Greetings, Ron,
Yours is a valid point. I have been using the example of a single specimen
deliberately to make my point. There was, after all, only one specimen
mentioned in the press release.
Considering other aspects of this incident, systematic pilfering of a UNESCO
site might be a different matter. No one has asserted that this has happened
in this instance.
I think that what we know is that a 40-pound slab of shale has gone missing
at the top of a mountain. As far as we know, there are no witnesses, no
other evidence of an intruder, no arrests. What are the chances that this
slab is scattered in dozens of pieces on the scree slope below the quarry.
What if some junior member of the work party dropped the slab when no one
else was present, seriously damaging the specimen? What if that person, to
hide his blunder, pitched the shards down the side of the mountain? A senior
member of the crew looks for the specimen, the junior member is gone down off
the mountain or is just too intimidated to admit what happened. Presto! We
have a raid by fossil pilferers!
Perhaps this is not what actually took place, but more information would be
interesting.
------Harry Pristis
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In a message dated 9/5/01 8:38:49 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
rceng@u.washington.edu writes:
Greetings,
It's important to note that the reference to "kind of a tragedy" did not
specifically pertain to the loss of the single specimen. Regardless of the
specimen's value (whether that value is measured in relative monetary terms
or some set of absolute terms), the pilfering of a UNESCO World Heritage
site is reprehensible.
The quote:
"It's kind of a tragedy I think to think that one of
our key sites, a UNESCO World Heritage Site
is open to pilfering of this sort," said Paul
Johnston.
It is not that the loss of the single specimen is intolerable. It is the
act of theft that is intolerable.
Regards,
Ron