History’s Mysteries

There were a couple of articles I  looked at today which widened my world view, extended it into  the past a bit.  One about the excavation (I always wonder just how much  time needs to elapse before ‘grave robbing’ becomes ‘archaeology?  I believe there is an Andean Indian language in  which the word for archaeologist is, in fact, grave robber.’  I don’t spend too much time thinking about it, though.  If they dig up my bones a couple thousand years from now, I doubt I’ll be much bothered.) of a couple of bodies in an ancient Roman tomb, and it turns out they’re Chinese.  So, Marco Polo may have had some historical  significance, but it was not exactly  as if  he discovered China or anything.  Regular trade had probably been  going on for  a long, long time before  that.
The other one was the discovery of the ruins of a Roman (originally Greek) port, and it was apparently  a major commercial hub at the time.  I’d like to see it rebuilt, that could be awesome.   Maybe add some themed hotels, a sprinkling of discotheques, restaurants and casinos, and you’ve got ‘Ancient World, the Theme Park.  Just a thought.
The thing is, you piece these two bits of information together and you realize that along with  the Greeks and the Italians, the people on  these docks were merchants from the Orient, Africans, Egyptians, Berbers, Celts, Lebanese, Slavs and other assorted riff-raff.  Not so different from today.