The number of times I’ve basically seen this exact same thing happen in history is crazy. It’ll be something like “Well ole Bill Jesterbong discovered the Gilded Anusbangle in August of 1827 on the island of Nebraska. Naturally, he built a hide in a tall fir tree and camped in it for 3 weeks straight shooting and killing all 1382 Gilded Anusbangles to see if their hide could be useful or if they were tasty. Turns out they were not. The Gilded Anusbangle is now extinct.”
I’m struggling to remember the details, but I recall one account where somebody found a very rare, very endangered bird with its nest, strangled the bird and smashed the eggs within the nest, effectively just for shits and giggles. I’ll edit and update this if I can find the details.
Edit: The Great Auk. Wasn’t killed for shits and giggles, but they were desired for their down to the point the European populations were hunted into extinction. From Wikipedia:
The last pair, found incubating an egg, was killed there on 3 June 1844, on request from a merchant who wanted specimens.[56][c]
Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson, the men who had killed the last birds, were interviewed by great auk specialist John Wolley,[59] and Sigurður described the act as follows:
The rocks were covered with blackbirds [guillemots] and there were the Geirfugles … They walked slowly. Jón Brandsson crept up with his arms open. The bird that Jón got went into a corner but [mine] was going to the edge of the cliff. It walked like a man … but moved its feet quickly. [I] caught it close to the edge – a precipice many fathoms deep. Its wings lay close to the sides – not hanging out. I took him by the neck and he flapped his wings. He made no cry. I strangled him.[8]: 82–83
Was it the Stephens Island Wren?
No that’s the one made extinct by feral cats, but that’s a different episode of Tom Scott’s Citation Needed than the one where I learned about the bird I was thinking of. Completely forgot that’s where I’d heard about it!
The bird I had in mind is the Great Auk, which was mentioned in a separate episode of Citation Needed lol
From Wikipedia: "The last pair, found incubating an egg, was killed there on 3 June 1844, on request from a merchant who wanted specimens.[56][c]
Jón Brandsson and Sigurður Ísleifsson, the men who had killed the last birds, were interviewed by great auk specialist John Wolley,[59] and Sigurður described the act as follows:
The rocks were covered with blackbirds [guillemots] and there were the Geirfugles ... They walked slowly. Jón Brandsson crept up with his arms open. The bird that Jón got went into a corner but [mine] was going to the edge of the cliff. It walked like a man ... but moved its feet quickly. [I] caught it close to the edge – a precipice many fathoms deep. Its wings lay close to the sides – not hanging out. I took him by the neck and he flapped his wings. He made no cry. I strangled him.[8]: 82–83Lmao, I knew it was citation needed, just got the wrong bird!
Nothing says “archaeologist” like a pair of handguns to kill everything in your path.
But she isn’t an archeologist
She is a Tomb Raider
It is literally in the title!
Combat archaeology should be a thing.
Need to explore an ancient temple that happens to be on ISIS territory? Time to bring in a combat archaeologist.
Unfortunately, once the local militant factions see you as an enemy they start to ramp up destruction of history. There was a similar situation in the 2000s when islamic extremists began destroying tombs in Egypt, likely fueled by an opposition to British political intervention including their support of Israel.
“Archeology is the study of FACT…not truth. If it’s truth you’re looking for, Dr. Tyree’s philosophy class is right down the hall”
“gotta kill a hundred natives just to steal their artifact so I can stick it in my trophy room”
The most recent trilogy is better about that. 2013 has no natives, and Rise and Shadow both have her siding with the natives. Still snags a bunch of artifacts.
yeah but the original was honest. this cunt was rich as fuck, living in a gigantic mansion. it makes sense that’s she’s a psycho who hunts natives for sport and exterminates endangered and thought-to-be-extinct animals for trinkets that provide nothing but bragging rights.
It’s interesting how much the general attitude has changed about shit like that. In the 90s, I didn’t think twice about it, it was just a normal thing to imagine going to some location, killing anything that reacted with hostility to your presence, and taking back whatever you “found” for a vanity display or profit.
My reaction to Indiana Jones’ “it belongs in a museum!” was that he was virtue signalling (back before it was even called that). I guess the bright side is that, even as a kid, I thought the idea that museums having some kind of special claim on anything was ridiculous.
Exactly what you would expect from some bored entitled rich kid doing the job for fun.
You’re off the fuckin chain!
