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Margaret Walker's Reviews > Centuries of Darkness
Centuries of Darkness
by
by
Think your history textbook is right? Think again.
The chief benefit of this illuminating volume is to dissect the very tenuous chronology our understanding of prehistory is based on, and to demonstrate the maxim that to challenge the status quo gets you nowhere fast.
In the 33 years since Centuries of Darkness tried to explain to the world this unpleasant truth, nothing has changed. Archaeologists, Egyptologists and historians still argue and abuse each other, and the most influential still win. Furthermore, if they want to, they will wipe you and your theories off the map. Just look at Marija Gimbutas, scorned and rejected, dead 30 years and only now has her work been vindicated.
Your best armour for the fight is to be British and male but being rich from a rich country will also bolster your opinion in the eyes of the academic world. The opinions of the countries where the archaeological finds actually come from are rarely considered. This is why the British Museum is stocked with stolen goods and why, whenever they deign to give any of them back, their belated generosity hits the headlines, as recently happened when they returned artefacts to the Australian aborigines. The titbit I heard mouthed by some British aristocrat that Britain didn’t need to return the Parthenon marbles because, being in the British Museum, they now belonged to The World had me hurling souvlakis at the television.
Perhaps I should read the rest of the book before shooting off on any more tangents?
The chief benefit of this illuminating volume is to dissect the very tenuous chronology our understanding of prehistory is based on, and to demonstrate the maxim that to challenge the status quo gets you nowhere fast.
In the 33 years since Centuries of Darkness tried to explain to the world this unpleasant truth, nothing has changed. Archaeologists, Egyptologists and historians still argue and abuse each other, and the most influential still win. Furthermore, if they want to, they will wipe you and your theories off the map. Just look at Marija Gimbutas, scorned and rejected, dead 30 years and only now has her work been vindicated.
Your best armour for the fight is to be British and male but being rich from a rich country will also bolster your opinion in the eyes of the academic world. The opinions of the countries where the archaeological finds actually come from are rarely considered. This is why the British Museum is stocked with stolen goods and why, whenever they deign to give any of them back, their belated generosity hits the headlines, as recently happened when they returned artefacts to the Australian aborigines. The titbit I heard mouthed by some British aristocrat that Britain didn’t need to return the Parthenon marbles because, being in the British Museum, they now belonged to The World had me hurling souvlakis at the television.
Perhaps I should read the rest of the book before shooting off on any more tangents?
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
Finished Reading
September 15, 2024
– Shelved
