As I understand it - which is not at all - the pyramid complex in Giza was always next to a bustling inhabited city, but the complex itself seemingly went ignored/untouched for centuries. Same goes for famous Roman sites. Why were these objects and sites not reused or maintained or destroyed until relatively recently? Where did everyone go, and why weren’t they living in and around these structures this whole time? And if they were, why didn’t they do anything with the sites?
I understand that empires and civilisations come to an end, but they aren’t the result of wholesale genocide, and even if they were, the genociders would surely move into that area next and continue living in the pre-built cities and towns. But that doesn’t seem to be what happened.
Why is humanity out of the picture in these monumental and impressive sites for unbroken periods of deep time?
Cheers!
In addition to the points others made, Rome has not always been a bustling city.
Its population declined from more than a million in AD 210 to 500,000 in AD 273 to 35,000 after the Gothic War (535–554) reducing the sprawling city to groups of inhabited buildings interspersed among large areas of ruins, vegetation, vineyards and market gardens.
The city’s population declined to less than 50,000 people in the Early Middle Ages from 700 AD onward. It continued to stagnate or shrink until the Renaissance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome#Middle_Ages
Thanks to multiple sackings, power struggles, plagues etc.
It only surpassed a million again in 1936. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome#Demographics
Reusing stones from ancient ruins used to be a widespread practice. I remember hearing a story, not sure how true it is, that the ottomans had plans to use the giza pyramids as a quarry. The practice of grinding up old mummies is almost as ancient as the mummies themselves. Used mainly for fertilizer I believe, and I think it was in vogue as a paint pigment for a while.
I know there are places, especially around the Mediterranean, where you can see foundation stones still etched with ancient hieroglyphic/whatever scrip just thrown in willie nillie.
I won’t condone everything the British museum has done, but a lot of these artifacts wouldn’t exist if they weren’t shipped off. Caring about the past and the artefacts left behind, while by no means new thing, most people for most of history didn’t seem to give two shits. Probably more concerned with not starving etc…
that the ottomans had plans to use the giza pyramids as a quarry
Close, Mohammed Ali had this idea who was independent ruler but on paper was still ruling under ottoman empire. Luckily A french advisor convinced him that it would be cheaper to get the stones from elsewhere.
