First of all: it was tough to finally make a choice. Our class managed to come up with a list consisting of what I though were all interesting topics rife with potential and possibilities. I originally narrowed my pick down to a shorter list of 4 topics -- still not horribly narrowed down. These 4 topics were: Ancient Greece, the Scythians, Ancient Egypt, and, obviously, the Second World War (or, as our Russian friends would call it, "the Great Patriotic War" -- nationalism reared its ugly head as part of Stalin's massive propagandistic mobilization campaign...).
Ancient Greece was one of the topics I contemplated working on because I've looked at some ancient Greek history, art, architecture, etc. and I find it all fascinating. When I took classes on these subjects, burial came up every now and again. I learned a little about the Kerameikos (the main necropolis) of Athens, but this was focused largely on the ceramics found. These ceramics were interesting, though, because they included items such as cinerary container and vessels for offerings during funeral processions, and contained painted depictions of funeral processions. In addition, for my Art and Architecture of Ancient Greece class (which, by the way, was a great class and I would highly recommend it, especially when taught by Dr. Burke!), I wrote my term paper on the debate over whether King Philip II of Macedon or his son Philip III Arrhidaios was contained within the gold larnax in Tomb II at Vergina (the site of the family's royal cemetery). As much as physically writing that paper was not my idea of a fun day-before-the-paper-is-due kind of thing (so I procrastinated on the writing a little...), researching the topic was incredibly interesting (I actually chose that topic because it seemed more archaeological than a lot of other topics I could have chosen). Studies of the tomb include forensic analysis of the cremated remains found within it as well as analysis of the myriad artifacts found -- alongside historical writings of the lives and deaths of Philip II and Arrhidaios. Based on these two ancient Greek burial topics I learned about, I thought it would be neat to learn more. Alas, I decided against it (for this class at least).
remains of Philip II or Philip III Arrhidaios?
image courtesy of http://b.vimeocdn.com/ts/221/290/22129037_640.jpg)
The Scythians and their kurgans (burial tumuli/mounds) were on my list because, well, the Scythians were early inhabitants of Russia and I love anything Russian. These kurgans would also sometimes be incredibly elaborate and rich and included some very colourful textiles, beautifully crafted metal objects, etc. Also, the Scythians sometimes had some pretty cool tattoos. I happen to really like tattoos, and ancient body modification fascinates me as much as modern body modification. There have also been recent developments with the study of the Scythian mounds as someone (I think it's the Dutch...) is working on developing 3-D models of the kurgans. Like my Ancient Greece leanings, though, the Scythians fell by the wayside.
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| Tattoos on a male Scythian, 5th century BCE, found in modern Kazakhstan, now displayed at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (image courtesy of www.britannica.com/bps/media-view/869/1/0/0) |
As for Ancient Egypt....well, let's be real: who doesn't like mummies? Or ancient Egyptian beliefs about death and burial in general? Side note: I find this stuff so interesting I have a tattoo of Anubis -- the Egyptian god of mummification and embalming that had a tremendous role in funerary practices -- on my body. This topic also did not make the final cut. I am somewhat regretting this decision after seeing a Discovery Channel special a few days ago in which a chemical archaeologist mummified a body donor to test his hypothesis on how the 18th Dynasty (including Ahmenhotep, Akhenaten, Tutankhamen, Hatshepsut, and Nefertiti, just to name some famous names) was mummified differently than every other Dynasty that practiced mummification. This chemical archaeologist discovered, via radiographs, that the mummies of the 18th dynasty (and only them) had salt crystals within their mummified flesh. This would not have happened had their bodies been covered in natron like the other pharaohs' bodies were (because this would simply draw water out of the body, not bring salt into it), but rather the 18th Dynasty pharaohs must have been submerged in a concentrated natron bath, which would allow the flow of water out of the body and salt into it, allowing for salt crystals to form. This special was really awesome, so if anyone has a spare hour lying around one day, I suggest you hunt it down and watch it. Just be prepared for watching some scientists pull the dead guy's organs out of him!
I almost regret my decision to not select ancient Egypt, but only almost. I am fully happy with my selection of WWII. Firstly, I love learning about the history of WWII. Secondly, I find it to be one of THE pivotal historical events. Now, this may be because it was quite recent and extremely well documented, giving me the opportunity to learn about it in more detail than a lot of historical events as well as the aftermath and reverberations of these events and how they relate to my life today. However, also because WWII was so recent, a lot of new archaeological studies are being done, much of the archaeological data are fresh, and there are so many more opportunities to study WWII from an archaeological perspective. This is different from places like ancient Greece and Egypt which have been studied archaeologically for a couple of centuries now. In addition, I tend to find any case involving mass burial particularly interesting, and there were a lot of mass burials during WWII relating to varying circumstances. Also, when we think about WWII, we tend not to think about how it would (and must have) altered beliefs about and practices surrounding death. Lastly, I really want to be able to look at anything to do with the Soviets whenever possible...
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