TO MY MIND,
THE MOST IMPORTANT TREND OF THE LAST 25 YEARS has been the growing appreciation among scholars and the general public alike of the relevance of archaeology to the modern world. In my own area of interest, archaeologists now understand that the collapse of classic Mayan civilization around A.D. 800 was caused by a combination of factors, including population growth, intercity competition, warfare, economic disruption, and drought.

The classic Mayan rulers were apparently aware of the great problems facing them but made decisions that exacerbated rather than ameliorated these problems and thus accelerated the collapse.

There are helpful lessons for today’s leaders from the Mayan case and comparable others. Moreover, the long-term success of the Maya in exploiting their tropical rain forest environment prior to the collapse, with populations far exceeding those today, can provide useful clues to economic development in the region today. Likewise, a key trend in the coming 25 years will be the realization that the destruction of the remains of the past has reached crisis proportions and that archaeologists will have to significantly increase their efforts to persuade governments and

people to conserve the world’s archaeological heritage. In the Mayan area of Mexico and Central America, the rate of archaeological site destruction is accelerating rapidly, both as a result of modern development and through the looting of sites for treasures.


Unless such losses are stemmed, the kinds of data needed to better understand the growth of Mayan civilization and to provide stronger lessons from the past will be irrevocably lost.

Only a huge concerted effort, far beyond the considerable work of individuals and groups already under way, will save this precious heritage and allow scholars to make it relevant to our world today.


Jeremy A. Sabloff, professor of social sciences, University of Pennsylvania



THE DISCOVERY IN SOUTHEAST

France of the Chauvet cave made instant world news 10 years ago because of the aesthetic quality and the variety of its art. Another shock came when accelerator mass spectrometry results dated the art to more than 30,000 years ago. The consequences are far ranging. Chauvet confirms the existence of a religion that lasted for more than 20,000 years all over Europe. The expertise obvious in the

{ DRAWINGS }


shows that people with artistic gifts were chosen to draw in the caves and also that they must have undergone a specific training. More important still: The age-old paradigm of art having crude beginnings and evolving in Europe to more and more sophisticated forms is now a thing of the past. Art did not evolve in an ascending line. In the next 25 years, we shall know far more about human migrations and how they developed, thanks to DNA. Taking into account the fact that Africa, Asia, and Australia were peopled by modern humans long before Europe, we can expect the discovery of very ancient rock art on those continents.


Jean Clottes, former general inspector of
archaeology and scientificadviser for prehistoric
rock art at the French Ministry of Culture

To view last month's think tank article, click here.

To view all think tank article, click here.