Copper load of this! Company digging mine in Afghanistan unearths 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery

1) Find another ancient archaeological site of historical significance
2) Destroy another ancient archaeological site of historical significance
3) ???
4) Profit

Sorry kids. Good luck putting the pieces back together.

Yours truly,
Primitive Man

(Do not open until Xmas 2101)

copper miners hit a buddhist temple? hmmmm the buddhist temples are usually filled with copper singing bowls, bracelets, things and other nice valuables aren't they? coincidence?

Originally posted by mcrom901
luckily this one escaped the taliban...

I was about to reply with something along those lines then I saw you threw it in at the tail end.

Great find.

I'd love to learn more about it....

reply to post by mcrom901


This also tells us that afghanistan wasn't Islamic in the start, Islam conquered it like with other middle eastern countries, clear occupation if you ask me.

Rule with iron fist by the sword hitch there motto.

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter


Umm...? Just like Judaism and Christianity weren't in Jerusalem and Rome during the "start", just like Hinduism and Buddhism wasn't in India during the "start". Obviously these are concepts and philosophies that were created, so I don't see your point?

PS. Unless there are teachings of Buddha Gautama found in this find, then these statues and relics mean very little to a true Buddhist, except for historical reference to back up faith based claims (which has nothing to do with their plight to transcend suffering). So do not be sad or angry if it is destroyed.

Amazing find.

Unfortunately man's obsession with the almighty dollar takes priority over the preservation of fascinating sites like this. Countless times throughout history we've heard about important structures and artifacts being robbed and ruined because of this obsession.

What a damn shame.

Originally posted by speculativeoptimist
reply to post by mcrom901

 

The Spread of Buddhism, 500s B.C - A.D. 600
This map shows how Buddhism spread from India throughout Asia. Buddhism began in northeastern India, the birthplace of Buddha, and from there spread along trade routes. By the first century it had reached China. From there it traveled to Korea and on to Japan around A.D. 600. Buddhism also took hold in Tibet during the 600s.

go.hrw.com...

Peace,
spec

Wow, it spread in the shape of a giant spider. No more comments from my side on this subject.
Well I could only add my wish: I wish an Ancient Force was being unleashed, some giant monster, archaeologist-eater, walking in all its huge size his way out Afganistan and entering Europe eating mountains and cars and clouds... yeah - Im down with the flu sorry

Thats Awesome!

and yet we'll probably never see the beauty of the find because man would rather wreck everything for the sake of profit.
Hopefully they can get a time extension.

reply to post by mcrom901


Now that Nato knows about it, come next week, it will no doubt be blown to smithereens. They'll no doubt blame the Osama Bin Laden.

reply to post by kindred


Do you know anything?

You do know about this don't you?
en.wikipedia.org...

No amount of twisting or spin can put the blame anywhere other than at the feet of your adored Taliban!

Originally posted by jimmyx

Originally posted by ellbell
Wow !! Thats amazing, its such a shame they only have the 3 years, and then it will be demolished

hey...there are profits to be made. can't let ancient artifacts and 1000's of year old history get in the way of money. this is globalization baby, and we have to keep the wealthy going strong.

Originally posted by RedCairo
S&F, thanks for posting, that is really cool!

I'm sure to some people, an eroded statue of the Buddha is no different than thousands of others around the world.... it's just a crumbling rock after all. I mean realistically there are good archeology reasons not to build, or dig, in so many places around the world, that we'd have to remove half of civilization if we were to be picky that something was underneath us.

But I think it's really cool that it turns out it's a really big place -- big enough to get a stay of 3 years at least, which is not at all enough (archeology is SLOW work), but is better than nothing. I imagine nobody wanted to put the money into digging there previously even though it was known about, perhaps because they didn't know the scope of it, and the military dangers there are an obvious problem.

RC

Originally posted by wayno
The mine is projected to raise billions of dollars. I say whoever will be on the receiving end of those billions (the Chinese company?) should be charged with the task of preserving everything there of historical merit. Surely this cost would be minimal in comparison to what they will be getting from the mine.

The only way that will happen is with continuous public attention to the project.

If anybody wants to volunteer in raising the public attention they will be some decades late already and be prepared for a lot of non stop work. There are vast areas around and in middle east that became battlefields and host or hosted the most significant evidence for the human civilization.

Originally posted by Jamjar
What I find extremely wierd is that the earliest date for Buddhas birth is 625BC but the most common date is around 563BC yet this is a 7th century BC Monastary.

I know the current Buddha is the Fourth Buddha, so the dates for the Afgan find are thought provoking indeed.

Originally posted by Jamjar
What I find extremely wierd is that the earliest date for Buddhas birth is 625BC but the most common date is around 563BC yet this is a 7th century BC Monastary.

I know the current Buddha is the Fourth Buddha, so the dates for the Afgan find are thought provoking indeed.

Originally posted by grey580
That's some ways west.
Makes you wonder how far west the chinese really were back in the day.
good find.

Originally posted by JohnySeagull

Originally posted by mcrom901

luckily this one escaped the taliban...

isn't it the US bombing the crap outta Afghanistan. maybe it should read, 'luckily this one escaped the US missiles/drones.

There seems to be a huge area that islam flourished geographically this used to be a vast reservoir of antiquities which for one another reason were destroyed, left forgotten, and are continuing to be destroyed either by deliberate negligence or become "the casualties of modern war" IF there isn't any organized schemes behind their destruction, that collects all the important stuff and leaves no witnesses.
Up to Afghanistan and going through Anatolia there used to exist numerous dwellings and cities dating even from the pre Alexandrian era that flourished onmce again some couple centuries before Christ. Uppon inspection of the remnants of far eastern religious sites that will be found in those areas from Afghanistan and beyond to the far east what might be discovered will eb that the oldest remnants of religious art will be more detailed than the ones found at later centuries at the far East which is the cradle of many religions. There is ahuge piece of civilization in between that is missing or either destroyed and pillaged through the last 5 centuries.
I wonder who would bennefit from such things.

I believe that somebody wanted Islam there and did and is still doing everything in their powers for islam to stay there and even expand way beyond these areas.

Why is it that the US led institution teams that most are privately funded are always being so much involved in all that since from the eighteenth century? Why is it that foreign countries are forced by diplomatic means to report immediately upon the discovery of any sites of significant archaeological evidence and it's always the US led teams that demand to inspect the discoveries first?

If China is willing to have a foothold on middle eastern antiquity maybe at least THEY will set the records straight about ancient history and not the distorted version we have been learning lately from the officials of the Western institutions with an agenda.

Great Find for a moment this has Reminded me About the SO SO latest Movie The Exorcist Series
The Beginning , when they found Buried a Early Christian Buried Church Eastern Africa Where a Demon (Pazuzu) came out . Quick get a Buddhist priest or Monk,, like Father Merrien Well you never know ! Right


Speaking of the Taliban blowing crap up ! in which is just So Depressing when its about Fundamentalist
Ignorance of Religion and not having the Slightest Idea what can be learned from it Thankfully Sumerian Art in Iraq was Safe from this Group.. .

Christianity was just as bad say like Inquisition ,, Book Burning , Anything Pagan , and !! They are Accused of Burning the Greatest Place of Knowledge in History The Library of Alexandria ! with all the possible past clues! of the Unexplained Anomalous History of our Ancient World that could of been explained

Piri Reis Map is a Perfect example as it is claimed that the some of the Maps that help create the Piri Reis Map was at least 2 Thousand of years old and Claimed to come from the Library of Alexandria ...before it was Burned ..

I Wonder if there's Ancient Scrolls Tablets Etc.. or Some writing ? at the Site of the Monastery . yet to be discovered Now that would be interesting... 7century literature

Its a Shame of the Ignorance of Human Life Destroying History that we can learn from
its another Inquisition , Crusade blindsided by Money Green of Greed! For The Love Of Money


WE Just Need a billionaire like SR HADDEN( Contact) to do some Magic ...

Lookie Here!

Something similar to those big Buddhist statues !!
The Pictures ! of the

The Yungang caves ( Some inscriptions are Dated back to 493 A.D. )

The execution of the caves at Yungang in the first phase,
www.bergerfoundation.ch...

The caves at Yungang in phase II,
www.bergerfoundation.ch...

It was greed and ego that created the temples in the first place .May as well be greed that tears them down too. Im all for history and all .But what noone ever considers. God himself apparently said thou shall create no idol to me,or something like that. So the church said ,well we can just idolize his son instead. When the Bhudda was asked as he sat under his tree where he became enlightended. How shall we remember you? He smiled and replied have I taught you nothing. If you must have an idol ,then build one of yourself. But there are huge bhudda statues and temples all over. I like what the man said ,but like anything else,there is big buisness in selling salvation.

Now on the flip side. This does change the prerecorded history a bit ,and for that ,needs to be looked at carefully! But I agree with what someone above said ,unless there is some kind of actual teachings here, it means squat to a real Bhuddist ! Just like a church should mean squat to someone saying there a real catholic or christian !

Still working on islam and hinduism. Although I know where both stem from ,and neither is from God or any number of Gods ! I havent found where it says dont idolize me ,but it is prolly there somewhere!

Originally posted by jimmyx

Originally posted by ellbell
Wow !! Thats amazing, its such a shame they only have the 3 years, and then it will be demolished

hey...there are profits to be made. can't let ancient artifacts and 1000's of year old history get in the way of money. this is globalization baby, and we have to keep the wealthy going strong.

Well...to be fair...If it was a Russian mining company, even an American Mining company...there is a strong possibility we would have never heard about it.

They are well aware that reporting Archaelogical finds will cease operations for a long time.

Chinese company though? Discovering a Bhuddist temple? In Afghanistan?...those workers understand Karma. It was luck that it was a Chinese company.

Years ago I once met a very big land developer in the USA. We had a few beers together via a mutual friend. He explained that standard operating proceedure for land developers who unearth Native American artifacts in the USA is...cover it up, don't tell anyone...move ahead with bull-dozing as quick as possible...otherwise the site will get shut down for a period of time. It made me sick to my stomache to see him laugh as he said he had lost count of the times they had bull-dozed over archaelogical sites. I wish I had kicked his ass right then in that bar rather than just ream him out. I still feel sick when I think about him.

Originally posted by JohnySeagull

Originally posted by mcrom901

luckily this one escaped the taliban...

isn't it the US bombing the crap outta Afghanistan. maybe it should read, 'luckily this one escaped the US missiles/drones.

The United States Senate never ratified the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. DOD didn't want it ratified.

Therefor we legally could bomb the living piss out of historical and archeological sites. Global outcry for us looting Iraq, stealing their historical artifacts, as well as blowing up humanity's historical sites FORCED the United States to ratify the Treaty.

Effective September 25th, 2008...the United States can now be held liable if we bomb, steal other countries historical/archaeological sites during War:

www.uscbs.org...

You have no idea how much pressure it took to force the United States Senate to ratify that Treaty. It's going to cost us a fortune down the road since we like global warfare so much instead of secret assassinations using plausible denial to save us lots of $$$$$$$.

Interesting find.
Dr. Pete Peterson touches on this issue and many others.
Click here for some more' information'.

I certainly do not agree with all of the interviewees of Project Camelot though the Good Dr. appears to be in the Right house. Very impressive 'individual'.

reply to post by mcrom901


do you know why they destroyed the statue?

Reports said that the taliban blew it up cause it was non Islamic ,but that is far from the truth

what really happened was the afgan tribal leaders found out that some Thailand company along with the help afgan government were gonna spend 25millon to restore the statue , the tribal leaders went to government ask why are they spending all this money on this statue when they could be using the money to help the afgan people ,the gov did nothing so the tribal leaders told the taliban to destroy it .

sheesh, Buddhism spread throughout the ancient world with the quickness,
to make it to Afghanistan in a century or less, where as most other religions took many centuries to get started and build nice big temples and such.

reply to post by Jamjar

What I find extremely wierd is that the earliest date for Buddhas birth is 625BC but the most common date is around 563BC yet this is a 7th century BC Monastary.

The drapery on the statues is characteristic of Roman influenced Indian sculpture. The 7th century BCE is in error. It is most likely first century CE. It may have been a typo or misunderstanding on the reporter's part. Much as I would like to see the temple excavated and preserved, given the instability in Afghanistan, sadly, the artifacts would probably be safer elsewhere.

maybe its jain?

en.wikipedia.org...