CONTENTS UNDER PRESSURE: HISTORY HAPPENS, THEN YOU DIE AND ARE DUG UP

Archaeologists have found what may be another "Great Wall" in Inner Mongolia.

In the scheme of things, I suppose, the discovery of an old clay wall doesn't amount to much, particularly in light of U.S.-Chinese sniping on trade and human rights.

But I've always been fascinated by archaeology -- the romance, not the facts of dust and dirt and politics -- and by China -- again, the romance, not the reality.

So when the news brief that the "Trench of Jin" (isn't that poetic?) had been discovered moved across the wire, it caught my eye.

Like that other wall in China, it was apparently built to keep the Mongol hordes out, and archaeologists date it to the Third Century B.C. and the nomads who would eventually establish the Jin Dynasty.

Imagine the optimism, and the arrogance, of thinking you could just build a wall to keep foreigners out, with their dangerous raids and more dangerous new ideas.

Obviously, it didn't work. Like the rest of the world, China endured wave after wave of foreign invaders and their dynasties, and somehow each new group was absorbed and the people got on with their lives.

I doubt their lives were a lot of fun. Had my great-great, etc., grandfather not decided to cross the water and come to America (home of indoor plumbing and cable TV), I'd probably be a scullery maid somewhere.

The story didn't mention rooms full of gold and jewels, but since they found a trench (that's the real trouble with those Commies; they lack romance), not a tomb, I shouldn't be disappointed.

Actually I'm more disappointed when I watch The Discovery Channel and discover none of those archaeologists look anything like Harrison Ford.

Those documentaries always raise more questions than they answer, which is the point, I guess. Then when they find out, they can make more documentaries.

Why did the Maya disappear? Where did the Anasazi go? Who built the statues on Easter Island?

Maybe disease claimed them, or earthquakes or political upheaval. Maybe their priests saw evil omens and told them to go.

And we're left with the remnants, the statues, the pottery shards, the pyramids and many, many questions.

The Chinese built walls all across the landscape to keep invaders out. Others dug moats, lined up sentries, walled cities and stored grain and water so they could wait out sieges.

None of it worked. History happens, and then you die, and the new dynasty takes over.

And then you get dug up by some eager beaver archaeologist. There is no justice.

It's easier to romanticize the monuments of the past than the cultures that built them. If you thought about the people, not just the emperor or pharoah or whoever ordered the monument, you'd have to think about how many died getting the bloody thing built.

We don't build the same kind of monuments anymore. Clover leafs aren't as impressive as pyramids, and you can't excavate the Internet.

And I don't think the taxpayers would foot the bill for a pyramid. A wall, maybe. Although, there'd be room in there for a really cool gift shop. The Mausoleum Mall has a ring to it, doesn't it?

History -- the actual force, not the stuff in books -- always captures people at the worst possible times. There those poor schmucks were in Pompeii, just sitting down to dinner and the volcano blew.

I keep waiting for history to strike at home. Many, many years from now, archaeologists will find my remains and wonder why I'm surrounded by shoes and many small cans of what appear to be low-grade fish and meat byproducts. There will be no sign of the cat, who will have escaped the disaster.

Let 'em wonder.

~Peggy O'Farrell is a copy editor for the Southeast Missourian.