The news is often so demoralizing that I enjoy most the keyword feed on my Yahoo home page--and my keyword happens to be "archaeology."Today, for example, there's the BBC announcement that the 3,500-year-old remains of a child were found "at Pode Hole Quarry, in Thorney, near Peterborough," which is apparently near the edge of the Fens. This makes it Bronze Age, about 1500 B.C. Jewelry and a mat show it to be a formal burial, but beyond that there's not too much to say until a lot of tests are done.
Finding ancient remains--in bogs, salt fields, or ancient graves--must be a fascinating occupation. To paraphrase some bon vivant: I like my men like I like my whiskey: aged and fermented.
Also, there is a detailed obituary about Gene Savoy, the "real Indian Jones" who died last week. Savoy located over 40 stone cities of the Incas, and made discoveries about the Aztecs and transportation.
"Scientists thought the existence of these cities and settlements in the Peruvian rainforest was all a myth until my father found them," his son Sean Savoy said. "His discoveries opened up a whole new area of jungle archaeology that didn't exist before."
He also had some pretty wild religious theories.
It's much more interesting than who won the Emmys (since I rarely watch sitcoms!) and less depressing than the tales of mayhem from Iraq or Darfur.
And safer and guilt-free. After all, archaeological finds involve the long-dead, whether bodies or civilizations. They're gone. They've been gone for centuries. They can't make you wonder if maybe you could've done more.
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