Monday, 24 February 2014

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

Thursday, 20 February 2014

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.


Wednesday, 5 February 2014

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.