
Discovery of scholar's notes shine light on race to decipher Rosetta Stone - mikhailfranco
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2020/aug/25/discovery-of-scholars-notes-shine-light-on-race-to-decipher-rosetta-stone
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pmoriarty
Seeing the Rosetta Stone in person, right at the entrance to the British
Museum was one of the most impressive things I've ever seen in my life.

No reproductions or photographs can do it justice or compare to seeing history
right in front of you.

I highly recommend visiting the British Museum even if it's only to see this
one incredible artifact, though there are countless others there that are also
amazing.

~~~
throwaway_kufu
I’m wondering how the stone is presented to the viewing public. Did you happen
to see the sides where the British desecrated this ancient relic by carving an
account of their “confiscation” of the Stone from the French?

What may be more impressive than the stone itself is how modern politics gets
reflected in the stone like it’s a mirror. As one might expect Egypt has been
entrenched in a Decades long battle to have the stone returned as a object of
their national identity. And yet to your point that no reproduction/photo can
do it justice, at one point the British actually produced a replica and gifted
in to Egypt in lieu of the real thing.

~~~
stevenjohns
The real politics is actually on how they quickly realised calling it
“Egyptian” was a mistake due to ownership claims, and proceeded to start
calling their looted artefacts by their dynasty (i.e “Babylonian” or
“Sumerian”) rather than the name of the country it was stolen from (“Ancient
Iraq”) in a way of stripping the country away from its heritage.

The same tactic has now been employed in dismissing land claims or pretending
that ethnic cleansing isn’t ethnic cleansing by hostile groups in the region
since the 50s.

~~~
ponker
Are they wrong? Why does a modern person living in Egypt have any more claim
to something like Imhotep’s toothbrush any more than anyone else? Just by
possession of the land where it was left? I don’t believe in real estate
staking an ownership claim. I have more in common with my worst enemy than I
do with my ancestor in 4000 BC.

~~~
bllguo
Yes, they are clearly wrong? Modern Egyptians obviously share more links
(ancestry, bloodline, culture, geography, etc.) with ancient Egyptians than
you do. Whether they have more in common with modern Brits or their ancestors
has nothing to do with anything.

~~~
ponker
Sure they have more links. But why does that give them ownership of Imhotep's
toothbrush? If possession equals ownership for land (i.e. nobody is really
claiming that the land that Egyptians live on should be given to someone other
than Egyptians), why not for artifacts?

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Renaud
The article just brushes over Champollion but if this story sparks your
interest, do yourself a favour and have a look at Champollion's life.

He not only deciphered hieroglyphs and its rules as a language but he was a
linguistic genius, with amazing abilities in ancient languages.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-
Fran%C3%A7ois_Champollion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-
Fran%C3%A7ois_Champollion)

~~~
mikhailfranco
Young was also a remarkable polymath, defining _Young 's Modulus_ for
characterizing material rigidity/elasticity, and performing the _Double Slit_
experiment demonstrating diffraction, interference and the wave theory of
light:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Young_(scientist)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Young_\(scientist\))

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young%27s_interference_experim...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young%27s_interference_experiment)

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ggm
If you can find it, A historical introduction to archeology by
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._W._Ceram](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._W._Ceram)
(who it needs to be noted has a nazi past, which he repudiated but still) is
fascinating.

You would want to read more modern work as well, but this is a really good
readable story of the history of archeology, and it covers the complexities of
the rosetta stone quite nicely.

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martinpw
There is a great podcast called The Ancient World that has an episode on the
Rosetta Stone here:

[https://ancientworldpodcast.com/2014/04/episode-r1-broken-
st...](https://ancientworldpodcast.com/2014/04/episode-r1-broken-stone/)

The whole set of R-prefix episodes on rediscovery of ancient artifacts is
fascinating.

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kalalala078
No reproductions or photographs

