25th February 2009, 06:08 PM
Quote:quote:Originally posted by Oddie
Interesting debates.
1. The chalk soils of avebury have protected Charlie and the Kennet Avenue ancestors for thousands of years. They are more or less intact, and will remain so for thousands of years in the future. Reburial will not destroy anything here.
Hi Oddie,
the above is a statement that has been made a couple of times through this thread, however I remain unconvinced that this is the case. Stating something does not make it fact - do we really know that this is the case? What proof is there that reburial will not result in significant decay either to the structure of the bones or to the genetic data which they contain? Just because the bones had survived up to the point of being excavated does not imply they will continue to do so in the future. A bone that looks robust may still have suffered significant decay of genetic data.
Arguments based on future research techniques have been termed 'weak' as there is no proof that these future techniques will be developed. However you seem to be able to make statements regarding future decay as fact - this seems inconsistent and I suggest that unless you have firm proof otherwise statements such as "Reburial will not destroy anything here" are disingenuous.
Quote:quote:2. CoBDO have never claimed to represent anyone but ourselves, and our request for reburial should be considered on the socio-political and spiritual metta-narratives of our request.
Whilst this may have been your intention by using phrases such as "Reburial back into the Earth from where our ancestors were taken is the most favourable wish of the ancestors..." seems to suggest that you are representing and speaking for ancient peoples who's views cannot be known.
I entirely agree with point 3 of your post regarding size of the group making the request. I am not aware of any posts which have suggested otherwise.
I am unclear as to what you were trying to say in your fourth point - perhaps I am being dumb - and would welcome clarification.