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Evergreen Dazed E
Evergreen Dazed Jan 7, 2013 16:29:14
Replying to Evergreen Dazed

Evergreen Dazed wrote:
Mustard wrote:
Evergreen Dazed wrote:
How much would 24hr security cost a year, £60/£70k? (Complete guess)
I'd guess at around £150,0000 just on staffing costs. Three shifts every day, two people per shift. Then when you factor in all the other costs - maintenance, insurance, transport - it starts mounting up real quick. I just don't see that kind of money ever being spent. I certainly don't see people paying in sufficient numbers to put a dent in the costs.
What i'm about to say might sound very distasteful, but if it *is* such an important monument (as we know it is) and if it *does* need protection, then it needs money, so it needs a marketing team telling american/japanese/german people all about it, and getting them coming to the Avebury area in the numbers that Stonehenge sees.

Now, i'm well aware that most people wouldn't want that to happen to Avebury, (I dont think the village could take it, tbh) so what are we left with?

Do we sacrifice our *experience* of the monument in order to protect it?

M Mustard
Mustard Jan 7, 2013 16:33:46
Replying to Evergreen Dazed

Evergreen Dazed wrote:
Do we sacrifice our *experience* of the monument in order to protect it?
It's difficult to answer that question without opening a whole can of worms! I think we have to accept that nothing lasts forever, and we can't preserve monuments in an hermetically sealed bubble. They will, inevitably, deteriorate over time - be that within a few hundred or a few thousand years. The question is where we draw the line - how much damage do we mitigate, and how do we weigh that against the ability to enjoy monuments? How many of us, for example, would be comfortable seeing the embankment at Avebury closed to visitors? That would undoubtedly help conservation, but it would significantly impact upon the ability of people to enjoy the monument.

I don't think there's any objectively right or wrong answer to these questions. I think we pretty much just have to draw an arbitrary line where we feel most comfortable.