Re: [Fwd: Age of universe]

Arthur V. Chadwick (chadwicka@swac.edu)
Thu, 20 Nov 1997 09:22:52 -0800

At 10:01 PM 11/19/97 -0600, Glenn wrote:
>this is ridiculous. Has this guy never heard of DECAY? Bodies and BONES
>decay, even if they are buried. And many primitive peoples place the dead
>body up on raised platforms or place them in trees and the bodies are not
>buried.
>
>Using his logic, there should be no place to bury anyone in Italy. There
>were 25 million people living in Italy in 1861. There were 36 million in
>1921. There were 50 million in 1971. Using an average life span of 50
>years over this time it means that by the end of 2021 114 million people
>should have been buried in Italy. If one goes back in time to the Roman
>days I would estimate another 100 million people giving a total since Christ
>of 214 million people. The area of Italy is 301,000 km^2 so this is a dead
>population (or as we say in Texas, voters) density of 708 / square
>kilometer. Why are they not having trouble finding burial spots?

But, Glenn. Since stone artifacts don't decay the burial places should be
identifiable anyway. Also something is wrong with your logic on burial,
since all these people are dying (to get in the graves) and they are not to
my knowledge being buried in the same places. At least in this country we
preserve the burying places of Native Americans as sacred 1000 years after
they left the scene. In Dallas we reroute freeways because the chosen
route came near an ancient Indian burial ground. Where are all the people
buried anyway? I know there are a few places where people are buried in
the same places, but this is not general practice. Decay doesn't enter
into this problem. Burial grounds are considered sacred by nearly all
cultures (maybe this is part of what identifies culture). Even dogs have
room for burial in ancient Palestine. I think you can bury roughly one
person per two square meters (maximum density) which means you can bury
500,000 people per square km. This would require only 400 square km (just
over .1% of land area) to allow each person in Italy since Christ adequate
burial room. And if you have ever visited a site of an inquisition, such
as the Catholic Inquisition in Peru, you will know that not everyone got
their 2 square meters (bones are sorted and neatly stacked by category in
cisterns many meters deep, but all still well preserved).
Art
http://chadwicka.swau.edu