Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

xv433 t1_iqt9rdt wrote

I thought this was the consensus view of Carter?

61

Bentresh t1_iqti0kt wrote

It is. The purpose of the article is to get people interested in Der Manuelian's new book about Reisner, not provide any novel insights about Carter.

55

JohnnyEnzyme t1_iqts9e0 wrote

Still, for nincompoops like myself who only know the bare facts about Carter's work and discovery, I found it quite interesting getting that deeper (and rougher) dive, and learning about the rivalry of sorts between he and Reisner.

Methinks the story has potential, too, not unlike an Amadeus film scenario, but one in which Mozart and Salieri really *did* hold contempt for each other. Perhaps a bit of a Thor Heyerdahl situation too, in which the real-life Thor had some qualities of flim-flammery and not holding up scientific principles.

/u/xv433

18

Tiako t1_iqtxv44 wrote

Yeah, I am largely but not entirely ignorant of Egyptology's history and I was not aware of this dust up, I think it can be overestimated how far this is known outside of Egyptologists.

(Heyerdahl on the other hand was a complete charlatan, absolutely nothing of value gained from his work)

6

JohnnyEnzyme t1_iqu2rvw wrote

Hmm, I thought Heyerdahl was more of a mixed bag.. exaggerating and manipulating facts on one hand, while taking on some pretty major risks in his voyages, and overall, bringing a bunch of attention to interesting facets of cultural history and so forth.

I haven't read up on him in many years, though, so I'm in little position to debate.

4

Tiako t1_iqu48mm wrote

I suppose as a pure adventure story it is compelling but that puts it at about the level of Felix Baumgartner jumping out of a space ship in terms of historical value. The peopling of the Pacific islands was a very settled question when Heyerdahl had his expeditions, and those expeditions provided not a whit of actual evidence to support his theory.

He was also more than a little racist towards Polynesians, the impetus of his theory was not far off "these savages couldn't have possible build these monuments".

2