Website is Live!!!

Back on the first day of class Erin (prof) made it clear that she wishes to make archaeology more accessible to the masses, including individuals who do not have any academic experience in archaeology. I happen to agree with what Erin is trying to accomplish. To help bring archaeological topics to the greater public the class was divided into groups and we were assigned to present a case study through an online format.

Balnuaran of Clava - http://scotlandcairns.weebly.com/balnuaran-of-clava.html

I was one of three group members who made up the Scottish Burial Chamber case study group. And today I get to say that our website is officially done! You have no idea how happy I am that the website is live for everyone to see. The website is www.scotlandcairns.weebly.com and please go and look at it I am really proud of what we did.

Out of all of the projects that I have done in my undergrad studies, I think this is one of my favorites. By working on this project I have learned more than had I written an essay. We formatted out website with the knowledge that not everyone visiting our website would have the same academic background as we do. This changed how we wrote and the length of our site descriptions. As a group we made a conscious effort to incorporate aspects of lecture information onto the website, such as the database we were first introduced to at the beginning of the semester.

Please go to our website. Enjoy what we have created. And educate yourself about Scottish burial cairns.   

Toss it to Maggie

Earlier this week we watched a documentary in class called "Speakers for the Dead".

The documentary takes place in Priceville Ontario (not too far from Owen Sound) and it deals with the hidden history of Blacks in Canada by means of a local cemetery. Below is a synopsis of the documentary from the NFB website (http://www.nfb.ca/film/speakers-for-the-dead/):

“This documentary reveals some of the hidden history of Blacks in Canada. In the 1930s in rural Ontario, a farmer buried the tombstones of a Black cemetery to make way for a potato patch. In the 1980s, descendants of the original settlers, Black and White, came together to restore the cemetery, but there were hidden truths no one wanted to discuss. Deep racial wounds were opened. Scenes of the cemetery excavation, interviews with residents and re-enactments--including one of a baseball game where a broken headstone is used for home plate--add to the film's emotional intensity.”

Cover of the documentary - http://media6.nfb.ca/medias/nfb_tube/jackets/speakers-for-the-dead.jpg

Within the documentary a side comment was made about a group of school kids who used a headstone from the cemetery that had the name Maggie on it (hence the name of this blog post). They used the headstone as the home plate. When I heard this, a knot formed in my stomach. The only thought that came to my mind was of how disrespectful they were. We didn’t hear how the children felt about using the headstone as home plate but I wonder if they felt bad or if they just didn’t care or didn’t know. It’s odd that I feel this way because monument isn’t human remains, ‘only’ documentation. Overall this documentary resonated with me more than I initially thought it would. I think it’s because most of my family is currently from Southern Ontario,  that this documentary resonated with me.

Below is a link to youtube where you can watch "Speakers for the Dead" in its entirety for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0fbINBjb6I

Multiple Uses For Crypts

Earlier this week I picked up a 'Time Magazine' at the BiblioCafe on campus.
Within the issue I came across a photo captioned 'Life in Ruins . The photo consisted of a girl in Syria entering into a crypt. Due to the increased turmoil in the area people (including the girl in the photo) are moving into the crypts for safety and are living there.

Initially, I found the reuse of the crypts as living quarters to be strange. Until I thought about it more. And much like living anywhere there are pros's and con's living with the dead, but I think in the example used in the 'Time Magazine' produces more pro's then con's. Primarily, the architectural construction of the crypts provide protection from the turmoil that is happening up above and they provide a safe place to sleep. The only thing you need to get over is the fact of living with the dead.

Could you live with the dead?

Taken to the Grave

I asked a few of my friends today 'what would you include in your burial?' And I got some amazing answers but by far the best answer was as follows:

"I [female] would be buried with a sword, a bronze weapon, and many coins. I will have a mummified cat and  some other sort of taxidermied animal."

When I asked my friend in what position she would be buried in she quickly replied "in the fetal position facing in the direction that typical males are in to f**k with future archaeologists"

As I have written in previous posts, I wouldn't mess with archaeologists in that way. Archaeologically it would be very difficult to find physical biological remains (for my physical being). Although my physical being would not be found by archaeologist I would like archaeologists to come across my name in historical documents within my family tree; and perhaps the novels that I am currently working on. 

Aog Sgeul Case Study Work

Today our group took a moment to work on our case study that was assigned for class.
While working on our own individual sites I came across something interesting happening at the Balnuaran of Clava cairn in Scotland. Turns the 3 cairns that make up the site have been restored a number of times. This then sparked a group discussion about the differences between conservation, restoration, and the ethical ramifications. 

Conservation is the prevention of further deterioration and some preventative care. Individuals who do conservation work on artifacts are required to acquire additional education before doing any working in the field. 

Restoration on the other had is the act of returning an artifact to the condition it was in when it was first created. Restoration unlike conservation apparently does not require additional education. Who knew?  

Balnuaran of Clava was first restored by the land owner in the 1880s and has later been restored in the 40s and 50s. The restoration was constructed so that the site looked the way that the landowner and archeologists thought it would have looked like when it was first constructed. The reconstructions were done so tourists could go and see the site. Know ethically is it appropriate to restore cairn sites so that tourists can go and walk into them? I don't know. On the one hand I agree with the practise, for possible learning opportunities. On the other hand I disagree, because is it our place to speculate what these monuments looked like for tourist reasons. 

One Last Trip

When I was younger I always wanted my remains to be put on a wooden raft and sent out to sea. A few years back I decided to look into the feasibility of this plan. Turns out sending human remains out to sea on a raft is sort of frowned upon in Canada (in most places actually). I am sure that there is still a possibility of my wishes being granted; however it would involve a lot of legal paper work.

An alternative to me being sent out to sea once I pass away; I have now decided to be cremated. More specifically I would like my ashes to be combined with Terra’s (my late dog) ashes. It is written in my will that one of my friends/love ones will (once I pass) go on a trip with my ashes. My ashes will be scattered throughout the trip (but not at the top of a roller coaster). This way my friend/loved one, myself, and Terra can all go on one last trip together.

Monument Analysis Google Map

The Monument Analysis Google Map and fieldwork was the first part of our class group assignment. You can see a screen image of our Google map below, there is a link to the site in the caption and at the end of this post.

https://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210617680619064314738.0004d564bb1ad52dae6e5

This first part required us to go to Christ Church Cathedral (CCC) and Pioneer Square in Victoria. Whilst doing our fieldwork we were expected to create a dataset in a database, take photographic documentation, create a Google map (as seen above), and an essay that we handed in.

When our group was deciding where to go we learned that there was a columbarium in its basement of CCC that is open to the public every Sunday.

Columbarium – “1: a structure of vaults lined with recesses for cinerary urns”

(http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/columbarium)

Much of our work done during our fieldwork was to look at unique monuments. We looked at monuments containing inscriptions of age, education, “priest”, or if flowers were placed in front of the plaque. By entering all of our collected data into a database we were able to see patterns and trends. Unfortunately, for you the reader, I am not providing a link to our database; however I am posting a link to our Google gap, which contains images of all of our monuments.

I have included the link to the Google map site so that you can see for yourself what our group did during our   fieldwork.

https://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210617680619064314738.0004d564bb1ad52dae6e5

Miguel's Best Friend

I follow a page on Facebook called 'Wild for Wildlife and Nature' and the following post appeared on my Facebook feed:

"For the past 6 years, a German shepherd called Capitán has slept next to the grave of his owner every night at 6pm.
His owner, Miguel Guzmán died in 2006. Capitán, the dog, disappeared while the family attended the fueral services. A week later reatives of Guzmán were visiting the cemetery when they were astounded to find the dog next to the owner's grave.The cemetery director says that the dog comes around each night at 6pm, and has done so for the past 6 years!"

I found the above posting really sweet. Archaeologically the odds of seeing this are slim I think. Or rather archaeologist might not conclude that it was Miguel's best friend that didn't want to be separated. Perhaps some of my classmates who are working on the case study of 'Animals in Burials' can shed some light on this case study.   

Departures

I remember a few years ago my mum put on a movie for her and myself to watch. The movie was, and still is, called Departures. The movie later went on to win for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars that year.

It is a beautiful story and I highly recommend anyone who has not seen it yet to go out and watch it. I do not wish to give anything away but I will say this. Departures shows the culture aspects of death. All of the preparations and social reactions to death. I think that anyone in Archaeology of Death should watch it. If only to see how the living interact with the dead and to see a work of art.

Below you will find the trailer. I hope you enjoy.

 
Until then,
A

A Little Bit about Me…

Academically speaking I am a fourth year Anthropology major at the University of Victoria. This year I am the Anthropology Co-op Student Rep and I have completed three separate co-op work terms. Originally I transferred to the university to study Environmental Studies and I was going to pair that major with Anthropology. As I took more and more Anthropology courses I realized where my true interests lie.

Last year I took some time away from UVic to study at North Island College where I became a certified drafter. This year I am taking electives outside of the Anthropology department, primarily in the Phoenix (or rather the Theatre Department). Recently I have fallen in love with Costume and Set designing and, I’ve realized just how well they fit with Anthropology. Currently I am assisting in costume design for the upcoming show ‘Reasons to be Pretty’ which opens in February J.

I have heard a lot of great things about the Anthropology of Death course. The topic has been one that I’ve always been interested in. And if you have read my previous post then you may understand why I think that it’s an important course for me to take, especially right now. The day of our first class was the day of my Great Uncles funeral service. Unfortunately I was unable to attend because it was taking place in another province and because I had class. But from what I understand the service or rather the part after the service, was like a big family picnic (in January). It’s kind of nice/interesting that the way my family marks/celebrates death is through an event that is similar to one that happens every other summer.

On a personal note I love tea, I’m trying to teach myself Gaelic (hence analaich), I enjoy reading E.E. Cummings, and one of my favorite quotes (which is not by E.E. Cummings) is as follows:

“When faced with two choices, simply toss a coin, It works not because it settles the question for you but because in that brief moment when the coin is in the air, you suddenly know what you are hoping for.”

Until then,

A

New Year. New Start. New Death?

A month ago I could have told you that I had never really experienced a death in the family. That all changed two and a half weeks ago.

I have known family members that have past away over the years, but due to the circumstances at the time I was not overly fazed by them. I never went to any of the services. I never learned how to deal with the aftermath. I just saw the events for what they were. Someone had died, and that that event fit into the larger circle of life. It seems somewhat fitting to me, that I; someone who doesn't really know how to react right now to the recent deaths in my family, to be taking an Archaeology of Death course.

The irony is not lost on me either. The day I found out that our first class was cancelled was the day after my dog died (whom I got when I was 7) or that the day our first class was supposed to be on, my Great Uncle died. Perhaps through this course I'll find some solace.

Until then,
A