Fire Mummies- Kabayan Philippines

Photo Credit: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2070/

In my anthropology of death class we talked about mummies near the start of semester so I was bound to have to mention them in this blog at some point. In fact mummies is what really sold me on the field of anthropology in the first place when I was twelve-ish. In grade six we learnt about King Tut and Egyptian mummies and I was hooked. Now that I am in school and studying anthropology I am learning several different types and techniques of mummification that spreads cross culturally all over the World.  There are two types of mummification spontaneous mummification meaning it happened naturally and anthropogenic mummification, where there was the human intention and intervention in the mummification process.  Within these two types there are a plethora of different methods; ice mummies both intentional and unintentional, bog bodies, saltmen (discovered in the Chehrabad salt mines), and many more all over the world, Inca, Aztec, Australia, USA, etc. In this entry I will be looking at the fire mummies of the Philippines.

 

Fire Mummies of the Philippines are found in Kabayan in the municipality of Benguet Province. This municipality is recognized as a centre of Ibaloi Culture. Mummification of human remains began prior to the Spanish colonization and it is believed to have involved individuals of higher social status. According to a UNESCO article the process of mummification could take upwards of two years and incorporated using salt and herbs and placing the body under a fire to rid the body of fluid. I also learned in one account that individuals that knew they were going to die would drink a salty liquid that would start the process, however another article said that that process began once the individual was dead. Once the body dried the mummy was placed in the fetal position in a pine wood coffin and laid to rest in a man made cave. These graves remained untouched for hundreds of years until they were unfortunately uncovered in the 19^th century and horribly vandalized and looted ruining the integrity of the graves and the individuals.

 

            What I find so interesting about the ‘fire mummies’ is the process. It really makes sense to use fire, but it would have taken immense skill and knowledge. As stated in the articles I found this process was reserved for social elite, but I wonder whether the practice was also gendered?  There are several times where I wished I had a TARDIS of my own to go back in time and just simply observe, not touch or influence just observe the wonders of the world!

Photo credit:http://www.etravelpilipinas.com/tourism_news/explore-the-kabayan-mummies-cave-on-a-day-out-from-baguio.htm

Photo Credit:http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/2070/

 

http://www.wmf.org/project/kabayan-mummy-caves

 

Hanging Coffins of Sichuan Province

Photo credit: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408886/The-hanging-coffins-Sichuan-400-year-old-wooden-tombs-suspended-Chinese-cliff-face.html

 

So this week I came across hanging coffins in China. I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of this before. The ones in the pictures above are found attached the cliffs in Gongxian, Sichuan Province in China and are believed to have been placed there by the Bo people.  Hanging coffins are not found exclusively in China, they have also been found in Indonesia and the Philippines.  Some people speculate that they were hung there so that they would be within reach of the gods while others believe it was a way to keep the corpses away from animals or enemies. The coffins themselves are usually carved from a single piece of wood and have various shapes. In other parts of southern China the hanging coffins that have been discovered date to as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1027-777BC) the ones in Gongxian County are more recent and also mark the end of the hanging coffin custom.

I however find myself instantly questioning ‘how did they possibly get them up there?’ Now to answer this I had to do a bit more digging and found out that they really are not sure. One hypothesis suggested that the people carrying the coffins zig-zagged there way up the mountain by making a narrow pathway built on pegs, and then they just carried the coffin up from the bottom. The other suggested that one person would head up first and then send down a secure rope to hoist the coffin up. I personally think that it was probably a combination of methods and cant be pinned to one particular practice for every case.

 

           In the last couple weeks we have been looking at status and gender. I did some preliminary research but I think it would be extremely interesting to look at gender and status representations in these hanging burials where archaeological evidence or human remains are present. Who was buried here? What was their gender and status? Because they weren’t really buried in the conventional sense are there still grave goods? Are there  or were there decorations carved into the outside of the coffins?

 

Youtube clips:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al2c7-zoc9M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko1Tu7i5vWE

 

News article:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2408886/The-hanging-coffins-Sichuan-400-year-old-wooden-tombs-suspended-Chinese-cliff-face.html

 

 

Sex, Gender, and Sexual Orientation in a Mortuary Context

Photo Credit:http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8713614-archaeologists-may-have-found-the-first-considered-gay-caveman

In 2011 the media went wild with the discovery of what they dubbed as a “gay caveman”.  The grave of a male from the corded ware era was discovered by archaeologist in the Czech Republic. These said archaeologist went on to point out that the man’s positioning and posture was not typical of males found in this time period and that his grave more closely resembled that of females. During the period of 2900 and 2500BC men were traditionally buried lying on their right side with their head pointing to the east, while women were positioned on their left side with the head facing to the west. In this particular instance the man was laying on his left with his head facing west. As well as this uncommon burial position the man was buried with house hold jugs and no weapons.  In an era when males were generally buried with weapons or flint knives and women were traditionally buried with jewelry and domestic jugs. The lead researcher at this dig, Kamila Remisova Vesinova, tells media that it is likely ‘that he was a man with a different sexual orientation, homosexual, or transvestite.’  The question is how can she suggest this based on the small amount of evidence? This grave is just one example of difference, it cannot be properly compared. Ideas of gender and sexual orientation are culturally constructed and fluid, meaning that they are constantly changing and may be different depending on when and where you are looking. We have assumptions that we form from our enculturation into our societies, but these need to be placed aside when doing archaeology because our beliefs are not always the beliefs of the people we are studying. There are many alternative conclusions to the reason that this man was buried in this fashion and they don’t suggest that he was homosexual or transvestite. Perhaps this is an example of a ‘deviant’ burial where they are positioning him in this way so as to symbolize that he is not male, a non-male, or that he has lost his male standing and not to say that he is female or to suggest anything about his gender or sexual orientation.

 

In class today the professor said “Sex is what’s in your pants, gender is what pants you want to wear and sexual orientation is whose pants you want to be in.” I liked this analogy because it reminds us that gender and sexual orientations are constructs. How they are perceived in a society varies and how they present themselves varies. Archaeologist can’t really make conclusions on these from the context of the grave for many reasons one being ‘the dead don’t bury themselves’. The way in which someone is buried ultimately depends on the ideas or beliefs of the person that is burying them and don’t necessarily represent the feelings and beliefs of the individual being buried.

I don't think this needs explaining. I'm sure most archaeologists/ archaeology students feel this way.

A ~2800 Year Old Kiss?

So I am a little late for Valentine's Day but I came across this today and found it very interesting. At first I was skeptical about whether it was a hoax or not, but it seems to be real... this couple referred to as "the lovers" was found in 1972 at the archaeological site Hasanlu in Iran by a team from the  University of Pennsylvania and the Metropolitan Museum of New York. The skeletons were found in a bin with nothing but the stone under the left individuals head. They are believed to have died together around 800B.C. or about 2800 years ago. Because the skeletons appear to have died mid kiss it is speculated that this is meant to symbolise that love is eternal…

 I find it interesting that all the articles I found quoted that this was a “6000 year old kiss”, even though this was debunked by forensic evidence. I wonder how the rather arbitrary date of 6000 years came up? There is lots of speculation about what happened to this couple; one suggestion was that perhaps the man was killed and the woman was buried alive with him… but even through further research I could not find further archaeological evidence on the couple. Penn State published the picture and the information but I was unable to find any further information related to these individuals. Even so I still think this picture is rather romantic… in a morbid sort of way.  

 

Here’s the Wiki page about the dig:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teppe_Hasanlu

And the sites where I got the information about the picture:

http://www.hoaxorfact.com/Inspirational/6000-year-old-kiss-found-in-hasanlu-iran-facts-analysis.html

http://www.penn.museum/blog/fun/fun-friday-image-of-the-week/fun-friday-image-of-the-week-the-lovers/

1st Fieldwork Experience: Victoria's Jewish Cemetery

        In class we are working on a monument analysis project, in which we go to a local cemetery and record a number of monuments there. We are to look at the orientation of the major face, the state of the monument, the transcriptions, and many more aspects. At first I had really no idea what I was in for. I thought I would feel uncomfortable. My group picked the Jewish Cemetery in Victoria, and not being Jewish I was worried I wouldn’t know how to act, or if I was being unintentionally disrespectful. But our first visit there was fantastic, if not a little cold! We met with a Rabbi Louis, who is an intelligent and funny man, who showed us around and talked to our group about the basic history of the Jewish in Victoria, and about what are common practices in a Jewish Cemetery. It was fascinating to learn that it is not common for the Jewish to have flowers in their cemeteries but instead when they visit a grave they place a small pebble to show that they have visited. Looking around the Cemetery I noticed that some had large piles of pebbles while others had a few scattered.

            Once we had finished with Rabbi Louis we proceeded on to our actual fieldwork. It was a typical humid, west coast day with a good wind chill. Our hands were frozen in minutes, and I was silently cursing myself for not bringing any gloves. Writing became difficult and drawing was impossible we quickly recorded 12 monuments snapped some pictures and left. When I got home and was looking at the data starting the database, I was over whelmed with excitement, it was exciting documenting these monuments. I was quickly kicking myself for taking such poor notes. It was not long before I concluded that I would have to return to the field to better my notes and take good pictures. My second day in the field was exponentially better. It was cold, but sunny, and the sun allowed me to see inscriptions that I had missed the day before. The cemetery was calm, and I felt at ease standing there in the silence recording the monuments people who died long before I was even born. It is interesting the quietness of a cemetery used to always put me on end but after this fieldwork it is quite calming, I felt privileged to be able to ‘visit’ these people. I began to want to know more about the individuals whos monuments I was looking at, what they did, who they knew, etc. I honestly cant wait to get out in the field again, and hope that I will have to opportunity to return to the Jewish Cemetery to do more work.

My Future Grave...

      What would I want to be included in my own burial to tell archaeologist about my identity? The real question is do I want archaeologist to know the person I am right now or the person I want people to think I am right now. My current identity is essentially consumed as being a stereotypical ‘student’, very little money, very little free time, service industry worker, lives at home, over run by books and paper. The person I want to present myself as is someone that is well established, has free time to have hobbies, can afford to travel, etc.  Being an anthropology student I would want future archaeologist to be able to see as much about my life and culture as they could. If I was consciously picking items based on this requirement, I would have to make sure I am putting objects in that do not disappear in the archaeological record. But, what would this tell archaeologist… that I am obsessed with synthetic materials? Or that my culture was dependant on unnatural items?
     This question is becoming incredibly complex and difficult to answer. I have been thinking about it for almost a week and still cannot come up with a definitive answer. I have never planned on being buried. I personally would prefer to have my ash spread at sea, and have no plot or marker in a cemetery.  I asked my boyfriend what he would put in my grave and his first answer was noting you don't want one, so yay he knows me. But I wanted to know if I was buried what he would want in there, and he said "your necklace, some mementos from our travels, and some family pictures." Which is interesting because half of that would disappear from the archaeological record and future archaeologist would be unlikely to even see it. I didn't ask my parents what they would put in because they would think its to morbid to talk about. I think if I died right now, I'm almost positive I would be buried the family plot with grave goods that remind my parents and siblings of me.