Welcome Back!

We’re trying our hand at another writing prompt this time.

Prompt: Investigate when it’s wise to disassemble historical relics and reshape the founding tales of nations, and the repercussions it may have.

{…}

You are in the middle of a vast desert and multiple people are working on the ground below them. Not digging, more dusting than digging. You bend down to lean over your workplace, which appears to be a small piece of barren land which seems to have been dug to a certain extent. Your hat is the only thing keeping the scorching sun off your body. The people who are around you also appear to be in the same situation as you. Yes, you are an archaeologist working in a hot desert. You can feel your wet clothes against you, drenched in sweat. That’s when you found something. What is it? You lean down to examine it further. You carefully sit down and brush off the excess dirt from the peculiar object. Your eyes widen, and the object looks like it is made of a material that feels like the rough version of ceramic. It feels extremely rough under your skin, like sandpaper. This is brilliant! It is the first historical discovery you and your team have made since morning! You call upon your team to come take a look. They all gather around and help take the artefact out. Except there is one problem. The artefact was broken, there were four pieces to the artefact and one was missing.

What do you think? Should you repair this artifact or should it stay the way it is? First, you probably would send this item for further investigation. From this, you would get at least the date of the artifact and you would be able to detect the age or empire it came from. Maybe, possible links with other civilizations? Coming back to our first question, do you repair this artefact? You can’t technically put your feet in both situations so you decide to think it out.

Later that day, the thought of this artefact struck your mind again. Should we repair this artefact? I mean, it has one missing piece with looks like it will cause an average-sized hole in the item. You start thinking of possible options but don’t get anywhere productive just more questions. You decide to start researching on these topics. You get off the living room sofa and head to your bedroom. You see your laptop lying on your bed while being charged. You feel the cool material touch your skin as you lift the laptop back to the living room. You sit down and open a new tab on your browser.

Debates on whether artefacts should be repaired or not were the topic on most websites. Some said they depend on what the artefact is. Many say it is important to preserve all artefacts. You search on this more. Artefacts are a unique and important part of an area’s history. It tells you the things that were maybe omitted when it came to being passed down from generation to generation, or perhaps maybe support these oral traditions. As an archaeologist, you can’t deny the importance, but you don’t want to make hasty decisions and want to research more.

As you continue, people say it is not necessary to put back artefacts. Why? They say it costs too much. Well, they are not wrong, but artefacts are an integral part of a place’s history. If you think logically, don’t you think you will get more money if you invest in fixing an artefact? I mean, think about it this way. When an artefact like this is recreated, a lot of tourists and international archaeologists would like to have a glimpse of this new artefact. This gives the country money from the tourist sector and therefore, helps the country.

As you were surfing the web, you came across a peculiar word, Kintsugi. This is a method for fixing an artefact and replacing missing parts with gold. This method comes from Japan. This method is simply behind the concept of embracing one’s flaws as part of its history. After all, this artefact breaking apart is still an event in the life of that artefact. The method uses liquid gold to fix the broken parts of the artefact, thus highlighting the broken lines. Missing parts are also remade with gold. This seemed perfect for the artefact you had at hand. You think about this and believe it is a good idea to suggest to your teammates.

The next day you meet you meet up with your teammates. Your excitement cannot be contained as your expressions bubble up inside you, waiting for you to show them. Your team has set up a meeting about what to do with this artefact, perfect. You take your thoughts and move to the meeting room. Your hands touch the smooth metal of the door handle as you enter the meeting room. You see that everyone is already there and waiting for you so that the meeting can start. You made sure to speak up first when the meeting had started. The team’s eyes open wide as they listen tentatively to what you have researched. Kintsugi, this word seems to have been heard by everyone but not done in detail. The head of the team says this is a great idea and that we would look for a Kintsugi artist. Your smile is a mile wide knowing that you were able to be of help to your team.