I question what we’re learning of such value from a 2,500 year old corpse that warrants leaving this person outside of the ground.
I question what we’re learning of such value from a 2,500 year old corpse that warrants leaving this person outside of the ground.
It gives us a frame of reference about where we came from
> ...this person...
In the Phaedo, just before Socrates' death, Crito asks him how he would like to be interred. Socrates objects to Crito's confusion between Socrates the person -- the soul that will shortly be departing -- and whatever will be left over as the corpse.
I'd love it if scientists would study my body 2500 after my death.
Value is subjective. You may not value learning about the past - which includes knowledge of diseases, art etc. I certainly do.
Scientific discoveries aside, I can see this sort of art coming back. This kind of tattooos is hauntingly attractive, a postcard from another world.
Knowledge?
A dead person is dead and doesn't care anymore. The morbid taboo of not studying dead bodies lead to a looong stagnation in medicine.
Now in terms of practical gains not on the same level, true, but same principle to me.
Another possibility is: if someone today recreates these tattoos, it potentially re-establishes her importance.
I was amazed by this artistry and my immediate thought was “I need to honor that by 3D printing that!”
Grab photo, convert to SVG, load into 3D modeling program, clean up curves to have good surfaces, extrude color-coded heights, map colors to heights in slicer, print.