KINSHIP & DEATH

Pilloud, M. A. and Spencer Larsen, C., 2011. "Official" and "Practical" Kin : Inferring Social and Community Structure From Dental Phenotype at Neolithic Catalhoyuk, Turkey. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 145(4), pp.519-530.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:CatalHoyukSouthArea.JPG 

   I chose this article because as Howell and Kintigh's article, it was trying to determine kinship based on dental traits and space (especially houses). 

   The study was about the site of Catalhoyuk, Turkey, in Neolithic time that's to say 7400-5600 cal BC. 

   The assumption was that people buried in the same house and cluster of houses should be blood related.

   The authors worked with archaeological, biological and statistical data.

   There are lots of confusing and complicated tables and dendrograms which highlight what we already said in class. This is not because people are buried within the same space or area that they are biologically related (or hopefully not), like a father and a mother. 

   Both Pilloud and Spencer Larsen put forward the advantages of their research as being more varied BUT limited to a small space and a small sample compared to the study of their predecessor, Molleson. We may also point at their unclear definition of groups of houses that they eventually recognize as being shaky.

   If Howell and Kintigh focused on nonmetric data AND the frequency of rare dental traits, this is not the case of this article. Instead, my article displays both metrical and nonmetrical data.

   In the end, the purpose of this article is not to demonstrate biological kinship. But on the contrary, to contradict this argument by extending the definition of kinship and the burials of this individuals who are not only linked by blood, but also by "social and cultural reasons".

   I must say that this article was very long and strenuous. Because just by reading the introduction, the conclusion of this article was far from being a surprise. 

GAY CAVEMAN

     Find some information on gay caveman. Here is the article I've found:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8433527/First-homosexual-caveman-found.html


      I tried to read some others in English and even in French. They mostly say the same thing :
     _male remains
     _dating back to 2900-2500 BC (Copper Age)
     _location : Prague, Czech Republic
     _displayed in a position and with objects under female standards of that time period.
     In other words, the man burried as if he was a woman.


     Some elements make me SERIOUSLY doubt the plausibility of a gay caveman :
     1) Why "caveman" when it dates back to the Copper Age? Didn't they come out of their caves already???
     2) Haha. Is it me, or Kamila Remisova Vesinova is jumping a little too fast to conclusions when she declares 
"Far more likely is that he was a man with a different sexual orientation, homosexual or transsexual"?
     How could one declare one's sexual orientations just by looking at a grave's content? Is there a method to identify it that I am not aware of?
     However, I can accept Katerina Semradova's statement that
"We believe this is one of the earliest cases of what could be described as a 'transsexual' or 'third gender grave' in the Czech Republic" 
     3) Did they at least analyze the bones to make sure the remains were really those of a man?
     
     Semradova adds that
"archeologists had uncovered an earlier case dating from the Mesolithic period where a female warrior was buried as a man. Siberian shamans, or latter-day witch doctors, were also buried in this way but with richer funeral accessories to appropriate to their elevated position in society. But this later discovery was neither of those, leading us to believe the man was probably homosexual or transsexual" 
     So based on her statements, "he" cannot be an important figure like a shaman or a doctor. But what prevents us from assuming there might have been other important functions that we are unaware of? Maybe those functions were related to those goods. Perhaps he was a craftsman who made those kind of goods. 
     And if we have found a female warrior buried as a man in the Mesolithic period, we admit that there are exceptions where there is a reversal of "role". So what can prevent us from assuming that this presumably "man" was an exception too? What prevents us from thinking he had female functions like domestic chores for instance?


     This is impressive how such information was taken over from one website to another: newspapers, gay community forums, tabloids, etc. How weird it is that an article which dates back to almost 1 year did not pave the way to more articles giving more insights about this discovery! It sounds to me more like a tabloid news on which such star got married to that person, who is with who, who is again in rehab. That's flash news. It is ephemeral. It does not last. And it seems like it was meant to be sensational for that particular moment. Poor "caveman", may you rest in peace whether gay or not! 

Using Our Group's Rubric With Another Website

     For this exercise, I have chosen the website of Helgeland Museum in Norway. It is actually a collection of 17 museums scattered in the country. Those 17 museums are located in 16 different municipalities. Each one of them has a section where they introduce themselves; they also give historical and/or archaeological information about the local sites and/or artefacts, and/or the locals' "ancient" customs, habits, crafts or trades. So the contents and presentations will differ from one another.
     Here is the homepage of the website:
          http://helgelandmuseum.no/
     And here is the page which interest me:
          http://helgelandmuseum.no/archives/5220


     And here is our rubric:

     Basically, this webpage talks about 2 Viking graves at Herøy, Norway.


     The Introduction is a paragraph which explains in what circumstances the graves were found. It gives more context rather than arguments. Thus, we know that the graves were found in Spring 1983 on a construction yard, leading to its stop so as to allow archaelogical research.  The page gives no clear structure about this subject. I would say it is in-between the 'Fairly Competent' and 'Not Yet Competent'. 2/54


     The Quality of Writing is questionable, not on the writer's side but on mine. As I don't read Norwegian, I'd say that I trust him or her. But with a translator, it is fairly understandable and rightly organized. 12/54


     The Presentation is what I would criticize the most. The font size is really small. You need to scroll a lot as the webpage is presenting the graves in one page only. There is no colors. However, I appreciate the fact that the author made distinct parts by putting titles and by bolding them. I also appreciate the part in which he/she makes a clear listing of the contents and positions of the goods and skeletons, and the adding of pictures to illustrate the cases studied. It gives a break from the long (or seemingly long) reading of this unique page. 2/54


     The Quality of Evidence is also debatable. Firstly, the documents seem to be entirely in Norwegian. So trying to find them and trying to know if they are peer-reviewed is complicated. Moreover, if the website itself seems to be seriously led - especially since it is that of a museum -, I was surprised to see that some of the sources come from Wikipedia. Maybe I misunderstood it. But I found it weird that the name of one author in particular was followed by (Wik). However, because the documents seem to have been written in a Scandinavian language if not Norwegian, I would tend to believe that the authors have more various and up-to-date sources. Indeed, some of them are researchers at universities and/or have written for archaeological reviews. 8/54


     The Quality of Analysis seems to be good even if at times, it sounds more like a listing of facts. The analysis comes way after in what seems to be the conclusion part. However, I admit that I don't know how to be critical as I am not experienced in that field. I fear that I might be listing a lot myself for our project. 12/54


     So the total would be : 34/54 = 66.67%


     Wow! I am truly surprised. Maybe I marked too strictly. I think that the website may be interesting for this page only. I tried to find other articles about Viking graves, but this seems to be the only one available.

Analysis of a Website Using a Created Rubric

Analysis Of A Website Using A Created Rubric

Ok, this is the same problem here as the previous post. I will post something as soon as I can. Thank you for your understanding.

GAY CAVEMEN

Sorry if this post is short. I was sick last week and I tried to catch up some other assignments for other classes. As soon as I can, I will post something about that subject.

Pioneering In The Field At Pioneer Square


   First time in the field for me. My partner and I meet at Pioneer Square. We agree to study the graves in the south-west corner of the park.

   Because of the size of the site, the first questions which came to my mind where why these people in particular? Who were they? Where they more or less "important" in the community in which and at the time at which they were living? Why are there different types of memorials? How come some were in such good conditions and some others looked so damaged?


ASPECT
   Not all of the monuments did look the same!
   There were headstones, wall monuments, an obelisk, sarcophaguses (sarcophagi?) and a stone bench.

   I am no geologist, but from my perspective, most of them were made out of stone, marble and/or concrete, granite but one stood out for it was made with bricks.
   There was also bronze for the plaque of the naval wall and another unknown metal for the anchor placed above it.


  The graves we are studying are among the ones which are in the best conditions if we compare them to those at the far end of the square. We could read for most of them the carvings and if not, some of them were accompanied by a headstone added by the B.C. Historical Association decades lates.


   The ones we were looking at were often decorated and carved in style, or even sculpted. Images talk better than descriptions. 

LOCATION
   Pioneer Square is located Downtown and next to the Christ Church Cathedral. The monuments we were studying were either close to the roads, or among the closest to the church (from the side entrance, the monuments were quite visible). 

   Again, not a specialist. Based on former readings, the location of a cemetery has sometimes nothing to do with the inner city.
   But I have this assumption that because Victoria was a settlement, the church had a central position so the city was to be constructed more or less around it. Still, another assumption I had that in a British settlement, people would be buried by the church.
   Well no. Pioneer Square used to be the Quadra St. Cemetery. It was constructed as an addition to a cemetery which used to be at the southeast corner of Douglas St. and Johnson Rd., as the population grew and as the cemetery filled rapidly.


   Still, this section of the park we were studying had monuments arranged in such a way that we could count a few or several meters separating them all from the others; and by comparison, the ones at the far end of the park were so close to each other that we could notice that there was only a few centimeters between one another.


TIME
   Pioneer Square was among the first cemeteries in Victoria. This can be confirmed by the carvings of certain graves, mentioning members of the Hudson's Bay Company. In other words, some of the dead must be settlers. Indeed, the majority of the monuments we studied dated back to the second half of the 19th century. However, more recent monuments display 20th century dates like the military walls or the headstones added by the B.C. Historical Association.


IDENTITY
   Who were they?
Apart from the ones on the military monuments, we can find 

   -James Murray Yale http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?id_nbr=5330

   -the 4 Cridge children : Frederic Pemberton, Edward Scott, Eber and Grace

   with the addition of Mary Abbott Cridge.

   -Charles Dodd http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=3874

   -John Work http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/work.html

   -C.W. Wallace, Jane Allison, and Kate, Abby, Edward and Charlie

   -David Cameron and Cecelia Cameron http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/cameron.html

   -J.S. Helmcken http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/helmcken.html

   -Lucy Sanders

   Thus, we may notice that it ranged from newborns to elder people. The Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria gives here a brief description of those persons (some of whom I could not find their biographies).

http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/psp/html/reports/walking_tour/index.htm

   You may have a better look at the carved text and the pictures of the monuments there

http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210656988929581214310.0004b83024d62ee37a169

STATUS
   To come back to this first idea of "first" settlers, we could see this might be questionable for not all of them mention it. 
   However, I think that many of them were either playing a prominent role in the community or at least. I have seen "Rev" - like reverend Edward Cridge - for religious figures. Reverend Cridge became the dean of the Christ Church Cathedral.           
   There are also those military monuments to honor those who are supposed to have participated in different wars or have accomplishements related to the naval or air force, or the police.
   But there we said children? Usually, the ones we studied were there because they were part of those prominent families which were among the founders of Fort Victoria.


CONCLUSION
   The monuments we looked at were not put there for any reasons. I believe that because of who they were or what they did, either for the city or the nation, they were "privileged" for they were not put and abandoned (they really look damaged and there is no B.C. Historical Association headstone in that area) at the far end of the park. On the contrary, they were settled so as to be visible either from the roads or the churchgoers. Plus, most of them display stone work which must have required some time and certainly more money.

• BRITISH COLUMBIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY. (1990). Pioneer Square Cemetery, also known as Victoria Pioneer Cemetery, Victoria, B.C. Richmond, B.C., British Columbia Genealogical Society.
• [ Mortimer's Monumental Works which made the naval wall http://www.mortimersmonuments.com/products/index.htm ] 
• [ Hudson's Bay Company at Fort Victoria website http://bcheritage.ca/fortvictoria/people/index.html ] 
• [Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria website  http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/psp/html/reports/walking_tour/index.htm ] 
• [Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online  http://www.biographi.ca/index-e.html ] 

WHEN I AM OLD,


   I want to be buried with... *big blank*


   To be honest, I never thought about this before. I like the ideas of giving away my body for research, or getting cremated and having my ashes scattered in the sea. 


   However, if I were to be buried somewhere so as to get found, I believe that I would like to be with:
        _books
        _a nice dress by a creator acquaintance
        _pictures of the loved ones.


*********************************************************************************


   In contrast, I spoke with friends and family members. According to them, they might put things like:
        _food
        _money
        _a bottle of red Bordeaux
        _pictures
        _my favorite dress
        _a ring
        _a flashlight
        _a phone
        _books


*********************************************************************************


   This is funny how some ideas coincide. But by talking to them, I discovered that their interpretations did not meet mine. 


   AND SORRY FOR THE FOLLOWING STEREOTYPES, BUT SOME OF THEM PROVE TO BE TRUE...

   BOOKS
   I am not someone who you would consider as a literary one. However, I like to read from time to time. 
   With years, I kept piling up books at home, telling myself I will read them later. So maybe that time will be the "later". Maybe this will be the time when I can finally enjoy them without fearing the pressure of university, professional or family life.
   Plus, these books will distract me in the LOOOOOOONG time of loneliness which awaits for me!
   BUT I am the kind of person who likes to say "what if". There are so many to-do's in my list that it seems endless. The books would not necessarily reflect who I am, but the person I want to be. 
   I would love to be surrounded by numerous self-learning books like languages, music, arts and so on. But I also want to have those literature classics I did not have time to read during my lifetime.
   In a way, I think that I can still fulfill this dream even if it is not in this life (among the living).

   DRESS
   I believe that this is a big classic. The deceased are often dressed in their best outfits. I don't want to break this rule. 
   Why? Who would bother to see me in my afterlife?
   Well, as I might look dead, maybe it will be nice to be dressed up to the nines for the ones attending my final "big day" ceremony.
    I know I won't be able to dance or strut around with it, BUT
        a) I was strongly influenced by our consumerist/superficial world ruled by magazines and other pressure media which made me so conscious of my appearance. I know, I know. Such a material girl!
        b) I have this weird mental connection, linked to the argument above, that if I am well-dressed, I am fine. If I am wearing a potato bag, it is proof that I don't care anymore about my appearance, the world around me... in other words, I am depressed.
   However, the dress may not reflect our time period but my likings. I love the Victorian style. So if I was given the opportunity, I would like a dress like that. But maybe if the dress was to be sewn with "modern elements", the fabric and other material could be evidence of our time.

   PICTURES
   For some people and even for me, they will keep me company; they will comfort me. Looking at their pictures will maintain the bond between us.
   For my family, using pictures is like having "pictorial doors" to communicate with the dead. Talking to the dead is quite commonplace in the Vietnamese culture. But having pictures help to have a better signal.
   With some chances (but I don't believe my relatives will be thinking of it), archaeologists might find dates printed in the back of the pictures. It will depend on which machine they will be using to print them.


   FOOD
   Food was a recurrent thing. But not all of them had the same ideas.

   Saucisson was one of them. It is a French salami. Funny what the French can be craving for when they are leaving France... or at least, this is what I personally noticed for the people, friends and me who had to live abroad for a while. My international/exchange student friends know how much I am fond of and missing it. Some thought of cheese, of course. But saucisson is even harder to find considering those restrictions at the customs. This prove how much they know me as an epicurean person.
   I don't think that there will be much saucisson left in the grave for the diggers. However, I really do appreciate the gesture. 


   Imperishable or long-to-perish food, according to my boyfriend. He was influenced by stories my sister told him about the Asian cult of the ancestors. I don't think he really knows why we are giving food to them. But I believe he wants to be caring since he knows how much I love food.

   Rice was another idea which came from my family. Apparently, it is part of the Vietnamese tradition to put some in the grave (and in the mouth) of the deceased.
   However, this is not something my family would have put automatically (actually, all of the objects mentioned in this article - apart from the dress - were added by my relatives or me because of my questions and insistence). As we have discovered in our lectures and readings, funerary practices evolve. This rice thing is part of my mother's remembrance as a child of Vietnamese practices. She does not know its meaning, which is evidence of a disappearing practice. Those practices have largely changed from before her childhood till now. Articles and book extracts do not agree on the meaning of rice. This is certainly due to the folk stories associated to burials and the regions, time, peoples and their religions. Indeed, how many versions of a same fairy tale can we have? It must be the same for funerary practices and their meanings.
   For instance, I could find that the amount varies: some would say "some", some others are elusive, some say "a pinch" and some give a different number of grains according to the gender. Rice is generally put there to feed the dead. 

   MONEY
   It is also to be put with the dead (and in the mouth) according to Vietnamese tradition. Some would say it is a sign of wealth and prosperity. Some others think it is to pay the bargeman who would make the deceased cross the river between the world of the living and that of the dead.
   My boyfriend thinks about practicality. He wants me to be able to afford what I might need in the hereafter. Maybe some more mystical saucisson and rice?

   RED WINE
   It is a reminder of my French roots. Friends as well as family members do know how much I love wine. I am from France, but I am also living in a region rich with vineyards. To quote a friend, "the wine will get better with years, along with you".
   However, I am not from the region of Bordeaux which could be misleading for archaeologists.

   RING, FLASHLIGHT, PHONE
   Then, come the ring, the flashlight and the mobile phone. These are more jokes between some friends and me.
   One day, one of them proposed to me for fun. At the end of the day, I cancelled our so-called engagement because of the absence of any ring.
   The flashlight and the phone, according to another friend, would be there in case I am still alive and/or am scared in the dark and/or need to talk.
   Very thoughtful, indeed. But I think those friends did not take into account the poor signal down there and the poor duration of the batteries.
   So these might be other misleading objects. I don't consider myself as wealthy. I am not married. And I am trying to figure out how one could interpret a flashlight and phone. Maybe as a way to light my path to the world of the dead? But how about the phone? Any ideas?


*********************************************************************************


   In the end, those objects are not aimed at archaeologists. This is sure. 
   What I have noticed is that they are not necessarily put there as a legacy of who I am, what my accomplishments are, how the civilization I was living in lived and what were their customs.
   So am I an exception in the mainstream or is this general assumption questionable?
   These objects are simply reflective of the bond between the living and me, of concerns for my afterlife, of associations of me with those objects based on my taste, and of the goals I want to accomplish in my new existence.