un: 46692 ; text ; 2/1

[escardos]

hey guys! happy vday and stuff! quick q!

how much time needs to pass for grave robbing to become archaeology? like, if i pull a gold bracelet out of a pyramid, i've made an archaeological find. if i pull one out of the common graveyard, i'm a dick. whats the waiting period for looting the dead?

Comments

UN:ThreeCoffins

[improbablenotimpossible]

Good question, actually. At least two hundred years, would be my estimate - long enough for most people who would know the person to no longer be around.

Or if you're an archeologist from the 19th and early 20th century, any time is archeology long as the grave you're robbing isn't from anyone you know.

UN: Epicyon

[heromedal]

I do not think time is the major variable. The significant element is how unknown the identity of the grave resident is- for example, it will likely never be possible to loot the grave of Lincoln Tomb without objection because its contents are well recorded. On the other hand, if there is an unmarked grave exhumed for the purpose of identifying the dead person it is possible for that to be acceptable. Time is a factor in determining the progress, but not the key quality.

Also the intentions of the person doing the digging. For personal profit vs academic study.

[escardos]

i mean, i guess i could google it, but it is more fun to ask everyone.

huh, things really were wild in the victorian era!!! did you grave rob mister holmes?

[improbablenotimpossible]

This is an area I suspect would have some wildly different answers. Having permission is I believe another key point between grave robbing and archeology.

Yes, that era would seem wild by modern standards, wouldn't it? It's a time when the citizens of the British Empire were full of pride and arrogance, for the sun never sets on it and it seems every day a new discovery in the fields of science was being made, giving false confidence in that they are the Masters of the world, rather than residents.

As for graverobbing... yes, in a technical sense. It gets murky when it comes to vampires.

[escardos]

once enough time passes and you all turn to dust, the new humanity will probably see the lincoln tomb the same way that we see the egyptian pyramids.

i mean, if you kill someone for academic study vs personal profit, is one better than the other?

[heromedal]

Point accepted, I amend my stance to 'It will likely never be possible to loot the Lincoln Tomb without major catastrophe destroying human record keeping.'

Yes. The one for academic study.

un: xx_heartoffire_xx

[stavros]

Are they cursed?

[escardos]

ahaha, mister holmes thats so deep of you! as expected from the world's best detective!!

but i think humanity is pretty prideful and arrogant still. i think thats how it always has been? but dw, i dont really think it's a bad thing www but i dont think things have changed that much.

also omg wait but if vampires sleep in coffins then isnt that more like breaking into a house and robbing them????

[escardos]

?????????????????? why?

[escardos]

maybe? it was all hypothetical. but it probably would be, huh?

un: hemlock

[spelleton]

If the occupants are animate and sentient enough to object, or they have living descendants who still consider the grave ancestral property it's graverobbing no matter what the original time period is, I believe

Most archaeology happens to be graverobbing by that metric but that certainly didn't stop anyone.

If none of those rules apply then wait a few hundred years probably. [ He's not that interested in archaeology but a few hundred years seems like a safe bet. ]

[improbablenotimpossible]

I just had a long time to think a few things over - there's wisdom in hindsight. Pride and curiosity are the main drivers of living, I believe.

Hah - you're right on that point, it is more burglary in that case. Though... as a word of caution, not all vampires need to sleep in coffins.

[stavros]

Many of the ancient dead have cursed those who unearthed them, so people say. So I would surmise they still care about their tombs being looted.

[escardos]

well that's just like in the movies! indiana jones dealt with a lot of cursed objects and what not, it's totally likely that there's a bunch of cursed objects in real life too!

like furbies!

[stavros]

Furbies aren't cursed, they're a meme! That's different!

[escardos]

ok but what if you're legally declared dead but are still animate and sentient. i guess kinda like you/mister holmes/mister hector etc etc

[escardos]

theyre cursed because they're a meme! same difference!

[escardos]

oh??? do you not sleep in a coffin mister holmes????

[stavros]

Is that even how any sort of curse works? At all?

[spelleton]

[ wow flat you can't just say he's a dead guy like that!! oh well, maybe he can pass it off as a joke about being dead inside ]

Legality has nothing to do with it. Probably. If you're animate and sentient enough to object to people coming into your burial spot and taking your belongings, then they're clearly robbing you.

[escardos]

also why would you stay in your grave if you're animate and sentient enough? isn't it kind of gross to sleep under the ground?

unless you're part worm?

[escardos]

sure! if enough people believe it's a 'cursed object' then it'll become a curse!

[stavros]

I suppose quantum spirituality does have a good number of adherents...

[escardos]

exactly! a loooot of stuff can happen bc of the power of belief. thats why the placebo effect exists in the first place u know?

[stavros]

Have you seen such things in reality? I mean, with regard to memes.