The sadness of this circumstance is worth a moment’s reflection. A hundred thousand times, perhaps, warriors’ chants and mothers’ lullabies, tales and songs handed down through generations, lovers’ laments and sacred hymns, the hopes and memories of a people—all of these came to nothing. Human beings like us loved, fought, farmed, hunted, built, worshipped, raised their young, and buried their dead. But they have vanished into dust so fine that no trace of them sticks to the sieves of the archaeologists.
