The Best Medicine

    I think this week I’m going to talk about something Erin mentioned in class on Friday.  As I’m not too interested in writing about Western Europe/North American funerary practices which are coming into style.  I would like instead talk about her recommendation of us not thinking about death for a day this weekend.  I think it is important for us as anthropologists to take a break every now and then from some of the topics we discuss for they can become distressing and may cause us to become depressed to be constantly surrounded by the dead.

    Another important point I wish to discuss is similar to another point Erin made, we sometimes distance ourselves from the dead we see, especially in museums, we tend to forget that theses mummies were once people who had family and friends.  I know that as researchers we need to maintain a certain level of distance to maintain to seen as objective.

    However, I would argue that at the same time researchers need to realize that the mummy or skeleton is/was a person and should be treated as such.  At the same the time it may become hard for an archaeologist to maintain distance if the body is similar in age, sex or reason of death to an individual known to the anthropologist.

    In my opinion because death can be a touchy subject to people that when we are talking about it, not just in class but outside of it to people in general it is important to be serious, but to maybe contrast that with humour soon afterwards; depending on the people involved.

Grave Goods

    Personally I would rather be cremated, or have my body given to science than buried so I will try and give this my best shot.  First I would like to be buried in my favorite jeans and a simple black shirt.  As that is my most common appearance and would wish to maintain that look in the after life.  For jewelry I would wish to be wearing the Maori symbol necklace I was given by my uncle while in New Zealand, for it reminds me of the fun I had their was well as the symbolic meaning behind it, which is eternal friendship. 

 Some objects I would wish to be buried with would be an image of my family emblem, which is a lion holding an anchor, in order for whoever found my body in the future to know that I am a part of that family and take pride in it.  As well I would wish to be buried with a leather western bridle and a horseshoe.  As I am rather obsessed with horses and western is my favorite riding style.   I would also like something related to dogs-maybe a leash as they are also very important animals to me.  I would not wish to be buried with either of these animals however, I would rather they still be living than accompany me.  I would also like to be buried with books, however I’m not sure if I’m able to pick just one, instead maybe a collection of several books in different genres which I continue to read.  Maybe some English Lit, and Canadian History as well as a favorite children’s book (Black Beauty-no surprise there!) 

    Talking to friends they would add a field hockey stick, as I have played for 13 years and I’m quite competitive about sports.

So what this says about me is that I am an outdoorsy, competitive woman who loves reading and is proud of her heritage.  I think I can live with that (pun intended).

The Beginning

My name is Helen Ellison and I am a third year Anthropology and Sociology major from Uvic.  I decided to take this course as while looking through the courses offered this semester the title grabbed my eye as well as the help complete my Archeology requirement for my Anthropology major.  I have always been interested in how people not only treat the dead but how death is received by the different cultures whether negative or positive.  Also the insights into a culture which can be obtained through studying how they treated their dead.  I am interested in Maori and the different peoples of the British Iles and their changing funerary rights.