When in Doubt, Write about Nothing...Libya Series, Part 7

So, this is that part where I don’t really have much to say, but my fans are begging for more, so we’ll just stick a totally irrelevant and nonsensical article smack-dab in the middle of the newspaper and hope mostly everyone just skims it. We’ve been in Libya a little more than a month, and have thus far visited Sabratha, the Tripoli museum, the green square, the sukhs and the beach. As for the museum, there’s really not much to report, as most of what it contained were huge statues from the Roman cities. They did have some cave paintings from the Algerian/Libyan border, Qadafi’s car pre-power, some sculptures and rock carvings from the Berbers who originally inhabited Libya and a child that was mummified in the Egyptian way thousands of years ago, yet buried in Libya for some unknown reason.

For the sake of the blog post, I'm inserting some museum photos here.  Unfortunately, the camera died in the first few minutes of being in the museum (my bad!), but you'll get the idea.

The interesting thing is that most of Libya’s beautiful and varied history has been erased or destroyed by the numerous peoples that have been in charge here. There should be many more priceless artifacts, HOWEVER, all the varying powers that be throughout history didn’t see fit to preserve anything from the past, instead building smack on top of old cultures. It’s really sad when you think about it, because the history here is almost as good as Texas history (hey, not everyone can have an Alamo; sorry, world, Texas 1, you 0).

I was particularly intrigued by the cave paintings. As most of you know, many scientists hold with the “out of Africa” theory (and for those that don’t know, basically man evolved in Africa and set out in several different migrations throughout history, beginning with the neandrathals or some other human ancestor….all of it is total hogwash from a religious perspective, but intriguing from a completely scientific aspect) Anyway, this would be thousands and thousands of years ago, somewhere between being a monkey walking upright and man today (or, being a monkey walking upright haha!) That last attempt at a joke was implying man today is stupid, Mom. I know you’re wondering.

Back to the migrations. According to genetic research, modern man eventually left Africa and actually encountered some neandrathals and other primitive man, which had exited Africa long before. Why does that tie into genetic research? Studying the genetic code of neandrathals and modern day humans, some people today still have some genetic material that is specific to neandrathal man. Which, duh, right? If it were true that man was descended from these primitive beings, of course we would have their genetic material, because they would essentially be our parents. So, I think scientists may actually (unwittingly, of course) be admitting that they don’t think man descended from these “missing links” because obviously genetic codes aren’t going to change so drastically that they become unrecognizable, and the articles that I’ve read on the subject just say that some modern man retain these codes because their direct ancestors inter-bred with neandrathals. So, some people today truly are cave-men, I guess.

But this also gets me wondering, could neandrathals and other missing links be some type of other creature? We know from the Bible that there were giants, who were the spawn of demons and humans (and I also have reason to suspect giant blood runs in Zack’s family, due to the entire family’s height and a certain poly-digited brother). So, what I’m trying to say is this…obviously, there were other creatures in existence that weren’t fully human and weren’t fully spiritual. Could these “missing links” be remains of some of these creatures? If the giants in the Bible (and their heritage) are true, does that mean that the only kind of child produced from this union would be a giant? No, I think not. I think it’s totally possible that there would be “hobbits” (like the ones found in the Philippines or Indonesia or wherever), giants, and just downright ugly ones (neandrathals?)

And, of course, there’s always the theory about these remains all being a genetic defect, which if you are halfway intelligent at all, is completely feasible given the “tribe” method of living. You start out with a family and basically inbreed until you have a whole city? Yeah, there’s so many genetic flaws that would start to express themselves it’s not even funny. And none of that is what I started out to say when I began discussing the migrations, so let me begin again.

I’m sure we’ve all heard that the Sahara was not always an endless desert, stretching on forever and ever and ever, and that at one time it actually supported plants and animals (non-desert animals, of course). Cave paintings are supposedly one of the first things that shows man was developing his mind…artistic expression, right? These cave paintings, hidden away in mountains in the desert, prove the Sahara wasn‘t always just dirt. They depict giraffes, elephants, cows, even crocodiles. These paintings are supposedly 13,000 years old, so unless the cave-painter was just a big fan of walking across a huge desert to get some artistic inspiration, it means that at one time, Libya (and the rest of north Africa) were connected with the rest of Africa by a lush savannah, instead of an unforgiving sandbox. Also, in reading some genetic research studies from north Africa, I found that at the exact time that these cave paintings were being produced, genetic material from sub-Saharan Africans found its way into the gene pool of the north Africans (who were actually caucasians though they don’t really seem related to the Europeans or to the Eurasians…interesting, right?). Interestingly, the cave paintings show red heads, fair-skinned brunettes, and black people, all just chilling together around a fire, making it completely feasible that this is the time that sub-Saharan genetic traces would end up in the gene pool. WOW! I bet ya’ll weren’t expecting THAT. Perhaps I should get a job where I can read a huge amount of technical material and condense it down so that anyone could understand it. I’m getting pretty good at it here, don’t you think? Although, my line of reasoning is hard to follow, as I seem to jump from one subject to another, with no regard for the reader’s understanding at all.

The sukhs…I spent a day in the sukhs, and I have to say, I wasn’t impressed. Although it does throw you into that whole “Aladdin” frame of mind. I swear, I was waiting for a magic carpet to go zooming past, with a girl belting out “A whole newww wooooooorld.” Sadly, this did not happen. I did find the carpets, sans the magic. They also had pretty much everything your heart could desire. There was even a dollar store, right in the middle of it all! (Ok, it was actually a guy with a table screaming, “Every item’s one dollar!” in Arabic. He was peddling toothpaste, body wash, toys, shirts and the like).

The sukhs are in the old part of the city (where Zack’s dad grew up) and basically everything looks like it’s going to fall on top of you. Buildings are literally propped up with 2x4’s. Have you ever wondered where to get ivory? Wonder no more! The entire world’s supply of ivory is indeed for sale here! (Part of me wanted to buy some, because I’ll never have the opportunity again, and part of me was so pissed). There’s a lot of jewelry stores, and this is where EVERYONE buys their important jewelry. It’s actually where Zack’s and my wedding rings came from (thanks, Zack’s Mom). A lot of this area looked seedy to me, and judging from a conversation Heba had, it seems my instincts were accurate. Heba was on the phone and said, “I’m going to let you go because I’m in the old city and someone may grab my phone if they see me with it.” She was, of course, joking, but as we all know, there’s always some truth behind a joke, and that’s what makes it funny. Also, if you’re from out of town, the price goes up. Sneaky, sneaky. Really makes you appreciate price tags; at least it’s the same price for everyone, even if it’s still too expensive. Oh, they did have some lamps (like Genie and the lamp) which caught my eye. I rubbed all of them. Nothing. Needless to say, I did not buy them.

This is also where I discovered that Heba is quite the spitfire. She doesn’t wear a hijab, and being fair-skinned and a red-head, people automatically think she is European (which is kind of funny, because when I’m with her people think I’m Libyan and she’s the foreigner). Because of this, a LOT of people will speak to someone else in the party or talk to her in English. Heba gets very upset with this and usually answers in Arabic with something not very nice. She’ll also ask a million questions about anything she’s thinking about buying and talk people down half the price. She’s ruthless, but a lot of fun.

What else? There’s really not much, because I’ve been bed-ridden with the worst cold of my life. I believe it’s due to the house. The houses here are essentially bomb shelters. The walls are concrete and at least a foot wide. They start with a cinder-block type wall and then it’s all covered with cement, smoothed over and painted. The floors are all concrete floors covered with tile. Even the rooms with carpet (3 that I’ve counted) are the tile floors, and the carpet is not tacked down and can be pulled up at will. The homes hold the cold in like a freaking meat locker, which I’m sure would be very handy in the summer, but really sucks big time in the winter. As for the temperature (Celsius is still stupid!) it doesn’t get too terribly cold, but there’s this horrible wind coming in from the desert that I will describe as a ghost wind. It just shoots right through you, directly to your core, and sets up residence in your cells. It’s impossible to get warm once you’ve been hit with it. I am almost over my cold, thankfully, and hope to be touring some more sights next week. So, all for now!