What do I know about death?

I'm taking this course because I want to be an archaeologist, but also because I am fascinated by death. I often ponder the many personas humans project in differing situations and relationships and I think burial is a reflection of those personas as experienced by the people who organize our burials. I am also interested in the multitude of ways in which human mourn and commemorate their dead. Christian cultures are so dour and reserved about the whole thing; we are quick to clean up and move on from death while still making sure to properly exhibit our loss. Other cultures wail and cry for the dead or tear their hair out in grief openly displaying their emotions regarding the loss of a loved one. The recent death of Kim-Jong Il and the North Korean media coverage of his mourners gained a lot of response from North American media, which questioned the veracity of the North Korean population's bereavement but did not seem to take into account the cultural differences that may have lead to such a display.

Shirley McDonnell

My grandmother died when I was 9. She passed in her sleep from a heart attack triggered by a reaction to some dental work she had done a day or two before. Several years later my mother told me that Grandma had wanted to be cremated and have her ashes scattered from the Isle of Skye. Instead, my grandfather had her buried at the family plot in Lindsey, Ontario, next to relatives she was never very fond of. This taught me, at a young-ish age, that burial is not a reflection of the person as they saw themselves or as they wished to be remembered but more often it is a reflection of the wishes of those left behind. Years later, when we flew out to Ontario to attend my grandfather's funeral I saw the headstone with his freshly carved name next to her slightly older one and the much older inscriptions marking long-dead McDonnells I never knew and don't feel much affinity to.

I want my ashes scattered from Skye or my inhumation to have lots of nice grave goods for someone to dig up and theorize over in a few hundred years.