I am very interested in history and foremost archeology. As a matter of fact, as a young girl, I read with fascination the tales of the young pharaoh Tutankhamun and the curse of its tomb. Likewise I was captivated by a book depicting the life and work of Heinrich Schliemann and his excavation of Troy. I definitely had plans on being an archeologist myself. However, growing up, my romantic views of what archeology is really all about were somewhat crushed by the realization that very few students get to run around among the pyramids, or in the Valley of the Kings excavating ancient tombs or discovering lost cities. Most of them end up doing really hard work in bad weather, on digs that are much less fantastic, carrying out very tedious, at times boring jobs.
My interest in archeology remained nevertheless. Every time I visit a major city, I avidly seek out their museum of natural history, or ancient history and study all the objects with great interest.
Incredibly, not more than 5 minutes drive from where I live, one can find a piece of very interesting archeological curiosity. In a large, beautiful estate that became a museum, confined to an underground coffin with glass walls lies the Grauballe Man. One of the best preserved bog bodies ever found, dating back over 2000 years. I have seen him numerous times and still find the story of him intriguing. I can’t help but imagine his life and the fact that we can gaze at him today mesmerizes me. Recently he was thoroughly studied and many things about his life and his death were revealed, among others his true features. This made him even more real and captivating. It made the distant history very much present and made the relativity of time seem even so more obvious.
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While my interest in history is not so much centered in archeology, I love to stand in a place (like Edinburgh Castle or the Tower of London) and ponder on the fact that people stood in that very spot as me, living their lives, conducting their business, etc, hundreds and hundreds of years before me. It astounds me!
I agree Diane, history in this way is fascinating. And so is the thought of people in the future thinking this way about us.
I thought about being an archeologist at some point too when I was a little girl. Love history and especially hands on and eyes on history, not just from a book. But, I don't like the heat and all the digs I ever saw taking place were in really hot places where everyone was sweating their tokheses off! I prefer to do my historical pursuits in the air conditioning or in 2 feet thick stone walls.
LOL Mel, yes, if you hate heat, digging in the deserts in Egypt or anywhere else would be pretty unpleasant.;)))
Thank you so much for stopping by.:)
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