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Comment by bertomartin | Hacker News Reader

"...for some reason:" - they shouldn't be allowed to destroy such an important monument to satisfy their curiosity.

A) proper digging shouldn’t destroy the monument. B) removal of parts of the structure is how we know what’s in it at all. The same is true for any othe other monuments that are structures. We had to dig through the valley of the kings to find the tombs. If we don’t breech the obstruction, we won’t understand the thing.

It's at the very least, a double-edged sword. You're essentially condoning grave robbing.

Traditional archaeology is well documented, controlled, and destructive.

You two are not in contradiction.

Except 'grave robbing' implies a malice and questionable morality. There is great value in doing this and well documented/controlled excavation can minimize destruction to the very minimum.

This entire planet is one mass grave. We only respect the dead for a limited period of time. (No one who died over 20k years ago has much in the way of cultural defenders...) At the 3k+ range, I think we can get a pass...

It seems like this is itself a demonstration there are alternative techniques.

There are new techniques for discovering things. Once we know there is a void, at present, no number of muons will help us see details. Perhaps we’ll learn how they built the thing. There are a great many marvels from Egypt that defy our current understanding of their tech.

I was at the Vatican museum recently and was surprised to see most sculptures appeared to be permanently damaged for embedding a number label. (example: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hvqlG6iPcP8/UGzso1C3AcI/AAAAAAAAJF...)

I agree with you, let’s not be arrogant, like in the past, and destroy what we should save for future generations.

I was also there in april, and I am surprised the tourists and kids are left unattended, taking selfies, touching everything. It's an accident waiting to happen. Most tourists (ashamed to admit, but this includes me) don't actually appreciate or care about ancient art, it's more like been there, done that.

I'd encourage people to chide tourists that touch historic objects in museums. People should know better and while I suspect they dont care (from when I've done this many a time), it's worth trying!

Future generations will really appreciate that plugged shaft!

Is that part of the original sculpture? It looks like a modern pedestal constructed for it to me.

You are right, but that was just an example I found on the web. Here is another one: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Sculptur...

A few more:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2693/4094114491_b9ae422af4_b.j...

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4293/35910672716_90f1f62105_k....

Art is restored all the time. The places these labels were put are not where the valuable details rest. I grew up around antique collectors all my life. You are overreacting.

Indeed, plenty of famous art pieces have been 'fixed' and if you really wanted to revert a statue back to it's original form removing the number plate would be an easy job and do wouldn't take away from the real artistic parts of it. As they were placed on the flat base of the pedestal, not touching the primary artwork which is the statue itself.

Sure they could find far better solutions, and very likely would today. But I don't think this is a particularly big deal that it was done in the past.

you know, I never noticed the number labels, but I did notice all the fig leaves ...

https://realhousewifeadventures.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/fig...

Dude, I saw what appeared to be keyed names and tags on Raphael's wall paintings there. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I don't think that a 12 inch hole drilled big enough for a drone in a section of the pyramid that is protected from the weather and not visible to the public is "Destroying a monument".

Do you think that the DNA test of King Tut was also destruction?

If someone has the authorization to bore a hole, it will be much smaller than that (the current target would be 1-2 inches).

Given the wholesale robbery that early Egyptologists got up to (mummy-unwrapping parties were a popular social event in 19th-century England), one can perhaps excuse the Egyptian authorities for being a bit overprotective.

Also perhaps they're not sure that destroying the obstacle won't cause a tunnel collapse, or otherwise harm their research more than help it.

What's the point of having monuments if you can't look at them?

100% agree. Let's wait, been waiting for millennia already. Otherwise, next year another team has another curiosity that requires just a small hole...and 2000 years later the thing is crumbling.

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