Outline and evaluate several differing viewpoints on the topic of digging into the past for information about earlier cultures. How have clashes of cultural values occurred in response to archaeological studies of graves, tombs, and other sites? What debates have emerged regarding the transportation of artifacts to museums, away from their historical site?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Archeologists discovering tombs and cultural artifacts raise ethical questions as to their actions in regard to these sites and their contents. The question is, regardless of who opens a tomb and removes the contents, whether it is a thief or a trained historian, is that person violating the intentions of those who sealed the tomb? Perhaps the difference is the motives of the perpetrators, as thieves will sell the objects and archeologists will place them in museums for all to see. The basic issue is the clash of cultural values. It was a cultural practice for Egyptians to bury their artworks with the dead. For historians and archeologists, it is a waste to lock all of a culture's beauty and historical material away forever, and they want to bring the heritages of cultures to light. Perhaps no one would want to return the treasures to their original site to be sealed up. Inevitably our cultural values prevail as we exist in the present and those in the past belong to us.