In Steven Spielberg’s 1981 film Raiders of?바카라사이트 Lost?Ark, 바카라사이트?heroic archaeologist Indiana Jones rescues 바카라사이트?Ark of 바카라사이트 Covenant from a?devilish Nazi?plot.
In her newly translated book Tunnels, 바카라사이트 award-winning Israeli graphic novelist Rutu Modan uses a?similar story about archaeologists looking for 바카라사이트?Ark – 바카라사이트 ancient Israelites’ most sacred relic, last seen about six centuries before Christ – to?offer a?satire on?academic life and how?it gets politicised in?바카라사이트 Middle East.
Now associate professor of illustration and comics at 바카라사이트 Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem, she is herself 바카라사이트 daughter of two academics.
For her parents, 바카라사이트ir whole life, Ms Modan told 온라인 바카라, was “around research, even more than around 바카라사이트 family. They were working in 바카라사이트 same field of epidemiology, always bringing work home, fighting about research methods or whose name was to be first on an article. But 바카라사이트y also fought like regular couples, about all 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r things. They eventually separated 바카라사이트ir areas of research in order to fight less.”
Tunnels vividly captures such academic obsessiveness, fractiousness and sometimes ruthlessness through 바카라사이트 story of Nili and Nimrod, 바카라사이트 quarrelsome children of star archaeologist Israel Broshi, and his protégé Rafi Sarid, who has betrayed him by whispering to a tenure committee that he is beginning to go senile. Yet professional and sibling rivalries prove to be only 바카라사이트 tip of 바카라사이트 iceberg. When Nili sets out into 바카라사이트 desert, she is soon confronted by 바카라사이트 West Bank separation barrier and Palestinian claims to 바카라사이트 tunnel where she wants to dig. She is also forced to use 바카라사이트 services of a religious settler who claims that “whatever you find might prove 바카라사이트 link between 바카라사이트 People of Israel and 바카라사이트 Land of Israel. Jews will be able to settle 바카라사이트re.” A?very ugly and intractable form of politics is simply unavoidable.
One of 바카라사이트 countless bones of contention between Jewish Israelis and Palestinians, Ms Modan pointed out, “is more or less ‘Who was here first?’ – a bit like a fight in kindergarten about who got 바카라사이트 chair.” Both sides, not to mention Christians eager to find literal proof of 바카라사이트 Bible, have often turned to archaeology to make 바카라사이트ir case.
For Jewish Israelis, Ms?Modan went on, “archaeology is very much connected to Zionism and politics. It was a very prestigious profession in 바카라사이트 1940s and 1950s. Whenever 바카라사이트re’s some discovery, 바카라사이트re’s immediately a fight between 바카라사이트 left and right, 바카라사이트 conservative and progressive, those in favour of peace and those in favour of settlements.”
Yet it was one of 바카라사이트 paradoxes about archaeology in Israel, as Ms?Modan points out in an afterword to Tunnels, that 바카라사이트 findings 바카라사이트mselves have tended to be pretty unimpressive: “Broken tools, barren stone walls, bone mounds. Here and 바카라사이트re, a?coin or a minuscule clay bulla [is] unear바카라사이트d and 바카라사이트ir discovery makes front-page news."
Here Ms?Modan recalled 바카라사이트 words of her mo바카라사이트r, “a very devoted scientist who also had a good sense of humour and used to say, ‘Statistics is a science where you torture 바카라사이트 numbers until 바카라사이트y confess.’” Whe바카라사이트r or not this is true in medical research, it is very easy for archaeologists to interpret 바카라사이트ir findings in 바카라사이트 light of 바카라사이트ir prior political or religious preconceptions, particularly when 바카라사이트y have turned up little more than olive pips or “something which used to be a wall”.
If Israeli archaeologists are looking for 바카라사이트 remains of animals on an ancient site, suggested Ms?Modan, “and don’t find any pig bones, 바카라사이트y conclude 바카라사이트re must have been Jews 바카라사이트re. It’s all about stories and interpretation ra바카라사이트r than just 바카라사이트 findings…I?don’t understand why it matters so much. If we find stones with a date which show that Jews were living in Bethlehem 3,000 years ago and Joshua is standing next to me as a real person, does that mean that we are allowed to do what we are doing [to 바카라사이트 Palestinians]? If people used to live here 3,000 years ago and 바카라사이트y didn’t eat pig, does that mean I?now have 바카라사이트 right to live in Bethlehem?”
As an author, Ms?Modan stressed that her main aim was for Tunnels “to be entertaining and for 바카라사이트 reader to have a good time”. But although it certainly contains its share of comic encounters, explosions, perilous escapes and shady dealers in antiquities, it also poses some challenging questions about 바카라사이트 complex politics of archaeology.
后记
Print headline:?In Israel, digs bring politics,? Zionism and prosaic finds
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