Has a brief chat with Dan yesterday about using complexity in software development. As he pointed out it comes down to commonsense, complexity is just another wrapper for that. But what if complexity is science based can it offer beyond a better way of saying the commsensical? Keeping it simple I would say what science offers is the counter-intuitive, or the counter-commonsensical if you like long words! So what does this mean in practice? It’s hard to recall examples of counter-intuitive uses of complexity though there’s one I recall about luggage handlers at airports doign somethign which seemed to the guy on the ground very counter-intuitive, which was to keep circulatign luggage rather than take it off the plane, which in fact made the process more efficent. And I think its those examples that we are really looking for. Obvious when you think of it (more jokes about the obvious please..).
Bosnian pyramid letter in the Times
Interesting letter in the Times today questioning the approach taken to the excavation of the Bosnian pyramids. Maybe the Bosnian American site leader Sam Osmanagic should take off his cowboy hat and explain his approach?
Bosnia’s rich heritage
Sir, Stories about hidden pyramids in deepest Bosnia being investigated by “hobby archaeologists” (“Indiana Jones of the Balkans”, April 15), may appeal to those for whom the dry facts of archaeology hold little attraction, but they also do little to assist the cause of heritage protection in that beautiful but unlucky country.
Professional archaeologists in the former Yugoslavia, and in international organisations such as the European Association of Archaeologists, have known about these claims for some time, and various “scientific” reports are available in the public domain.
In most countries of Europe those with wacky theories about “hidden mysteries” on presumed archaeological sites are free to propound them but not to undertake excavation, which by its very nature destroys much of what it uncovers; let alone excavation by those unqualified in terms of training and experience.
According to your report there are indeed archaeological sites on the hill in question — Illyrian (Iron Age), Roman and Medieval; yet the work underway or planned makes no mention of what steps will be taken to safeguard them, and other potential sites as yet undiscovered, from inappropriate earthmoving or other investigations.
The situation of professional heritage management in Bosnia-Herzegovina is, since the Bosnian war, in a poor state, with a tiny number of people trying to do what they can to protect their rich heritage from looting and unmonitored or unauthorised development. It adds insult to injury when rich outsiders can come in and spend large sums pursuing their absurd theories (the construction of a colossal pyramid so large that it dwarfs even those of Egypt or Mesoamerica? 12,000 years ago?), in ways that most other countries would never countenance, instead of devoting their cash to the preservation of the endangered genuine sites and monuments in which Bosnia-Herzegovina abounds.
PROFESSOR ANTHONY HARDING
President, European Association of Archaeologists