Smithsonian article on discoveries in Libya

[Anonymous]

smithsonianmag.com/smiths.../digs.html <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Do you know where we can see some pictures?<br>
Johnny <p></p><i></i>

[Tarbicus]

"Last June, Ziegert hired Libyan workers to lift the panels out of the ground, haul them more than a mile and cement them to the walls of the small Leptis Magna Mosaic Museum financed by Italian officials"<br>
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WTF?? OMG!! <p></p><i></i>

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I read that too. Ziegert must have a cement brain. I just hope he didn't ruin them completely.<br>
Johnny <p></p><i></i>

[Carlton Bach]

...as it sounds. Removing mosaics and cementing them into museumn walls is standard practise, and if it is done right, it won't do lasting damage. 'Cement' covers a multitude of glops.<br>
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I studied at the University of Hamburg's archeology department (or what's left of it, after budget cuts) and I know they are good with mosaics. OTOH Professor Ziegert is not known - how to put this - for patience or readiness to take advice, as far as I know. He might simply have done what the government of Libya asked him to, and d**n his colleagues' advice (in which case staff meetings might get interesting now - ah, to be fly on the wall).<br>
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But I would say simply removing mosaics would be the right thing to do. You really do not want art treasures of inestimable value lying around at a known location in the desert, policed by Libyan guards. It is standard practise except in a few select countries that are educated enough to follow this policy and rich enough to build museums all over the place. <p></p><i></i>