Chinese mine in Afghanistan threatens ancient find

[SoCalDem]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40181935/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Workers excavate a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery in Mes Aynak, south of Kabul, Afghanistan.
By HEIDI VOGT
The Associated Press
updated 11/14/2010 1:31:46 PM ET 2010-11-14T18:31:46



MES AYNAK, Afghanistan — It was another day on the rocky hillside, as archaeologists and laborers dug out statues of Buddha and excavated a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery. A Chinese woman in slacks, carrying an umbrella against the Afghan sun, politely inquired about their progress.She had more than a passing interest. The woman represents a Chinese company eager to develop the world's second-biggest unexploited copper mine, lying beneath the ruins. The mine is the centerpiece of China's drive to invest in Afghanistan, a country trying to get its economy off the ground while still mired in war. Beijing's $3.5 billion stake in the mine — the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan by far — gets its foot in the door for future deals to exploit Afghanistan's largely untapped mineral wealth, including iron, gold and cobalt. The Afghan government stands to reap a potential $1.2 billion a year in revenues from the mine, as well as the creation of much-needed jobs.

But Mes Aynak is caught between Afghanistan's hopes for the future and its history. Archaeologists are rushing to salvage what they can from a major seventh century B.C. religious site along the famed Silk Road connecting Asia and the Middle East. The ruins, including the monastery and domed shrines known as "stupas," will likely be largely destroyed once work at the mine begins.

Hanging over the situation is the memory of the Buddhas of Bamiyan — statues towering up to 180 feet high in central Afghanistan that were dynamited to the ground in 2001 by the country's then-rulers, the Taliban, who considered them symbols of paganism. No one wants to be blamed for similarly razing history at Mes Aynak, in the eastern province of Logar. The Chinese government-backed China Metallurgical Group Corp., or MCC, wanted to start building the mine by the end of 2011. But under an informal understanding with the Kabul government, it has given archaeologists three years for a salvage excavation.

snip

[dipsydoodle]

1. Three years does at least sound reasonable

Other countries might not have shown such tolerance - a reflection of the way in which the Chinese regard their own heritage I guess.

[SoCalDem]

2. Except that they flooded out ancient unexplored areas

with their giganto-dam...the dam that did NOT stop the flooding they said it would..

Think of the wonders that will never be found.. China was closed for hundreds of years, and even now is not all that receptive to archeologists..

[HEyHEY]

3. Were the "slacks" the ancient find?