Pompeii - Ooh La La

[trickykitty]

I watched this documentary (with great re-enactments and cgi) on uncovering the cause of death for the residents of Pompeii and Herculaneum, thereby debunking the belief I grew up hearing that the residents died from quick asphyxiation from the ash.

I started reading up about the UNESCO World Heritage Sites (Neuschwanstein Castle isn't being considered at present, that I can tell - just something I thought of while reading) and started thinking about landmarks and historical sites in general. There was a moratorium on excavating Pompeii and Herculaneum which has caused controversy. One group wants to continue to (systematically and scientifically) excavate to uncover what there is to find, while others are concerned about preservation of what's currently exposed to the elements and humans.

Now, considering I am one to think that graves are a complete waste of ground space (although I see practical purpose in burying a dead body, but not for the sake of some ritualistic need), I have very malleable thoughts about historical sites. On one hand, they provide information and education. On the other, things are supposed to change over time. Trying to preserve everything in history prevents current and future from "living" as it should, although then there's the arguments that the present and future might require inclusion of history. Needless to say, I'm sort of making my head spin thinking about this. Who's to say there aren't even more ancient civilizations buried even further down underneath Pompeii and Herculaneum, also consumed by ever earlier rounds from Mt. Vesuvius? We'll never know as long as there's a time capsule sitting on top of it.

I can't wait until the technology is better perfected that allows underground imaging, which will allow us to find such buried treasures. Just think - Pompeii was discovered by accident, because some rich dude wanted to build himself a summer retreat, and then later someone wanted to mess around with the water systems in the area. Had either group chosen a different location, we might have never found Pompeii until such time as technology allows better underground viewing.

One thing is certain, though. I like finding out which times and places in history were very puritanical and which were not. Funny how even now the "erotic" art of history has to be hidden away from our present children ("Re-opened, closed, re-opened again and then closed again for nearly 100 years" sounds a bit like the in-and-out they're trying to prevent us noticing, hah!). Our current societies, with the exception of fringe groups or otherwise imaginative societies just don't seem to want to be open and talkative about sex and reproduction. But imagine the children of Pompeii, viewing all those pieces of art and trinkets all around them as constant reminders, whether it be either of porn or fertility - kind of irrelevant when the focus is simply on the fact that it was in full (frontal) view of the kids. They grew up with it, and surely at points they asked about it, assuming they weren't outright told about it by their parents as part of their regular growing up.

Anyway, I'm rambling, but this is what YouTube and Wiki have done to me.

"A Day in Pompeii - Full-length animation" (Watch on YouTube)