'I am horrified': Archaeologists are fuming over ancient human relative remains sent to edge of space (www.livescience.com)

submitted 1 year ago by GreyShuck@feddit.uk to c/archaeology@mander.xyz

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Fragmentary remains of two ancient human relatives, Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi, were carried aboard a Virgin Galactic flight on Sept. 8. Departing from Spaceport America in New Mexico, the fossils, carried by South African-born billionaire Timothy Nash in a cigar-shaped tube, were rocketed to the edge of space.

"I am horrified that they were granted a permit," Sonia Zakrzewski, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Southampton in the U.K., wrote in an X thread, noting she would use it as an example in her class about unethical approaches. "This is NOT science."

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[-] flipht@kbin.social 7 points 1 year ago

The issue is that you can't guarantee there won't be harm, and by doing it and not stopping it in the future, you are inviting others to do similar stuff. And probably to one up each other.

And eventually there will be an accident and something important will be lost forever.

Y'all are really out here acting like "no harm no foul" like you'd be fine with your toddler running into the street because "nothing happened!" This time. Next time, a semi could be speeding by.

this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2023

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Archaeology

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Archaeology or archeology[a] is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes.

Archaeology has various goals, which range from understanding culture history to reconstructing past lifeways to documenting and explaining changes in human societies through time.

The discipline involves surveying, excavation, and eventually analysis of data collected, to learn more about the past. In broad scope, archaeology relies on cross-disciplinary research. Read more...

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