Reactionary

I got up at 630AM on a Saturday. I must surely be mad. I walked through drizzling rain to the U of Penn Museum for the symposium. Various different leaders in the field of Afghanistani archaeology were there to present what must have been papers for archaeological journals. There must have surely been other pros there but I think the majority of the people were curious knowledge junkies like me.

The day was moderated by a guy from the American Institiute of Archaeology and presentations last from 20 to 50 minutes. Two of the presenters spoke no English and their lectures were translated in real time by interpreters. Interpreting is evilly hard work. It takes so much patience, I can’t do it for long. While the place names meant very little to me, especially the ones in the morning lectures, the main theme of the morning got through. Afghanistan’s sizeable cultural treasures are in an alarming state of disarray and only now has some real work started to be done to preserve and save it. Everyone seemed to say that same thing in the morning’s lectures. The first speaker was the Deputy Minister of Information and Culture of Afghanistan who gave a brief synopsis of what was to follow. Of the Afghan representatives, he spoke nearly the best English. Almost immediately, we were shown pictures of the Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban which must have made the news because it obviously meant a lot to a lot of people. I don’t remember that news story in specific but my interests waver at any given point in time. The curator of the National Museum at Kabul was there, a white-haired gentleman with an accent that oddly reminded me of the the West Indies. He showed us before and after pictures of the museum that was destroyed in the war and now after its rebuilding. They made the two more interesting speakers of the morning. It’s hard to follow a translated lecture and the first interpreter they used didn’t seem to be very good. One guy spoke of two Buddhist digs that were being worked on. I had never thought of Afghanistan as being a Buddhist stronghold, but then it was explained Islam came later and it was the Islamic takeover that destroyed a lot of the Buddhist temples and monasteries.

For lunch, I went out to a local grocery store that does nice sandwiches and I walked back in a torrential downpour. Good thing I had an umbrella.

The afternoon held the far more interesting lectures. First, the daughter of a reknown archaeologist gave the lecture for him as he is in France earning an honor from the French government. And then an American archaeologist spoke about the Bactrian gold that was believed lost only 3 years ago. In 2003, it would found, intact, along with tons of other pieces from the museum before the war. There are 22,000 pieces and he’s spent the past two seasons cataloging them. Hopefully, that’s an exhibit that will hit the road because the pieces are amazing. They look neither Eastern nor Western. Greece meets China but of exquisite detail. The Bactrian Aphrodite is a pin worn by one of the women (the gold is from 6 burials that were discovered by Russian archaeologists, 5 women, 1 man). Of course, I’ve heard of Bactria since I just finished reading my Alexander biography. Things were put in perspective by a British scholar who showed us a map with what is now Afghanistan being the crux in the Silk Road that stretched from Rome to China. The oldest things they talked about were Greek. Damn Greeks. They invented everything :) There were a few mentions of the Persian Empire in the persons of Cyrus, Xerxes, and Darius.

Question time focused more on which way Afghanistani archaeology will take now after the hunt for Osama bin Laden cut yet another swath through it. King George has moved on to greener pastures (or drier deserts, whichever), but people who care about cultural treasures can begin to pick up the pieces. It was very interesting though very long and I was beat after it was over.

Note: When I got home, a note from the U.S. District Court was waiting for me. They’ve agreed to excuse me until further notice. Good thing. There was no way I could have swung that one. Even if it would have given me a break from working 9 straight days. My feet are killing me already.

April 22nd, 2006 | Category: Scholar |  Print |  Send it | Subscribe to comments | Both comments and pings are currently closed