1 05 03

If
things had been different I know I would have liked to have
studied and eventually learned how to become an archaeologist.
The idea of digging around in some old ruins looking for
evidences of lost civilizations is extremely appealing to me. I
do have some thoughts which I find troubling about the whole
idea. For example it isn’t too uncommon to find someone involved
in the study of some ancient civilization to come across a bag
of coins or some household items. My question is this….when
these folks moved from one place to another …didn’t they take
their stuff with them? Pots and pans were hard to get in 2500
B.C. so you’d think the little woman of the house would be
careful and make certain they got loaded on the cart when they
moved out. I mean, I don’t know about you but if I had a sack of
money (I don’t) stuck in a drawer or under my mattress, I think
I’d find it when I moved my stuff wouldn’t you? If I didn’t find
it, you can bet my wife would. She hasn’t left anything in any
house or apartment we’ve ever vacated. She has never even left
anything in a hotel room…she’s good.

Prehistoric man
didn’t have that much to move around so the pickings are fairly
slim at their previous home sites. Most of what they left us is
in the form of art on the walls. I’m certain the inability to
move cave art from one place to another is what inspired
pictures to be hung in frames. The average caveman had just
gotten his place all cozy and comfy with his favorite pictures
just where he wanted them when the little woman came in and
announced they had to move since Ogg and his wife had found some
better caves where they could watch the sunset. “Get up off that
rock…we have to move now, before they’re all gone.”

Now, it does
make sense to leave everything behind in the event of some
natural disaster such as a volcanic eruption. But even then some
folks just didn’t get the idea that danger was in the air and
you could actually die while trying to hang onto your material
items. Take Pompeii, for example. Archaeologists have uncovered
hundreds of examples of people performing everyday tasks at the
time the eruption hit the town. Ladies were frozen is time while
getting their nails and hair done so they would look nice while
fleeing the city. The shoe shops were filled with women trying
to buy a pair of sandals to match the color of the gray ash in
the air. Red and blue were so out during this period.

How about the
Egyptians? Whole cities have been completely covered up with
sand and dirt. Didn’t these people know they needed to clean
house every once in a while or it would get away from them? I
mean did the maids go out on strike or what? I can’t think of a
single city in the United States that has just disappeared and
been covered up with dirt, except for maybe parts of Detroit.
Looks to me like you would notice when entire rooms filled up
with sand. I would. I can’t believe this just happened
overnight.

“Look, Raham,
son of Ra, cousin of Yesmin……the front twelve rooms of the
palace are filled with sand. When did this happen?”

 

“I don’t know,
is Moses still here or did he leave? Besides I thought your
sisters were going to keep this place cleaned up.”

 

“You Ninny….you
can’t remember anything…you put them in the pyramid when we had
the funeral for your dad…”

I don’t think
women have changed that much over the years in that everything
they own follows them as they move from one place to another.
Look at the pioneers moving to California during the gold rush.
Stories are told of entire households of furniture being left
between Kansas City and St. Louis and the Great Divide. I’m sure
there were many an argument between husband and wife over that
piano, which had been given to her by her mother, and when it
came off the wagon since it was just too heavy to get over the
Rockies.

“Honey, if we
don’t lighten up the wagon, the horses aren’t going to make it.”

 

“I told Mother,
that piano was going to be in the parlor at our new house.”

 

“I know, I
know, but I don’t think you realize that if the horses die then
we probably won’t make it over the mountains.”

 

“I told Mother,
we would carry that piano to California.”