Oops: Israeli Burning Man festival torches ancient remains

[Liberal_in_LA]

Oops: Israeli Burning Man festival torches ancient remains


JERUSALEM (AP) — The Israeli Antiquities Authority says revelers at a Burning Man festival famous for its pyrotechnic spectacles have accidentally torched some remnants of prehistoric man.

Archaeologist Yoram Haimi says organizers of Midburn, an Israeli affiliate of the Nevada carnival, burned a wooden temple Saturday on a hilltop scattered with flint tools from the Paleolithic, Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods.

The site was discovered 30 years ago by an Israeli archaeologist. The area is not marked with signs and it is hard to see the ancient remains. He says the extent of the damage is unclear.

Eyal Marcus, Midburn spokesman, said antiquities officials only approached organizers in the middle of the festival.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/world/article/Oops-Israeli-Burning-Man-festival-torches-6291514.php

[TexasProgresive]

1. Reminds me of an Irish archeologist

He found a prehistoric site and wished to protect it while it could be studied. He congracted a local stone man to build a wall. On the day it was to be finished he went out to the site, and there stood the wall as nice as can be. The mason was so proud and said, "I thought I would save you a few pounds, instead of purchasing stones I just used all these stones lying in the field."

Of course that was the ruins of the ancient structure.

[bluedigger]

2. Doesn't sound like much of an impact.

Scorching 20-30 square meters of ground surface isn't going to ruin a lithic scatter or compromise the integrity of the site to any significant degree. I would guess there have been a couple of ground fires to sweep that hilltop over the last few thousand years. Here in the US, controlled fires are being used to expose and study sites experimentally. It's regrettable that it happened, but the festival organizers should not be blamed if their permits were in order. The antiquities officials who overlooked the potential impact until the damage, such as it was, had been done, should be held accountable and their oversight procedures reviewed.