My Afterlife Identity

This question is very interesting and has really made me think.. What would I like to be buried with when I die and what do I think my family would bury me with? I've always thought to myself that I would like to be cremated when I die, I don't like the idea of my body being buried deep down in the ground - even if caskets these days are quite high tech....

So, what would I like to be buried with? I think pictures of my loved ones, my camera, my dog (after a natural death, of course), a blanket to surround my box of ashes and probably my iPhone.. yes, I have a problem... I'm a little addicted to it. Also, maybe a nice bottle of wine. I posed this question to my Grandma and my boyfriend. My grandma says that she would bury me with a box of snickerdoodles (my favourite cookie), my rose gold watch and of course a nice leather bag. My boyfriend said my iPhone as well, a bowl of mac&cheese, also he said that my urn should be my favourite colour - mint green, my dog, my rain boots, and a family photo album as I am a very family orientated person.

Based on what the three of us said, I feel like we are all in some form of an agreement. My favourite foods, photos of my family, my dog and my favourite material goods that I have and love. You have to wonder what represents you.. I always wonder what items people associate to me and I was pretty happy with what they could come up with in the limited time that they had.

Anyway, I have to say this was a very interesting blog idea and maybe further into the class I'll write another one to see if I change my mind about anything!

Look what I stumbled across... a "twin" burial!

I've been looking up some ideas for our group project and I stumbled across this article called "Ice age 'twins' found in ancient burial ground." This of course caught my attention because our group is interested in looking at child burials and have been leaning towards doing something in that area for the project.

Back to the article - What was found near Krems in northern Austria was two (what they think are) newborn twins in the same burial together, however it can't be proven that they are biological twins until significant DNA evidence can prove it. The remains of the babies were not carbon dated at the time, but there were artifact found near them, such as beads that were dated between 27,000-40,000 years old, therefore the burial must be at least 27,000 years old. I remember talking about beads found in other child burials in an Anthropology class I took last year (Paleolithic Art). The photo below shows that the twins were buried side by side and it was intentional, I believe, because they are covered in ochre and that is something that I have come across a lot in multiple Anthropology classes. 

I found it very interesting that the newborns were found underneath a woolly mammoth's shoulder blade, which was propped up by a mammoth tusk. I haven't heard of other burials like that before. It makes me wonder if they were placed underneath the bones so they were easy to come back and visit, or if it was simply extra protection from predators.

Here is a link to the article if you want to read it as well!

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8063-ice-age-twins-found-in-ancient-burial-ground.html

The "twins" covered in ochre (The photo can be found here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn8063-ice-age-twins-found-in-ancient-burial-ground.html)

An Introduction to... Me!

Hello!

My name is Carly McNeill and I am a 3rd year Anthropology major. I am originally from the mainland but Vancouver Island captured my attention late in high school and I decided to move here for university! So here I am.

I first decided I wanted to go into Anthropology in grade twelve in my Comparative Civilizations class when we were discussing different hominins and evolution. It fascinated me and it had never been brought to my attention until that class; I talked to my teacher and she directed me to Anthropology.

I haven't had the chance to take a wide variety of higher level Anthropology courses yet at UVIC, but what I have taken I have really enjoyed. In particular, I really enjoyed Paleolithic Art and Primate Behaviour Ecology. What I find to be most interesting is studies around primates and the behaviours they exhibit. I also find the similarities in genetics between non-human primates, primates and ourselves to be very intriguing.

The reason Archaeology of Death caught my eye initially was because in previous Anthropology courses I have had the chance to discuss different grave goods left with the dead and I find that to be fascinating. I've always wanted to discuss burials and grave goods in further depth since learning about them.

I am looking forward to this course and reading everyone else's blog entries!


Carly