A bittersweet goodbye

I'm not going to lie. I have an obsession with obituaries. 

I don't know what draws me to them but I suppose it is partially due to my curious need to know people to understand who they are or were.

The world is a blur of many faces and lives lived and yet I know not even a tenth of them. Reading a persons obit makes me smile. I can see the love they gave and had from their friends and families. The challenges they faced, the amazing adventures they explored. It doesn't matter if they were a world renown astrophysicist or a stay at home mother, they lived a good life.

Obituaries are meant to announce to the world that this person is gone and give some details about their lives. I will say that although I read them I do wish for more variabiltiy as they all seem somber and follw the same format of stating who they were, where were they born and died, who was their family and their occupation.

Luckily, I do come across some that are just fantastic to read. You can tell that this person was amazing,and at times I wish I could have met them.  

As I look at these obituaries I am reminded that life is short, regardless of the age you die at and we must cherish the time we have and push the limit of what we can do. I can only hope that when my time comes my obituary will make someone smile and think "she had a good life..."

Lest We Forget

 
 http://71.45.131.15/op/archives/890#.UVs2gaw2LTo

In class we watch a film "Speakers for the Dead" about a lost and forgotten Canadian-African cemetery in Ontario.  There was a variety of comments and opinions surrounding what should be done with the cemetery. Ultimately it was decided that the area should be protected and preserved as a historical site. 
The community who live there now are predominately of European descent and the fact that the first settlers of the area were of African descent was hushed up and locked away in the closet. 
The tombstones had been picked up by the farmer who owned the land in the 1930's and reused as steppin stones, building tools and just thrown into a pile and left to decay. The land was turned into a potato filed and it was not until the 1980s that peole began to take an interest in locating the original cemetery and replacing the tombstones. The people involved were able to locate some of the tombstones with help from anonymous letters and able to display them at the original site.
It seems that this cemetery was forgotten based on racial prejudices of the day. The community didn't seem to want it to be known that there was a African cemetery there, or that some of the townsfolk may be related to them. There was no respect for those who were buried there until people began to ask questions. This is a sad display of what cultural blending and domination has done, and this is not the only case. There are probably many cemeteries that have been plowed over, cemented over and dug up to make room for the domminate and powerful culture. 
Hopefully there will be more discuss with descendents and communities to find other long forgotten cemeteries from past people who originally lived in that area. As the title says, we can not forget the past or its people who helped to create the future.

Here is the link to the film:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0fbINBjb6I

Learn from the Past

As I was looking through some news articles today I came across one that got my attention. It is in regards to research being done at Stonehenge led by Mike Parker Pearson whom I wrote about in a previous entry about his research into correlations between Stonehenge and Madagascar sites and reasons behind them. Although the article in itself was nothing people haven't brought up as a theory it was the comment by readers that got me questioning the way archaeologists and news reporters put together a story that is meant for the general public. 
Some of the comments were silly, such as those pertaining to UFOs and burger joints, but some made me question what is really being told to the public. After reading the comments I read the article once more and realized that there was too much ambiguity, no detail or reasons given regarding some of the facts that were written about. In particular the last sentence on the 'beaker people' which was only quickly glossed over with no real comment placed on why they were included in the article except to allude to the possibilities that it was because of their migrating to the area that the building of Stonehenge ceased. 

Other comments that raised flags for me me had more to do with the general education that people receive today. Perhaps it is just me but I would have thought that in elementary school Stonehenge and how it was built would have been a topic, because if the comments are to be believed people have no idea ho a "primitive" culture could have moved the large stones into place.

This is not the only instance were I have seen people confused or completely in the dark when it comes to past cultures. Perhaps I had teachers at a young age who preferred teaching their students about past cultures and their abilities to be just as technologically inclined as we are today. I can only hope that teachers will try to inspire and teach children that we can learn so much from the past and that we only got where we are today because people were innovated in the past.

News article:  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/researchers-stonehenge-originated-giant-graveyard-elite-families-around-133820992.html

One Promession Please!

Personally I plan on donating my body to science after I am gone, but thinking about other ways people are beginning to "dispose" of their body made for some very interesting research. I came across many different types of burial practices, some I already know about such as sky burials, space burials and green burials , others were very new to me. I came across two very interesting practices that are becoming more popular, these are Promession and Resomation.

http://live.gourmet.com/2011/09/

Promession essentially is freezing the body in liquid nitrogen so it become brittle enough to grind down into a white powder which is than dried to remove the rest of the moisture from the remains, at this time all impurities (metals, mercury, surgical implants) are siphoned out through a filter. Once this is done the powder is placed in a biodegradable casket and buried in a shallow grave. In a years time the powder will be ready to be used as a fertilizer. It is encouraged that relatives plant a tree as the powder will provide excellent nutrients.

http://www.uncp.edu/home/mcclurem/ptable/calcium/ca.htm

Resomation is similar to Promession, this process is water based and returns the body back to its natural elements.Firs the body is submerged in a mixture of water and calcium hydroxide and boiled at a high temperature for 3 hours. This process dissolves the body and the outcome is a green liquid or a white powder, depends on what will be done with it afterwards which has no trace that it was once human, even DNA is stripped through this process. In its liquid stage it can be dumped into the waste water system, or if relatives wish to have it as a powder can be used to fertilize a tree.

These two disposal process are two of the newer ways to conduct an eco friendly burial. However, there are many who oppose these practices because some see it as stripping away the persons spirit, it denies them and there living relatives a sense that although the person is dead they still remain human. I understand that green liquid is not going to be a comforting thought to those who mourn you, but I suppose an individual is allowed to go in whatever way they choose, as long as it is legal.

She was buried with...

The topic of death has always been discussed within my family, not because we are morbid but mainly that most of my relatives are historians. I remember once having a discussion with my family about our own burials and funeral and how we would want them to be done. I decided then and there that I would not want to be buried but would like to have my body donated to science, therefore there would be no material goods that would be buried as there would be no burial. However when thinking about what I might want buried with me I decided that either way I would want a grave that could be filled with memories, and my most prized possessions; mainly this would include books, maybe an mp3 player with my favorite music on it, and definitely two wood carved masks I own and my oldest possession, a teddy bear. These items would not just be thrown into a pit but ould be inside a box, preferbly one that looked like the T.A.R.D.I.S(Doctor Who reference for people who don't know this).
I don't know that I would want to send a message to future archaeologists, but it would be interesting to know what they made of the belonging they found in the grave, especially if there was an absence of remains. With enough information stored in records I am sure that archaeologists would be able to realize that the items found were special to me(now that I think about it maybe I will leave a note that relates what items were included and why). 
If for some reason I did not pick what items to put into the grave I am sure that the people who know me best would probably include similar items, I can't think that there would be any real random item in there, except if it had some close connection between myself and the person executing this project. 
I feel confident that when the time comes and a grave must be filled with my belongings that I will have left instructions or that my family and friends will know exactly what to include.

Where do traditions come from?

   The hand out we read for class was an excellent example of opposing ideas in any interdisciplinary. Before I made any conclusions about what both of these opinions that were made, I wanted to find out more about the individual person to have an understanding here they are coming from and what give them the authoritative power to speak on this subject.
   Luciano Aimar is first and forth-most a dancer, "dance is the only work I have ever done. This is my passion, my love, my life and also what I know and do best(Aimar, A bridge of Roses). He began his own charity to ensure that children got a better education in Madagascar (has no since left the organization) and has spent some time among the Malagasy.
   Ramilisonina on the other hand is a native of Madagascar and grew up with many of the traditions that are practiced. He studies mostly Madagascar archaeology from the 15th and 19th century and also is known for his work on European megaliths. 
   Knowing where these two come from, and their backgrounds help to shed some little on the critique that was written by Mr. Aimar. He seems to think that Ramilisonina is wrong to associate burial rituals that are traditional among the Malagasy but from what I look up and read from his own words was the fact that he only had the word from one person, who is himself an outsider in Madagascar and therefore may not have been given the entire facts about the traditions that he was privy to
    Sure, there is nothing wrong with having an opinion on something but to base that opinion on few facts and a small amount of knowledge, whether it be second hand or first had accounts, is not going to win over any hearts. I think more discussion and time to understand why Ramilisonian and Mike Parker Pearson believe there is any connection between Stonehenge and Madagascar burial traditions is the only way to keep research continuing and questions being answered.
   Why can't it be true to say that Malagasy people took some of there rituals from ancient people and that those traditions can be seen in the archaeological record present at places like Bluestonehenge. I think that if I had to choose to believe one person more so over the other, I could and would not because I myself have only been privy to a small portion of the larger picture that is being discussed.
  
    

Introductions and Tidbits

My name is Raychel, yes with a 'y', and I am from Victoria and I am a 4th year Anthropology major. I began my post-secondary education rather young, at the tender age of 14. Now, before you begin thinking I am a genius or something I must tell you that I lived in China (for 5 years) with my family and that I was still taking High School courses too. 
   I decided that it was not what I wanted to do and so took many years to finally decide to start over and forge forth with my education. I started out at Camosun College with the intention on doing either an Art History major or Biology major, but was introduced to Anthropology through one of the courses I took there and knew I had come home. I knew pretty much from the start that I wanted to focus on forensic and paleo-anthropology with an emphasis on DNA studies. 
    I have been taking many biological anthropology courses with a few cultural anthropology and languages courses thrown in (anyone else speak some Ukrainian!). I plan on continuing my education and hope to one day gain a PhD, and have begun the process of figuring out where I want to continue my education.
   I decided to take Anthropology 397: Archaeology of Death, as I have only had courses that are structured around more recent burials, and usually were judicial cases but would like to learn more about the customs and practices throughout human history and thought that this course offered answers to the many burning questions I have, such as how certain customs began; for instance burying children in jars, or erecting burial platforms. I look forward to learning everything that is to be covered in class!