Death is inescapable for all living beings. It is the one commonality all cultures share. It is an equalizer in a world of diversity. Although death itself is absolute, the practices which surround death are varied and complex from culture to culture and individual to individual. As Mike Parker Pearson elaborates: In the face of the universal fact of death, attitudes to the corpse are various and changeable. These attitudes are formed through the practices of treatment of the dead and are embodied in various ways (Parker Pearson 1999, p. 45). Archaeologists, however, have the tendency to categorize burial practices as either normal or deviant. This categorization can be misleading as it implies there is a right or wrong way to bury the dead. …show more content…
A discourse analysis is a qualitative research method which attempts to "explain the meaning of social phenomena" (Phillips and Hardy 2002, p. 3) through the examination of a subject and all of its related facets. A discourse analysis is systematic as well as both reflexive and interpretive (Phillips and Hardy 2002, p. 5). As Phillips and Hardy (2002, p. 6) explain, "Discourse analysis...tries to explore how the socially produced ideas and objects that populate the world were created in the first place and how they are maintained and held in place over time." That is the overall goal of this thesis in simple terms, to understand how the concept of deviant burial has been attached to specific types of burial within the field of archaeology, and to determine if the concept still holds any benefit to the …show more content…
I shall gather various types of archaeological publications dealing with deviant burial. It is important to include differing types of publications to see if it affects the way in which deviancy is dealt with. I will then determine if any common patterns are apparent within the study of deviant burial. If common patterns are found, each one will be explored individually. Searching for specific statements within the texts, I will attempt to determine how the patterns relate to the interpretation of deviant burial. As I have not previously dealt with deviant burials, I will also briefly convey my interpretations – as a simulated intended audience reader – of the way in which deviancy is conveyed through the material. This will give a distinctive perspective as to how the true intended audience of the publications may view the evidence as presented by the archaeologists. A discourse analysis is never complete as there are too many aspects to ever fully dissect a subject (Dijk 2001; Phillips and Hardy 2002). However, it is my intent to try to examine deviant burial as thoroughly as this thesis permits, as well as to bring a unique point of view to the
This article is a narrative. It does not aim to analyse the topic. It describes the author's experiences at the mortuary and the resulting disturbing thoughts she had.
“Skeletons in the Closet”, written by Clara Spotted Elk, is a well-built argument, but it can be enhanced to become immensely effective. Firstly, Elk’s position is effective in obtaining her purpose and connecting her audience to it, because she includes a broad scope and background of the problem in the first few paragraphs. She describes the amount of Indian skeletons preserved and contained by American museums, through the use of data and statistics. For instance, Elk states: “we found that 18,500 Indian remains…are unceremoniously stored in the Smithsonian’s nooks and crannies” (13-15). By using this data, the background of the argument is illustrated to assist the audience in understanding her argument. Now, by knowing this statistic, readers can connect with Elk and her assertion, since we realize that there are plenty of skeletons that
The video represented several different fields and subdisciplines that we learned in our prior lectures. Some of which included "Applied pherensic research, Actual evidence, Criminal investigation, Team research, Life histories, and Problem oriented ethnography." These fields and subdisciplines were used individually and together in several ways. They used Applied pherensic research, Actual evidence and Criminal investigation to find out the causes of death, what caused it, what might have the conditions been to have caused such a result. The actual archeological finds derived the cause of death and what might have been used to kill the victim. Team research, Life histories was used together to individualize to find out a particular family's problems and to solve them to relieve the family's pain and suffering.
Perhaps the most notorious of burial practices originating in Egypt is that of mummification. Why such an extraordinary attempt was made to preserve cadavers may seem
Through the means of commemorating and remembering those of prestige and importance, tombs and sarcophagi are produced of these individuals. This funerary manner and distinctive burial practice was initiated Etruscan culture and it developed through the means of cremation and inhumation in earns. The concept of placing the remains of individuals in elaborate, thought out spaces was a valuable attribute of these people. The Etruscan objective of creating the best possible outcome in the afterlife dictated the way in which individuals ornamented and became portrayed in their tombs. Presen...
In Sandy Hingston’s “The death of the funeral business”, the story motivates people into moving into different sets of values or beliefs that weren’t acquainted in their previous ideas. I feel the understanding of change in culture is motivating the author. The time that she is living a time and era in which we as the people search for many ways to have freedom. This includes freedom of choice from the restraints of our own minds such as culture and beliefs we are so accustomed to. Hingston is seeing as a change on how we perceive our body because of the time and era it occurs in. One of the the biggest change in history is the since 1884 which introduced the use cremation. This later rose in popularity overtime in which it finally reached
During the Middle and Upper Paleolithic era, Homo sapiens neanderthalensis started to create works of art such as cave paintings, rock art and jewelry as well as religious behavior through burial rights and rituals. These burials are important since it signifies a "concern for the dead that transcends daily life,” (Lieberman). These burial rights and rituals can be dated back to the Middle Paleolithic era, overlapping with the first appearance of Homo neanderthalensis. While it may be disputed, evidence suggests that the Homo neanderthalensis were the first to intentionally bury the dead in shallow graves along with what is assumed to be their possessions (Wikipedia).
The ninteeth century was a turining point for mourning, grief, and funerals. During this time, the care and ceremonies for the deceased loved one were held at the home. The body was washed and prepared for the ceremony by the family and a family member usually built the coffin. Friends and family went to the home to view the body and pay their respects. After the body had viewed, it was carried to the church or cemetary for the commital. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the undertaker’s role had grown. He was no longer just the man who furnis...
Today the society is looking for ways to ease life and to find solutions for problems which oppress our lives and make it hard to live through. Because of many reasons, the traditional burials in this century are becoming a problem. (Prothero,2001). The fact that they cover a lot of land to build cemeteries and other things that are attached to these traditional burials is enough for us to search for a practical solution. About a century ago the term "cremation" was unknown to many people. It is believed that it began to be practiced during the early Stone Age and still exists today. Since that time cremations have been made all over the world, but they have never been so popular as they are now in this century. First and the most important to us all are the costs which are much less expensive for cremations than for funerals . Second, cremation does not contaminate the earth and cause a foul odor in the ground. Third, a lot of land is saved which means that it has an environmental impact.
Death is part of the circle of life and it's the end of your time on earth; the end of your time with your family and loved ones. Nobody wants to die, leaving their family and missing the good times your loved ones will have once you pass on. In the Mercury Reader, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross “On the Fear of Death” and Joan Didion “Afterlife” from The Year of Magical Thinking” both share common theses on death and grieving. Didion and Kübler-Ross both explain grieving and dealing with death. Steve Jobs commencement speech for Stanford’s graduation ceremony and through personal experience jumps further into death and how I feel about it. Your time is on earth is limited one day you will die and there are many ways of grieving at the death of a loved one. I believe that the fear of death and the death of a loved one will hold you back from living your own life and the fear of your own death is selfish.
Part A: The Premature Burial is an imperfect clerestory literal by Edgar Allan Poe where he exhibit the rehearsal venerate of being hidden unexpired by psychoanalyze sample of this conclusion. The anecdotist interpret how frighten it was for him being prematurely hidden. The planting charm location in the intermediate of the 19th hundred at the saver’s asylum in Richmond, Virginia. At the consequence of the clerestory, the chronicler expound how, “There are moments when, even to the regular observation of Reason, the mankind of our downcast Humanity may presume the show of a Hell—but the conceit of subject is no harmless, exploring its every cav is not without venture. Alas! the ghastly multitude of mortal terrors cannot be remark as wholly visionary—but, they must slumber, or they will gobble us—they must be support to sleep, or we decrease.” The narrator's name resolve that it is unwholesome to harp on alarm. If one focalize too much on solicitude in a indirect distance, then nothing will ever go upright. Fear is an unlovely trepidation purpose inducement by opinion that someone or something is hazardous. People all around the circle see the moral code of dread and the consequences that direction to it. If nation center too much on venerate
But, the use of grave robbing (body snatching) could also go into contact with the way individuals back in the 1800s handled their crime and punishment. Back in the 1800s, were crucial to those who decided to express the act of body snatching. To disrupt the peace of the dead was the basis of privacy and intrusion. Along with the article ahead of time, Grave Robbers or Archaeologists? Salvaging Shipwrecks , they were contrasting whether or not archaeologists were also known as grave robbers (body snatchers). Though, when shipwrecks happen, all the belongings are lost out in the mysterious abyss of the sea. Then, when professionals go out and about and search the sea, they go and find the remains of humans that were there centuries ago. So, when they do that they are using it for scientific needs. But, in the article it says, “Then, there is the ethical dispute as to whether salvaging a ship is for science and history, or for profit.” Grave robbing wasn’t just stealing remains of the dead, but also personal artifacts that meant something to the deceased person in the tomb. When people manage to salvage the belongings in the tomb, their relatives become so shocked as to why someone might do this to anyone who has passed on to the
There are numerous unanswered questions surrounding the Northern European Bog Bodies phenomenon including "How, or why, or even when, the bodies became immersed in quagmires." (Turner, R.C, Scaife, R.G (ed.),1995,p.169). Despite vast amounts of evidence there are still no easy answers that account for the Iron age bodies. However there are four main competing theories providing possible causes including: the Sacrifice theory, Punishment theory, Boundary theory and the Accidental death theory. All these competing theories will be further examined and critically analysed throughout this text allowing us to depict the most convincing and plausible solution for the mystery of the Iron Age Bog Bodies.
Burials are one of the main sources of knowledge concerning the Early Bronze Age. The most common practice during this time was placing several generations of one family in the same cave or tomb with a variety of offerings, such as pottery vessels, jewelry, and metal objects. In most cases, skeletal remains were found disarticulated with the skulls separated from the bodies. For example, at Tell Asawir bones were packed in pottery jars; at Azor there is some evidence of cremation; and at Jericho the skulls were separated and arranged in rows (Mazar 1990). Shaft tombs were found at some sites, such as the vast cemetery at Bab edhDhra’, where the Early Bronze Age I phase includes several thousand shaft tombs. As no settlement was established in this phase, the cemetery may have belonged to pastoral semi-nomads. This notion is supported by the method of burial––no more than six or seven individuals were found in each cave; each of these were disarticulated––the long bones arranged in one pile and the skulls laid out in a row (Mazar 1990). The flesh was probably extracted from the bones by boiling, a practice which would have suited the semi-nomadic lifestyle of those who may have kept the bones of the deceased in temporary graves or shelters until they could bring them to final burial in a more central or sacred cemetery (Mazar 1990). Multiple interment in caves continued into the Early Bronze Age II-III. This phase at Bab edh-Dhra’ includes rectangular burial chambers (Mazar 1990).
Death is something that causes fear in many peoples lives. People will typically try to avoid the conversation of death at all cost. The word itself tends to freak people out. The thought of death is far beyond any living person’s grasp. When people that are living think about the concept of death, their minds go to many different places. Death is a thing that causes pain in peoples lives, but can also be a blessing.