Jan 29th 2014

For our Anthropology 397 class, we were given three blog prompts this week.

The first question: What would you want to be included in your burial to tell archaeologists about your identity? What sort of messages would you try to send.

- If I was dead I would like to have included with me some of my favourite albums, pictures of my horses, ribbons, certificates of accomplishments, pictures of myself, friends, and family, my stuffed animals, and some of my favourite clothes. I don't think I would be trying to send a message per se, instead I would hope to tell others about the kind of things I was into and had accomplished throughout my lifetime.

The second question: What would someone else choose for you? Why?

- I think my friends and family would choose many of the above options to put in my grave as well. I think that pictures of them with myself, photos of me riding horses or dancing would be included. I think they would want me to be buried with happy reminders of the kind of person I was when I was alive.

The third question: Do the grave goods you picked send the same kinds of messages that the grave goods someone else picked for you would? Is there a conflict between them and your identity at all?

I think that my best friends would know exactly what to put in my grave because they know me and my personality so well. I don't think that any of their grave goods would conflict with my own because they know me better than I know myself at times and have seen me at my best and worst. My parents may try to make my grave goods very reserved and peaceful. They would probably stick to just photos and ribbons because some of my music taste and personality has clashed with theirs at times.

Feedback on Data Assignment

For our Archaeology of Death class we were asked to complete a Data Assignment on the St. Stephen's Cemetery using the technology of Microsoft Access and Excel. This data assignment was my first time using both these programs and overall really helped me better understand how real archaeologists look at their data and organize it. I found that I had several issues with using these programs because I was a first time user and am not the most computer savvy individual on the planet. However, this assignment was actually very interesting because you were able to look at the various types of information the grave sites tell you. For example, you got to see whether individuals were buried individually or in groups, what kind of tomb stone was used, different inscriptions, birth and death dates, along with the age of individuals and career choice. This data assignment had a lot of components too it which asked various questions covering all the different information you can gather from this burial site. It was overall a very interesting project and one I would have liked to have spent more time on!

A little bit about myself....

My name is Lauren Thom and I am a fourth year Sociology student with a minor in Anthropology. I am very interested in this class and am looking forward to learning more about it as the semester progresses!