Basing my results on the analysis of the gravestone alone, I find,…
Lead by Dr. Ernie Walker, with the help of Dr. Glenn Stuart and Devon Lawson, students applied the knowledge of the land from previous years’ excavations to their own to better interpret the past events, both geological and…
This sub group of the CIfA promotes the maintenance of professional standards to safeguard the practice of high quality forensic archaeology work. It’s ‘Standards and Guidance for Forensic Archaeologists’ outlines site management, documentation, prevention of contamination, recovery of remains, the final report and more. Also, the ‘Forensic Archaeology Competency Matrix’ highlights the different levels of role complexity between expert, associate and practitioner members; giving students an indication of the range of role competencies in working archaeologists. The site is beneficial for a clear understanding of the expectations and proficiencies required of a professional forensic archaeologist both on site and…
Bears and Coins:The Iconography of Protection in Late Roman Infant Burials, written by Nina Crummy analyzes the sites of a small group of infant burials found within Britain. These date to early c.e., during the Roman rule of the region. While the actual archaeological evidence found within these graves is interesting enough, it is in Crummy’s analysis of the items that is of greater significance. Using these uncovered items, Crummy creates two groups to examine, and her theories regarding how the carefully chosen tokens show a parental attachment to the deceased, despite their young age. With the aforementioned archaeological evidence, combined with known beliefs of early Roman-Britain, Crummy is able to accurately display her ideas about the meaning of childhood and parenthood within a society with high infant mortality.…
Approximately ten miles from downtown Atlanta, one thousand six hundred eighty-three feet above sea level stands Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain is, simply, an enormous rock that is made of granite. The mountain can be seen from Kennesaw Mountain (West), Amicalola Falls State Park (North), and Mount Yonah (Northeast). On the northwest side of the mountain, there are currently faces of three men carved into the granite: Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis.…
One day in the early 1970’s a farmer was on his land in Lintong the Shazznxi province digging a water well when he discovered a mass grave of statutes. As the mass graves were unearthed the magnitude of this tomb housed more than seven thousand statues of chariots, horses, and soldiers. Some of the soldiers were high ranking while others were infantry units. There were four main pits that were found east of the burial mound of first emperor Qin Shi Huang as if they were protecting him in the afterlife.…
The Roanoke Island Colony; Lost and found? (The New York Times)Centuries ago many English men and women were hoping to settle a successful colony in the new land. When the leader of the colonists John White left them on the island to go get more supplies the colonist mysteriously disappeared with in the time White was gone.(A,E) No one knows what happened to the colonists, in fact the only clue that was left behind was the word Croatoan carved into a tree. (A,B,J & E)So, for now the remains unsolved. However, there have been theories and clues that may lead us to the answer many of these theories have flaws like why is there not more evidence proving this.…
House of Wisdom is Established- It was established and based in Baghdad in the 9th century. The House brought cultures together by attracting scholars from all over the world. Beginnings of Astronomy- Beginning in the 8th century, it enhanced the Islamic religion by determining the direction of Mecca and making prayer times more accurate. Beginnings of Mathematical Reasoning and the Scientific Method-…
The low-status burials in quadrant two and four are buried with only a single blue marble inside the coffins. The high-status burials in quadrant one are marked with green coffins and urns. For indicators of age differences, the females placed in coffins are the adults. Those buried without a coffin, but with urns beside the skeletons are adolescents. The one skeleton buried inside an urn is a child.…
A still-standing ancient arch of the old cemetery chapel reminds me of being in an archeological site. The chapel’s adobe walls are crumbling and supported with wood timbers. The chapel was built in the 17th century, but its foundation dates to the early 1500’s. What remains is a shell, open to the sky, while within the walls are several centuries old gravesites.…
3.4 Ritual Practice, Symbolism, and Folklore According to Bell (1992, p. 92), "people engage in ritualization as a practical way of dealing with some specific circumstances". When it comes to death, not only is there a corpse to attend to, but also the emotional implications of mortality which arise because of the death. That is when ritual comes into play. In the presence of death, ritual becomes action which brings structure and meaning to existence (Nilsson Stutz 2003, p. 56).…
The artifacts within the graves are also consistent with the styles employed by Anglo Saxon artisans of that time period. The burials appear to display a distinct regard for social status and rank. The central mound is larger than the other graves and contains the body of a female buried with finely crafted jewelry of gold and garnet, a bone comb, imported glass bowls from France, and an elaborate gold and garnet crown. The fashioning of the jewelry reveals the presence of adroit craft specialists within the society. The creation of the mound required a high level of authoritative power and organization and the entombed wealth as well as the crown, suggests that this woman was of a high social rank.…
Burial traditions vary across time and space. Looking at societies in similar stages of development, trends in how individuals of various statuses are buried become visible. In looking at a few of the Mississippian cultures and the famous tombs of King Tutankhamen and The Death Pit at Ur, one can explore how these trends and differences appear. Additionally, these case studies can be used to examine larger issues within the field of archeology -- such as looting and preservation -- and to explore missteps in previous excavations in order to prevent those mistakes in the future. Mississippian burials are very modest in comparison to the graves found in Ur and in Egypt, representative of how the Mississippians were at a different stage…
In Massachusetts cemeteries in the seventeenth through the nineteenth century, specifically Granary Burying Ground and Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, the standard organization of graves highlights a clear system of hierarchy with prominent men in the center, subordinate men on the sides, and women buried exclusively next to their kin. Although there are some gravestones that defy the usual pattern, a comparison between the graves of men and women, and the graves of prominent and ordinary people, show marked differences, especially in size, the amount of decoration, the presence of an epitaph, and the location of the grave compared to other kin. Despite the gravestone iconography of death heads, cherubs, and classical urns staying consistent…
In the book, The Parthenon (1972), it is written that the Parthenon is . The author believes that under the aegis of Cimon, hiring Kallikrates as architect, the outer colonnade had already been done, and even some of the metopes now on the Parthenon had been carved for this earlier temple. When Pericles received power after Cimon’s death in 450, a new and more ambitious plan was conceived (Ashmole, 1972). Pheidias was in charge of the whole work, working as an overseer of the temple’s sculptural decoration. He controlled and directed everything and his main work would be the statue of Athena in the cella.…