Am I just evolving into an old tender-hearted clown, or does the opening of ancient burial caskets bother anyone else? I certainly wouldn't want any of my close kin dug up just for scientific curiosity or historical research, but maybe passage of enough time makes the question irrelevant since there wouldn't be anyone left on earth to really care.

Nevertheless, it strengthens my resolve to be cremated. One of my friends says mankind's way of dealing with death by embalming is kinda like worshipping the bottle once contained a fine wine. We tend to revere the container and forget the character of the contents it once held. (I have instructed the wife to burn any and all old love letters I once wrote to her. If I don't want future mankind digging thru my bodily remains, I sure don't want them digging thru my romantic remains!)

The dead don't care.

It’s you. I could care less.

I’m with Mars...it doesn’t affect the dead, and it provideS insight into the past.

Link to original video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...el=SaturdayNightLive

I don't care. Once I am not in my body any more, I don't care.

And once anyone who knew the dead person is gone, it really doesn't matter.

But scientists don't seem cavalier about ancient remains. They seem to treat them with respect.

I have to join the 'I don't care" group. As for the burning of your love letters, it's a head scratcher to me.

Jim

They open a 2,500 year old sarcophagus yesterday...What else happened yesterday? Trump arose from his bed at Walter Reed and returned to the White House. Coincidence? That's what they want you to think!!


I have zero issues with studying ancient remains. I've never understood the hoopla around the ceremonies and rituals of funerals and visiting gravesites, etc.

**Disclaimer to add that if it brings you comfort visiting gravesites, etc. that's perfectly fine with me, whatever helps dealing with death is a very personal thing and I am not advocating banning anything**

It's you....and a lot of other people. How society treats it's dead varies widely. From dressing up skeletons every (insert your favorite holiday) to cremation and scattering to ritual cannibalism it's one of those things folks will never agree on.

Ancient burial sites being studied and investigated doesn't bother me much, especially as JHE points out, the scientific community seems to treat them with respect.

Check out this article. Scientists study Egyptian sarcophagus and are faced with petition to allow public to drink liquid from it.

Yuk

Seems like a very bad idea to open a 2500 year old sarcophagus in 2020. I would have waited another year.

Yes, the disturbance of ancient remains strikes me as disrespectful and I wouldn't be a fan of allowing the diggin' up and pokin' around of a dead body relatively soon after they have been interred (always hated that term ) Perhaps with the exception of digging up a grave to relocate the remains to a more dignified or respectful location...say, with the remains of those who died on the field of battle.

But, pick some arbitrary number like a couple hundred years later, and, well, archaeologists gotta have something to do.

In all seriousness, we do learn about previous cultures before us by studying them. We've learned a lot about them by studying what they discarded, so why wouldn't we study how they treat their deceased? Personally, I'm willing to set aside some of my reluctance to dig up a grave or open a casket/ sarcophagus if a valid anthropological or archaeological case can be made to do so.

I believe it is now legal to compost the deceased's body in Colorado...so, you've got that as an option now.

Colorado bill allowing organic ‘composting’ of deceased clears first hurdle

Somebody back east is saying... "why don't he write?"

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
Somebody back east is saying... "why don't he write?"

In Wyoming, along the Oregon Trail, there is a cliff wall along the North Platte river, known as Register Cliff, in which pioneers travelling West would camp, allow their herds to graze, and rest before continuing on their journey.

The wall has thousands of inscriptions ranging from simple names of those who passed by, to the names of those who died during the journey, to leaving short messages to family who were supposed to follow them later.

At one point there was a Pony Express station there.

Descendants sometimes go to visit the site and see their ancestor's writings.

I found the site both uplifting and somber at the same time...and if nothing else, certainly interesting.

Register Cliff, Wyoming – Historic Guestbook on the Plains

When I was still a young kid, I asked my father why we make such a big deal about what we do with the bodies of the deceased. I said, "In the Bible it is written, 'To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord,' so why even care about what is done with the body?" Then I told him if it were up to me, I'd just want my dead body to be put out with the trash.

He thought for a moment, then he asked, "If your mother died tonight in her sleep, would you want me to just 'put her body out with the trash?'"

Wow - that idea was shocking. I understood why the hoopla after that.

quote:

Originally posted by ChicagoSigMan:
Seems like a very bad idea to open a 2500 year old sarcophagus in 2020. I would have waited another year.

Were there scarabs?

Tell me there weren't scarabs.

God has promised believers new bodies. Don't really care what you do with this old one.

quote:

Originally posted by Modern Day Savage:

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
Somebody back east is saying... "why don't he write?"

In Wyoming, along the Oregon Trail, there is a cliff wall along the North Platte river, known as Register Cliff, in which pioneers travelling West would camp, allow their herds to graze, and rest before continuing on their journey.

The wall has thousands of inscriptions ranging from simple names of those who passed by, to the names of those who died during the journey, to leaving short messages to family who were supposed to follow them later.

At one point there was a Pony Express station there.

Descendants sometimes go to visit the site and see their ancestor's writings.

I found the site both uplifting and somber at the same time...and if nothing else, certainly interesting.

Register Cliff, Wyoming – Historic Guestbook on the Plains

Independence Rock, also in Wyoming. So named because you pretty well had to make it there by the Fourth of July, or you probably wouldn’t make it over the Sierras before the snow set in.

If it's dead, don't play with it.

If it's alive, leave it alone.

Yeah, it bugs me a little. They took such care with their dead, I hate to mess with their mojo.

They'll all be registered to vote in a democratic state like NY or CA as undocumented immigrants very shortly.