so you know:

• there are no vaccines at all for RSV, babies under 6 mths can’t get shots for either Covid or the flu.
• all the ICUs are full, Sick Kids and Ottawa are creating extra bed areas, ER times are now days long vs just hours, and in some places ambulance wait times are as long as an 1 hr.
• fever/pain meds for kids are really low stocked and even PMJT can’t get them here sooner than 2-3 weeks from now.

Polio isn’t currently in Ontario. But it is in New York. Babies get their first shot at 2 mths old. It’s spread thru P2P contact/droplets.

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Given these factors, some associations and hospitals have been calling for a new mask mandate in Ontario. But the OMoH is only warning, encouraging, recommending masks.

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How can you help? If you feel that masks in public/crowded and health spaces are necessary again, please sign this petition. Thank you!

Why isn’t evolution theory more widely taught?

Is it all due to religious backlash? If it were more widely taught, would we know more about the past too? Be able to answer these questions?:

1. Who was our direct evolutionary ancestor? Was it Homo heidelbergensis, like many paleoanthropologists think, or another species?
2. How much interbreeding occurred between our species and Homo neanderthalensis?
3. What does the future hold for our species in an evolutionary sense? source

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Would we know the names of all the ages? And what progress we made during them? source

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For eg. Most of the basic tools we still use today were first made during the stone age with chert/flint or obsidian. (so we’re evolved, huh?) Though the iron age did improve on their endurance under use. They had basic housing, clothes and social organization too.

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Why do we refuse to look at the earlier and world cultures? Let alone allow our children to learn about them? (No it’s not ALL xtian bias) Maybe we could see it as a story or a thought experiment, rather than seeing it as a threat to who we are now? Because even in the day of the internet and all these educational opps. we still have to hunt like we’re after our evening’s meal to find what should be widely known. IMO