http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/05/13/builders-bulldoze-mayan-pyramid-in-belize/?intcmp=related

Quote :

"Bulldozers destroy 3,200-year-old Mayan pyramid in Belize"

http://archaeology.about.com/od/heritagemanagement/a/buddha.htm

Quote :

"Destruction of the Bamiyan Statues Taliban vs the Buddha"

http://www.nicholasreeves.com/item.aspx?category=Writing&id=281

Quote :

"The Parthenon in Ruins"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajyad_Fortress

Quote :

"The Ajyad Fortress (Turkish: Ecyad Kalesi) was an Ottoman citadel which stood on a hill overlooking the Grand Mosque of Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia. Built in the late 18th century, it was destroyed by the Saudi government in 2002 for commercial development of the Mecca Royal Hotel Clock Tower, sparking global outcry."

5/24/2013 10:21:15 AM

Free market

5/24/2013 10:43:54 AM

Even though the result was tragically the same, each case is a bit different and has to be considered seperately.

The Belize one is a case of weak governance: the government had very strict laws prohibiting what happened, but they were unable to prevent it due to weak governance.

The Afghanistan one is a case where the government deliberately decided to blow it up despite protests from UNESCO. Not much you can do in that situation except punish the government directly (which we kinda did).

The Parthenon was a case in that the building was caught in the middle of a battlefield. In addition, it was a time when humanity as a whole didn't care as much about preserving historical artifacts and regularly re-purposing or even pillaging them to build new buildings (or in some cases, new artifacts like how Hagia Sophia was built from disassembled Greek temples).

Ajyad Fortress... well... that's probably a combination of a government that cares not about historical heritage combined with a government that does what it wants.

5/24/2013 3:00:56 PM

Happens everyday. Tearing these things down is standing in the way of economic progress. So if this is an outrage to you, you should probably reconsider your position on the whole environment vs. jobs issue.

5/25/2013 11:41:04 AM

Unless they can be leveraged into some sort of tourist attraction, these ruins are worthless. Make way for the living I say. You should be more worried about the countless prehistoric sites that have been plowed and paved here in North Carolina.

5/26/2013 12:02:37 AM

a republican championing historical preservation? i've seen it all now.

or is it only when it's not where you live?

5/26/2013 12:39:07 AM

Just for the record, I think they should be extensively studied and documented before they get plowed to the ground. Unless it's some extraordinary piece of human achievement then it had little practical value.

5/26/2013 2:35:38 AM

Quote :

"So if this is an outrage to you, you should probably reconsider your position on the whole environment vs. jobs issue."

I didn't realize I had a position on that topic (at least that i've made public on here)

Quote :

"a republican championing historical preservation? i've seen it all now."

who said I was a republican?

5/26/2013 9:38:10 AM

I always pegged Smath as more of a Tory, personally.

Anyway, I've often lamented the fact that all of the "good" ancient civilizations aren't on American soil, but rather in backwaters ruled by wife-beating cavemen. One would like to think that if the great pyramids were in South Carolina, they would have already been thoroughly investigated and no mysteries would remain. But the fact is we plowed most of the Mississippian culture pyramids we did have flat and no one really cares about the few mounds of dirt that remain. So I give these backwaters a tip of the hat for waiting this long to bulldoze.

It's a difficult case, indeed, to argue that the needs of starving people come second to glimpses of the lives of dead ones. The best governments can offer financial incentives for preservation rather than merely punish looters. As for radical islamists that dynamite the idols of former religions...it didn't make much sense to build them in the first place, so easy come easy go.

[Edited on May 26, 2013 at 6:41 PM. Reason : .]

5/26/2013 6:15:50 PM

"Deo, Regi, Patriae"

5/26/2013 6:21:50 PM

It's probably dangerous in the soapbox to be a Whig and oppose "the duke".

In some rare cases urban development actually seals and protects artifacts and subsequently uncovers them, like the site of the Bloomberg building in London or the ships under the world trade center. I'm still amazed that they managed to halt construction for so long in the former.

5/26/2013 6:37:32 PM

oh right - you're more of the "libertarian" thing, aren't you? again, preservation is needed...so long as it doesn't impact what you personally can do, right?

[Edited on May 27, 2013 at 10:30 PM. Reason : .]

5/27/2013 10:24:09 PM

I'm not sure why I thought an exclusion crisis joke might be funny.

5/27/2013 10:37:11 PM

Quote :

"Bulldozers destroy 3,200-year-old Mayan pyramid in Belize"

if it was so awesome, how come no one has "before" pictures?

5/29/2013 6:28:52 PM

http://atlanta.cbslocal.com/2015/07/13/atlanta-naacp-says-they-can-sand-blast-lee-jefferson-and-jackson-off-of-stone-mountain/

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/naacp-wants-removal-confederate-generals-stone-mou/nmyKH/

7/14/2015 8:11:42 PM