Prehistory: What's the Big Deal? | GTTS Podcast

[@aimeemorgado8715]

I live in Colorado, USA- where there are many petroglyphs that are being ruined by people touching them. My grandchildren will not be able to see or research them. I am going to wrestle with the idea that historically valuable items should be handled. How do I look at artifacts? Who make the determination? How do we study and protect simultaneously? All important questions. Ultimately, we need to teach people why an item is important, how it can best be researched, studied, and understood. These precious items don’t just belong to academia or science, they are the heritage of everyone- but how do we share these things ? Wow, my head is going to hurt. Thank you for bringing this up!!

[@helenamcginty4920]

Why do they have to be touched? Its like people touching statues of saints in the belief that this is somehow beneficial. Pagans at heart.

[@She_Nanigans]

They are not the heritage of everyone. They are the heritage of indigenous peoples.

[@Chociewitka]

@@She_Nanigans ? hove you will determine that? E.g. in the UK after several almost complete population replacements many of the really ancient artefacts and sites do not have many descendants alive, or descendants in a few % range of descent. Does the Roman heritage belong to the modern English or e.g. the Italians?

[@She_Nanigans]

@@Chociewitka It's determined by the fact that indigenous people were the only people on the north American continent at the time the artifacts were made. Europeans simply weren't here. While the UK may consider their past cultures as primarily homogeneous, north American cultures are differentiated by the cultures themselves. They have an ethical and legal right to the physical artifacts. It's the law here.

[@genier7829]

Regarding the Stone of Scone discussion, it reminded me of a 40 year old anecdote. My friend was a grad student at an Ag college. and they had borrowed an herbarium sheet of an extinct soybean variety from another institution. Her professor took off a seed from the sheet (MAJOR violation) and actually germinated and grew this extinct variety which was an important climate-adapted race. He could have been blackballed or worse, but on the other hand it revived a valuable lineage of this important plant. Names and locations omitted blah blah blah....

[@contiflex]

We need 'rule' breakers, we're not sheep! Agreed, get a grip.

[@brownnoise357]

Only problem with Soya Beans, unless they are Fermented, such as into Miso, the unfermented Beans are Toxic to Humans - they killed my friend John who had a Soya Factory making Soya Products like Milk and Cheese, and turns out they are Toxic to Cows as well, as a neighbouring Dairy Farmer Couldn't work out what the hell was going on as his Herd of Cows started gettingbreally ill,,so I asked had he changed their feed Concentrate Recently ? Yep new delivery a few days before, and did the new feed have Soya in it by any chance ? He went to check, and yep it had, which explained their Mad Cow disease type symptoms. So Phoned the Feed Supplier, and they collected the Concentrate, provided non Soya Concentrate instead, and covered his Vet Bill plus Compensation. Wordvrapidly spread to every Dairy Farmer in the Region. As an aside, the Mad Cow Disease was actually Csttle Poisened by Warble Fly Liquid, which was directly applied down the Animals spine, from where it spread straight into the brain of the animal, and Crystallised it. Strange the things you can find out from Farmers, as well as from very sick people with Soya Factories - I haven't touched the Damned Stuff since poor John got really ill on Soya tbh. In the Far East, there were so many problems caused by Soya, until they hit on Fermenting the Beans, to make them fit for Human Consuption. Soya .oil does still seem OK for Frying at Super high temperatures in a Wok, as Food is instant sealed, no oil intake and is possibly the only Safe Seed to Oil to cook with. Even Oilive Oil becomes bad news at Frying Temperatures, but seems to stay OK for Bread Making at those lower temperatures ? Weird Huh 🤔

[@helenamcginty4920]

J​@@brownnoise357i read an article, based on a research report, by an NHS dietician years ago claiming that soya flour being added to everything to bulk up cakes, bread, biscuits etc is a major contributor to the obesity epidemic.

[@brownnoise357]

@helenamcginty4920 It is added to inferior quality European Soft Wheat to raise the Protein level. The biggest cause of Obesity appears to be the use of Seed Oils, which Cloggs up the Fat Recepfors and only gets removed slowly by switching to Cooking with Healthy Saturated Animal Fats instead. My Friend Sue is an excellent Dietician, and generally the Diet Advicecwe get From GP's is very Dangerous Nonsense, sad to say. One of mine put me on a bloody stupid minimum 12 aay Portions of Fruits and Vegetables, as an unwitting Lab Rat, and I was in such a onfused state duecto being Prescribed Beta Blocker eye drops, I went along with it for 18 months - when a similar experimental Gidt on the Horizon Documentary "Did Cooking Make US zHuman" proved so Dangerous to the Health of Volunteers, that the Experiment was Abandoned within just a few weeks. We just aren't Built for that sort of Diet Frankly. The unedited Documentary was brilliant, but later edited versions too all or most ofvthe information out, about just how bad forvus Vegan and Vegetarian Diets really are. As an aside, the only way I could get enough Fresh Fruit and vegetables into me in that Diet, was with Smoothies, and Smoothies appear to be a complete disaster for Oral Hygiene and I tetinal Health. Fruit Sugars are Far Sorse than Cane Sugars due to Fruit Acids, so bye bye teeth, and intestines get into an absolute riot uprising due to indigestible u cooked Vdgetables. Overall, just a Complete lack of Fun really, so avoid, avoid, avoid. Best Wishes. Bob in Wales. 🤔🌟🌟🌟👍⛵️

[@tangara7166]

​@@helenamcginty4920soy has effects on thyroid function (slows it down), so I can see there could be a correlation. Probably a combo of causes.

[@weethree2070]

Great stuff! Good to have someone talking about all the cognitive dissonance going on around this subject…

[@aidanmacdougall9250]

You say the computer dates back to the space program, but really it dates back to at least to 17th century with automatrons and mechanical calculators, by the likes of Wilhelm Schickard, Blaise Pascal, Gottfried von Leibniz and others, whose machines must have taken 1000s of hours to build, and also not very time/cost effective. But where would we be without them! Loved your thought provoking chat as always. 😊

[@random2829]

I have seen "music machines" that were operated by "punch cards".

[@terrabytesarcheology]

what's wrong with living in the past? at least I had a future then. :)

[@aidanmacdougall9250]

😂🤣😂

[@nosillalaluna7078]

So did I! 😊

[@weethree2070]

The past isn't what it used to be…

[@ruthwaugh8896]

Good one

[@clairecapon-hawley1957]

We are so very very privileged to be able to share in and be able to be interested in history, we have the absolute luxury of studying the past. Some people in the world such as the Ukrainians people and in Yemen and Gaza who don’t know even know that the rest of their day or tomorrow is guaranteed

[@stevenwbrubaker]

Rupert unfuzzy! Good lord, I'd forgotten how dashing he looks.

[@joelledurben3799]

I do embroidery, not for it's commercial value, to pleasantly pass the time of a stormy evening. I can imagine a distant ancestor fiddling with clay models in the dark to keep the kids from going stir-crazy.

[@Tipi_Dan]

Very thought provoking. Deep and astute. Thank you.

[@ruthcherry3177]

I was very lucky indeed, that as a young child, my parents took me to Stone Henge before it was fenced off... I probably touched, and climbed on, every stone I could reach. It's a part of my heritage, and no more important to me than all the "lesser" stone rings, which we also visited often.

[@iainmc9859]

Rupert, its pronounced Skoon, skOOON, SKOOOOON. Its a lump of red Sandstone from the Devonian period (We've known this since the C19th). Exactly the same as the rest of the red sandstone that Scone Palace is made of, the monastery was made of and all the older buildings in the local area are made of because that's whats in the ground, kick the turf off you're standing on it. As far as I'm concerned, and many Scots think the same, you can keep it. Its a knock off. It has no historical significance before 1296 when the local monks fobbed it off on Edward 1st of England. It could just as easily come out of a falling down pigsty as be the legendary stone (the Lia Fail, Jacob's pillow) that Scottish kings were crowned on. BTW - I love the channel 🤷‍♂😊

[@Chociewitka]

indeed, information is more important than merely preserving a dead object...

[@janetmackinnon3411]

It's interesting , inside your heads. Thank you.

[@BenM158]

I'm with Rupert on the analysis of these sites being a bit more open and interaction being *slightly* more open. If the ultimate goal is to learn about the past and encourage interest from the general public then some small act of physical interaction goes a long way, especially with children. It's not an easy subject to make decisions on though, and I don't envy the folks in charge of preservation of these sites.

[@vitiviti6548]

12:55 "the lichen on the stones shouldn't be touched" I have actually seen blokes at stonehenge removing the lichen on the stone, it is a part of "cleaning" them; lichens were destructing the stones, they told. 41:31: the english language offers a solution; it is the difference between work and labour.

[@yosoyyohoy]

Did anyone hear about a very famous Druid, from ancient times?! He appears a few times in the Old Testament, he is very much into stone circles, he was probably a Druid dressed in White, who knows?! Exodus 24:4 Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel.” He probably went to Stonehenge later to see the solstice there:) just sharing my thoughts. I enjoy your podcasts very much, thank you!

[@micheleheddane3804]

It is our immortality

[@brownnoise357]

Hi Guys. Given the amount of Terazzo Concrete used for Flooring and vertical Rendering in Gobekli Tepe, an outside the Box thought struck me about those T shaped Pillars - Could they have been used as a kind of PowerPoint Teaching Aid given the Connection they seem to have with illustrating Capture Methods for teaching Hunters how to Trap Game, Fish, eels etc, to improve the Food Supply all year round ? 🤔 I know it's that Bob in Wales Off on a Tangent again. 😄 All the Best. Bob. 👍

[@astridadler6467]

Being connected to Nature makes you automatically spiritual. Animism is found with all early cultures all over the planet.

[@PeachysMom]

Prehistory is the biggest of deals!

[@kidmohair8151]

i think we tend to see ourselves as both better off, and worse off than those people long ago. what we also do is think that their lives were so much harder and devoted to day to day existence, than our own. i am sure we have all had moments in our day when the sight of a lovely flower, or a dark cloud, or any number of distractions that pass before us every moment, has made us lift our head... and lapse into reverie. it happened back then too. guaranteed.

[@WhyIsYoutubeSoTerrible]

Regarding the discussion about spending absurd amounts of time on a single piece of art solely for the sake of it; I think that ethos is still alive in certain arts, most notably animation. Independent and individual animators will spend years and years on a single short film that likely won't result in revenue at all comparable to the amount of labor that went into it, but do all that to express an idea or story or whatever.

[@evanhadkins5532]

Excellence is spending unreasonable amount of time caring about what you are doing.

[@kariannecrysler640]

I have a theory that “survival of the fittest” understandings is a huge anchor tied to our necks and dropping fast into the depths. I was able to get Ai to change its response to the top ten human traits contributing to human evolution, through scientific evidence. The trait of empathy was ranked #9 & when I was done it was ranked number one due to its usage for the most potential for success in the use of every other human trait on the list, including survival of the fittest (for the most advantageous strategies, you factor in what hurts/maims most efficiently). By the standardized understanding of survival of the fittest, we attempt to interpret our human history without the inclusion of the most important human trait (given our infancy is entirely dependent upon empathy from others & our species would die off without it) empathy, which results in ideas like “cave men were less than human in capability” being accepted as true & further tainting the knowledge of humanity’s understanding of itself.

[@nosillalaluna7078]

Very good!!

[@Oddball5.0]

“Cave men” is not a term used in science. It’s from popular culture.

[@Clover12346]

Interesting. If we could stop interpreting the past through our own biases we may find out something closer to the truth.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Survival of the fittest is misunderstood. It didnt refer to the strongest, physically fittest but to the most suited to its environment. The meaning of the word fit has been narrowed since that phrase was first used. Think of something being a 'good fit'. A suit of clothes for example.

[@kariannecrysler640]

@ so even within that definition, is the impact of empathetic behavior included?

[@nomadpurple6154]

While listening, I though you had oddly put some Viking poetry in the middle, turned out to be a Swedish advert....I need to pay more attention

[@Tom0Bedlam]

thank you for your discussion. I would agree that we are tempted to over interpret the past in the light of our own needs. I don't know whether you have come across miniminuteman an American commentator on archaeological mythologies. He is fun to watch and has a different sort of way of putting over his comments that some of us older people might find a little distracting at first. However, I think he is both making archaeology fascinating whilst debunking those people who have to distort the knowledge to suit their own ends. On another tack how do you explain that there are apparently 14 stone circles on Bodmin moor. A little overkill for arenas or ritual sites don't you think? I love you programme and continue to enjoy your perspective

[@gerrycolverson7284]

My view is that knowledge of the past is important, whereas there is nothing sacred about the objects from the past. We should clearly preserve as much of the object from the past as is sensible, but should take those actions necessary if more knowledge can be gained.

[@ShoeString13]

I'll jump in here and say spirituality is not the same living awakened to the natural environment. Thanks. SF/

[@Ghost2743]

I'd say they're exactly the same, thinking they're not is what creates aberrant spiritual systems we call religion.

[@roxiepoe9586]

I make things. Just now I am making tiny beaded hair clips. They take hours. I was wearing a set in a public place and a person asked me if she might purchase them or their like. I had to tell her that I cannot sell them because they take about 5 hours each to make. My hourly rate for making the things I do sell would make the cost of these two inch clips very high. I only give things this labor intensive to people I care for very deeply. They are just pretty and I make them for pleasure. In this it does not matter at all how much work I put into the things that I find pleasure in making. Am I rambling?

[@brett-lothian]

History is nothing without its relationship to the present. Cutting people off from it serves no one. In saying that respect for the sites has to be enforced, but with a sensitivity to peoples engagement.

[@thrashhippie]

Rupert Rocks! It’s Archaeology, it’s the study of human activity through recovery and analysis. I don’t see the problem with touching or chipping a bit off a rock. How can you analyse a rock without chipping a bit off it for testing? It’s not like an old manuscript or textile. I love finding out about the “ordinary” people. Kings and queens become boring after a while. It’s also less pretentious now, thankfully. Early humans are allowed to have had hopes and dreams and skills other than how to kill for food.

[@LynetteMcGrath]

I am not an archaeologist, just an interested viewer, but it strikes me that what is considered important on a site depends entirely on what the archaeologists are looking for. On some sites it appears that they have no problem digging through (and possibly destroying) medieval and Roman, if they are looking for an Iron Age settlement.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Re Rupert's comment that archaeology should be about the people. Reminded me of the Time Team Shooters Hill dig where local people who recalled WWll came and became involved in the story. If memory serves the mummy or skeleton of a cat was found. Someone knew its name. The whole programme was alive somehow.

[@kariannecrysler640]

21:26 I would add that people’s idealizations of a perfect world, taint reason when attempting to interpret humanity’s existence. Perfection is a non existent, like infinity. It’s an ideal only not a tangible reality & if you are drawing conclusions from non realistic expectations, you will be wrong.

[@round51]

Being from the America I have a lot to say about the South west and what’s being done there. When I think of, “Off Road vehicles” I cringe. But when it comes to stones I think the instrument’s to do this research can be taken to the location. Most likely you would probably have vaporize at least a few atoms. We learn some important lessons from our past, more so now than ever before.

[@Reginaldesq]

Re touching the archaeology: It really came across to me as privilege. I can touch it, so I will, but the ordinary plebs should not do what I did, that would be wrong. Do they call it "special pleading"? Love the podcasts.

[@rudderheadpamericano4826]

So maybe the small holes in the T pillars at Gobekli Tepe were for tying animals for fights?

[@fredwood1490]

In the American Southwest, there are many rock paintings, and if you touch them with your bare hand, they will absorb small amounts of oil and salt. In centuries past, they were touched by bare hands and they have been degraded severely, while those near by that have not been touched have not degraded nearly as much, considering that all were exposed to weathering and time, often several thousand years. They are in very out of the way places, seldom visited by Humans. On the other hand, there are many European statues of bronze and marble that have been worn smooth and shinny by millions of hands over the centuries and, though they are considered precious, that touching is a living part of their purpose, a real connection with the past, not just with the image but, more importantly, with the wear from touch of all those hands. A tiny piece of culture that has ridden the trail of time.

[@sc2320]

the past is quality I had hair an shit. liken it fella’s 🤛🏻🔥💯💪🏻

[@judyhawkins6584]

On touching: the polished stone touched by long, long generations of the faithful is in itself a kind of living artifact. And I don't know that we need to have consistent rules for all things: different rules give us different experiences, and maybe we do choose to protect old things one way here, a different way there: that makes for different experiences. We'll never find a perfect set of rules to suit all occasions and all observers, which not a reason for having no rules; it's more like this is part of human variation, natural variation, and discussing it and disagreeing and ultimately trying different things in different places is part of the history. Some of what we learn comes from things found rubbish heaps, where things had no value at all to their original owners. Maybe those are things museum goers should have the chance to hold and have that experience of.

[@elizabethmcglothlin5406]

Dont I recall that the stone of scone has been extensively hacked about in the past.

[@theadventuresofoldmort1746]

Cream or butter? That's the real question.

[@janetmackinnon3411]

@@theadventuresofoldmort1746 Different pronounciaation.

[@judyhawkins6584]

I keep wondering if a lot of these places might not have been multi-use, just as a grange hall in my area, New England, gets used for dances and tag sales and all kinds of performances and rehearsals for musical events and voting and community meetings about anything and everything, and weddings and memorial services and anything that needs a roof and somewhere for people to sit or stand or whatever. And yoga and bake sales and youth groups and Morris dancing.

[@aguyinavan6087]

Hey, I know this is going to sound strange, but I solved pillar 43 at Gobekli Tepe, 95% confidence, as well as 2 of the other pillars. I'm wondering who I should coordinate with to publish my findings.

[@MrBobby7711]

It would probably blow some minds to tell people that Stonehenge has nothing to do with Celtic, Germanic, nor any of the other historical peoples that make up the population of Britan. When the Celts arrived, Stonehenge was already ancient and its purpose and meaning forgotten.

[@batoncharge]

Time travellers meeting last friday, dont be late 😂

[@musicalthunderpants]

when are you going to update apple podcasts.

[@bright9]

The idea of the neo pagans being allowed more free reign is intriguing. Here in the US we (some of us) are trying to respect indigenous beliefs when possible. The thing is, to me, it is obvious the neo pagans in Britain want the privilege of being indigenous whether or not their culture, language and dna refutes their chosen identity. There’s no actual continuity in a clear way as even Ronald Hutton suggests. I was in particular disturbed at their desire to have Seahenge II simply swallowed by the sea rather than have archeologists save and preserve it as they did the first. That’s misguided and reckless.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Re Maes Howe and photography is it not the effect of flashlights on the lichen or whatever grows on the stonework. I know that the effects of millions of flashlights on the paint is the reason why phoyography is banned in art galleries.

[@helenamcginty4920]

The cosplay druids et al shouldnt be allowed anywhere near Stonehenge. Its nothing to do with them. It never was anything to do with the original druids either. They make me so angry.

[@helenamcginty4920]

X

[@napalmholocaust9093]

Some of the giant "sample" holes drilled into artifacts for a scientific sample make me sick. They'll punch a hole though the middle of an ivory atlatl that you could stick a finger through. Some small bone figure I recently saw had a full eighth of it drilled out. Think of a pizza missing one slice, but a hole of equivalent size.

[@MrGaborseres]

👋👍

[@Reginaldesq]

"we are increasingly faced by our own mortality" This would seem to be demonstrably untrue, especially for people in the 1st world. Maybe its just your age? I understand its a conversational podcast and we all say things that might not make sense outside of our own head. Maybe you could explain how you arrived at this position or have a tighter script.

[@deormanrobey892]

👍

[@napalmholocaust9093]

I'd rather ask a human; Why does flash photography damage things, what is the mechanism?

[@stevencharlton7693]

I still think the Alter Stone came from the last big building at the Brodgar site and was taken to Stonehenge at the time it was decomissioned, and was brought down at the same time as all the cattle they had for that big feast!!! When it comes to Orkahaugr (Maes Howe) and the photo ban. I've asked myself the same question too!!!

[@Joe-sg9ll]

39:55 what is an equivalent today? what can I commission for 10mos and/or 100k?

[@helencahn7293]

Okay, just because it took the modern stone worker 10 months to make the vase out of stone, it does not mean it took the ancient craftsman that long. The ancient craftsman may have honed a more efficient technique after years of carving and working stone. Ancients did not have alien technology but perhaps more skill in their craft than modern day craftsman. Additionally, money may not have been a motivator, but economics probably has something to do with craft and innovation in antiquity.

[@pigspigs76]

Most peoples throughout history seem obsessed with afterlife and spirts.. so most of these structures seem related to

[@pigspigs76]

Now I know to look in river bank / swamp cross sections for artifacts left for an afterlife

[@karlkarlos3545]

But broken swords were not buried under the earth for storage; they were sunk to the bottom of lakes. How can you find a practical explanation for that custom without involving some kind of ritual behavior?

[@maggieadams8600]

We might not hunt anymore, but male chicks are crushed to death for egg production, animals are fed growth hormones and live in pretty lousy circumstances, and torture's alive and kicking in Israeli prisons, so have humans come on so far, or have there always been unscrutable types, and reasonable ones in prehistory as now?

[@astridadler6467]

Yes and we kill our own environment. Our everyday live is complete uncivilized drowned in plastic, bad food , poisonous cleaning agents.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Oh dear. Rupert you keep hitting the nails on the head. Re religion/spirituality needing to be linked to the land. Whenever I cut a cabbage I found myself apologising to the plant. Or leaving some fruit on the black current bush or the fruit tree. I definitely talked to the dead chickens as I plucked their feathers ready for preparing them for the pot. I still at 76 find myself thanking my tomato plant for its fruit. And I am an atheist.

[@MrBobby7711]

This is exactly why the Biblical authors never tell you exactly what cave Jesus was born in, or what house he lived in as a child, etc, etc. Because God knew that people would count those more precious than the Person who lived there. It's one of the greatest faults of the medieval and modern Church that we give such value to these supposedly sacred relics.

[@Reginaldesq]

So, God knew that people would see the objects as more precious but didnt know the Church would stuff it up? A partially seeing and partially knowing God?

[@MrBobby7711]

@Reginaldesq Partial? Hardly. Do you expect God to superintend humanity as if he were an old time school teacher watching children practice their hand writing? I won't pretend to discern the wisdom of the Almighty in detail, but I do know he does permit people freedom, even the freedom to mock Him if they see fit. Or to make more of old bones, bits of wood and nails, and even the odd shroud here or there than they ought. So that when everything comes to account, and there will be an accounting for everything, there will be silence at the end because people will be confronted with their own words and deeds as witnesses against them. Apart from the unimaginable glory and wisdom of God, those will be quite enough to convict the whole world of whatever each is guilty of, whether in His name or no.

[@Joe-sg9ll]

10:10 Sovereign is they who decide the exception As an archaeologist he is sovereign stone toucher. tourist is not.

[@random2829]

Prehistory is the war of Science against Academia. Academia has "won" for a few hundred years, but Science is on a rebound - and the Academics do NOT like that.

[@Reginaldesq]

"Evolutionary changes only occur when changes in environment happen" This is incorrect. My 3rd critical post, I promise no more :) You are an expert in your field. This does not mean you are an expert in other peoples fields. I'm sure you know that. Your statement reflect Darwin's "natural selection". The theory has advanced since then and it is now recognised that there are other drivers for evolution ie sexual selection, random mutations etc. My suggestion when talking outside of ones field is to say. "I'm not an expert in this area but I think evolution works like this" Rather than making a definitive statement as if its a known fact.

[@efowlermail]

Im with you. Stonehenge was a cowpen.

[@ansfridaeyowulfsdottir8095]

So, rather than breaking tools and weapons for the burial, for ritual reasons, you actually think that it's more likely that a copper age smith dug them up, broke the tools, and then reburied them so that he could sell the new tools he was making? His new tools being better than the *buried* tools? Read that out loud and see how ridiculous it sounds. And no one says grace _before_ sitting down for a meal. They say grace _when_ they sit down for a meal and before eating. {:o:O:}

[@helenamcginty4920]

Re henges being bullrings. Maybe they were the original county shows? Lets face it not only people need to breed outside their immediate family. Buying and selling domesticated animals esp. Breeding males is still important. Plus re 'spiriruality' back then evidence suggests that animals were ritually sacrificed by the thousands. Look at all the horses buried with Steppe supposed chieftains. And in iron age chariot burials. Not to mention human slaves. There was little lovey doveyness going around it seems. I grew up a Roman Catholic and spent every Sunday facing the large crucifix behind the altar. Ie a cross with a realistic depiction of a man, bleeding and crowned with thorns, blood pouring down his face and arms and feet from the nails. Gruesome or what?

[@astridadler6467]

You don't understand an artists or old crafters mind. Its doing it not how much you can sell it for. If you think about money you loose your art.

[@Reginaldesq]

Right on. This is why there are not many rich artists. I spend 400 hours making a guitar with mostly hand tools. There is no way I can get paid a fair amount for that labour. I do it because I enjoy it and I want to make something (my guitars are unusual) that nobody else has made.

[@claudiaxander]

12,000 in the future, we find ourselves in The Great Galactic Hall of Reverence, Our divine host and guide leads us away from the assorted door knobs and toilet flush mechanisms, all gleaming like precious jewels behind unbreakable transparent display cases, and over to the Gobekli Tepe relief carvings. And in a hushed yet dignified tone, informs the silent eager hoard of children "Here too; we can bare witness to yet more things once touched by our immortal emperor Soskin!!!"