Stones of Antiquity

To some they might only be old rocks, to others they are worthy of studying, numbering, and restoring.  To us, ancient ruins are a great excuse to be outside (instead of in a museum) and good exercise for the imagination.  In addition to scrambling over lots of aged rubble, we’ve viewed and gawked at the artifacts behind glass, read the super condensed version of histories, and downloaded movies (300, Troy, Alexander the Great).  We need all types of media to keep us interested and engaged!  So far we’ve pieced together the long-gone civilizations of the Mycenaeans, Nabataeans, Greeks and Romans.  (Egyptians deserve their own post.).

 

    

All of the old stones tell the story of how they lived, died, why the existed for as long as they did, how they defended themselves, and why they ceased to exist.   

 

   

One thing they all have in common is that each of these proud cultures have come and gone.  They don’t exist any longer.  We pondered if they knew they wouldn’t last forever.  Many times we also wondered how long will the current societies, as we know them, continue to endure? 

 

  

What will the future traveler say about the cultures that live today.  Will the earth end up a tourist destination and a major architectural dig?  For that matter, what evidence will we leave for those visitors to learn about us?  We hope it is more then several trillion tons of plastic bottles and bags and a bunch of nuclear waste. 

       What stones are we leaving behind?