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February 21, 2012
Armchair archaeology
After making aerial surveys of archaeological sites in Jordan for 35 years, David Kennedy has has set his sights on their equivalents across the border in Arabia, previously inaccessible to science thanks to the proclivities of the current Saudi government.
Juris Zarins, an archaeologist who worked in Saudi Arabia for 15 years and led parts of the national survey, suggests religious sensitivities play a role in the government’s limitations on archaeology . "They don’t want people fooling around with prehistory because it contradicts the Koran — any more than fundamentalist Christians want anyone to say anything is older than six thousand years," Zarins told LiveScience.
Thanks to the intertubes, Kennedy has an excellent workaround: "I was able to actually see across the border, courtesy of Google."
Until Google agrees to blot out satellite coverage of Arabia, at least.
Connected thought: 90% of archaeological sites associated with Mecca and Medina have been paved over and destroyed in the last ten years.
Sami Angawi, an expert on Arabian architecture, lamented that history had been " bulldozed for a parking lot". "We are witnessing now the last few moments of the history of Mecca,", he said.
The Kingdom's ultraconservative clerics believe that the veneration of ancient sites associated with the Prophet Mohammad and his family is heretical, and want potential shrines obliterated.
The Kingdom's ultraconservative clerics believe that the veneration of ancient sites associated with the Prophet Mohammad and his family is heretical, and want potential shrines obliterated.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 21, 2012 07:28 AM
