Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
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Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
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Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#2[flagged]
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#3It's a shame that this happened, but it's not unsurprising. If you put a probability of loss on every relic of antiquity, they multiply out to a substantial amount of destruction every year.
Ultimately it's a matter of cost. The cost to secure all of these pieces is extremely high. We won't be able to safeguard everything, but there are probably low hanging fruit in applying basic security measures to the items most at risk or of highest value.
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#4[flagged]
> "The vandals forced their way past barbed wire and dug under a steel gate to get into the Koonalda Caves"
Can't really protect a cultural site in a fairly remote area any more than that.
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#5> The Mirning peoples had been in talks with the Australian government over needed changes to the site’s maintenance, asking for increased security and better access for the tribe to the caves. Currently, the tribe needs to request a key from the local environmental department to access the site, making it difficult for tribe members to visit and for the Mirning to protect the site.
This is absolutely infuriating and also kind of expected at the same time. It's the result of a culture that has permeated every Australian government agency at all levels.
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#6It's a shame that this happened, but it's not unsurprising. If you put a probability of loss on every relic of antiquity, they multiply out to a substantial amount of destruction every year. Ultimately it's a matter of cost. The cost to secure all of these pieces is extremely high. We won't be able to safeguard everything, but there are probably low hanging fruit in applying basic security measures to the items most…
Eh....
"The vandals forced their way past barbed wire and dug under a steel gate to get into the Koonalda Caves"
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#7It's a shame that this happened, but it's not unsurprising. If you put a probability of loss on every relic of antiquity, they multiply out to a substantial amount of destruction every year. Ultimately it's a matter of cost. The cost to secure all of these pieces is extremely high. We won't be able to safeguard everything, but there are probably low hanging fruit in applying basic security measures to the items most…
The tragedy of heritage sites in Syria being blown up in the past few years by ISIS also comes to mind. Turkey plundered as much as possible before ISIS C4'd the sites.
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#8I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I don't really think this is THAT big of a deal. Yea, I know the art is old and all that and it really is unfortunate but its also the nature for all things to change.
Maybe in another 30k years, we'll be looking at the defacement as an amazing piece of art that tells the story of the current social climate at this point in time, or something along those lines.
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#9I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I don't really think this is THAT big of a deal. Yea, I know the art is old and all that and it really is unfortunate but its also the nature for all things to change. Maybe in another 30k years, we'll be looking at the defacement as an amazing piece of art that tells the story of the current social climate at this point in time, or something along those lines.
The people whose sacred site this is are still alive. So to them it is a very big deal.
For more on this fascinating subject: https://mirning.org/
Re: Vandals destroy 30k-year-old indigenous cave drawings in Australia
#10I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion but I don't really think this is THAT big of a deal. Yea, I know the art is old and all that and it really is unfortunate but its also the nature for all things to change. Maybe in another 30k years, we'll be looking at the defacement as an amazing piece of art that tells the story of the current social climate at this point in time, or something along those lines.
You're applying graffiti logic to a piece of cultural heritage because it happens to be a graffiti. That spirit is at the core of modern graffiti as an ephemeral medium by design - which is often why you'll find muralists tacitly tolerating the occasional bombing. However I think this particular piece of art had crossed into cultural heritage some time ago, and as such was a real dick move. Even using modern graffiti interpretation of the tenet, there are some pieces you just don't cross.