Lost Burials: Herculaneum and L'Anse aux Meadows

Graves tell archaeologists all sorts of things about a population and their culture. But what happens when there are no graves or skeletons?


In Herculaneum, a town wiped out by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. , there were very few skeletons found until the 1980s. The theory was that everyone had escaped the town before the eruption. When hundreds of skeletons were found in the boat sheds by the water (Fig. 1), the theory was obviously obsolete. 

"Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence" as one of my anthropology professors from last year would say. In other words, just because there is no evidence now, it does not follow that there was none at one point. In the Pompeii example, just because the excavators didn't find skeletons, it did not mean that there were none. They just weren't looking in the right places.

This idea can also be applied to L'Anse aux Meadows, a Viking site in Newfoundland, where no skeletons have been found (Fig. 2). When I visited the site I was told that the Vikings had abandoned their settlement and returned home because there were no burials found. This always seemed too easy an answer for me. 

What if we are looking in the wrong area as in Herculaneum? They could have been buried outside of the settlement or in an area we never considered. I don't know if the excavations included land penetrating sonar, but that could help identify unknown structures. What if the remains simply didn't preserve? What if they were buried in a way that didn't leave any archaeological remains in the first place? I don't know if there was any evidence of Viking burials at sea or cremation, but in a place like Newfoundland where the land can be frozen in the winter, couldn't it be a possibility? Also, many rich Viking graves preserved in the ground have the skeletons in boats; maybe this originated from a previous practice of sea burials. While I acknowledge I am speculating, I find it highly unlikely that none of the Vikings died while they were in Newfoundland.


Fig. 1


Fig. 2
                                                                

Forgotten Cemeteries

In class this week we watched a film about an abandoned cemetery in Priceville, Ontario. The cemetery was for the black pioneers who lived in the area in the 1820s. The community decided to restore the cemetery, and they recovered four gravestones from a stone pile in the town. The committee in charge of the restoration decided to bring the ground level in the cemetery to its original level in an attempt to find more headstones. The process was controversial as some people did not want to disturb the dead.

The cemetery reminded me of one that I have heard of in Kamloops, which is located in the interior of British Columbia, Canada. There is a Chinese cemetery for people who settled in Kamloops after the Railway was built (Image 1). This cemetery is maintained and recognized by the community. However, there are numerous unmarked graves of Chinese workers under the railway tracks that span the country. What makes the people buried in the cemetery different from the ones buried under the railway tracks? 

The timing of the graves in the cemetery are at a time when formal burials could take place. The land is consecrated, and a designated cemetery. However, I feel like the workers buried under the railway tracks deserve recognition as well. 
 Some efforts have been made:

"Ninety-five years later, the first official recognition of the

Chinese Railway Workers was on June 16, 1980. In

1982, a bronze plaque was installed at the Yale museum.

In Vancouver, a Chinese Railway Workers bronze plaque

was installed in 1988. A 12-metre high memorial was

built in Toronto and unveiled in 1989. In Winnipeg, a

bronze sculpture was erected in 1998. The latest tribute

to the Chinese Railway Workers was the documentary

“Canadian Steel, Chinese Grit” produced in 1998.

In May 2005, the Canadian Pacific Railway named the

Cheng Interchange in Kamloops in honour of Chinese

railway workers, in November 2005, the Province of B.C.

issued a proclamation declaring November 1-7 as

“Pioneer Chinese Railway Workers’ Week”, and on the

29th of November, the Heroes of Confederation project

was adopted into the City Centre Plan/Kamloops Official

Community Plan."

                   - Heroes of Conferation

 
The Heroes of Confederation want a museum to be established in Kamloops to formally acknowledge the workers. It would provide information to future generations, and it would include a library.

The theme shared between the two cemeteries is recovering memories. In Priceville the cemetery had been disregarded, and it is now too late to recover any more gravestones. In Kamloops, there is still a chance to preserve what is known about the workers through the museum. However, the longer it is delayed the harder it will be to find out later on. 

 Image 1

Memory and Grave Markers

I recently found out that the Taj Mahal (Fig. 1) is actually the burial site of Queen Mumtaz Mahal. I have always been enthralled by the Taj Mahal because of its beauty and monumental size. I find Mausoleums an interesting way of commemorating the dead because they are a statement about memory. The buildings become a more permanent way of remembering the deceased, and can become a testament to an individual's social status and wealth. Other ancient examples are Mausoleums of elites such as Augustus and Halicarnassus (Fig. 2).

In modern societies mausoleums are still used to a small degree, but more conservative monuments such as headstones are put in place. This can be a result of social trends, restrictions in place in cemeteries, and financial means. Grave markers are associated with memory, and they differ depending on who you want to remember you.

For instance, scattering ashes, planting a tree with ashes, and private grave markers are all for individuals wanting to be remembered by their family and friends. More public grave markers and elaborate grave markers (such as sculptures that were seen in the 1800s) create a lasting memory of that person for the community. There are grave markers that have photos and some even have screens for videos that are meant to be viewed by the public. Location is key. Grave markers in cemeteries are displayed to the public, while private grave markers are for friends and family. There are also modern grave markers to state figures. For instance, Lenin wanted to be remembered by Russia, and was embalmed and is still on display in Moscow.

I wouldn't want to be on public display like Lenin or Jeremy Bentham (see my earlier post below), but I think the idea of a monumental grave marker is really interesting in terms of your memory lasting for a long time. In many cases the remains have disappeared but the monuments still stand. 



Image 1



Image 2

Brides of Death

Rites of passage are rituals that mark transitions in an individual's life. In ancient Greece, one of the major transitions for Greek women was to be married. However, what if a young woman or girl passed away before being married? Without a husband, she was married to death, or in other words, Hades.

The custom is based on the Greek myth of Persephone and Hades. The shortened version of the myth goes something like this: when the goddess Persephone was abducted by Hades and taken to be his wife in the underworld,  her mother Demeter decided to stop the crops from growing in order to deprave the gods of their sacrifices. The gods were forced to compromise with Demeter, and allowed Persephone to return on the condition she had not eaten any food. She had, and therefore spends half the year with Hades and half with Demeter. Therefore, half of the year bears crops when Persephone is with Demeter, and the result are different seasons.

The young ancient Greek girls were married to Hades just like Persephone was. The custom acknowledges the rite of passage in a young woman's life in ancient Greece that they were not able to be a part of.

What's the proof of this custom? Grave markers showing young girls in wedding outfits. Here are some examples:

Fig. 1

Fig. 2: http://www.agefotostock.com/en/Stock-Images/Rights-Managed/MB-03853593