I'm a PhD student researching the role of the archaeological dead in contemporary British society. Think of this as a scrapbook of all the interesting links, snippets of information and random bits and bobs I come across pertaining to death, dying and the dead. Enjoy?!
Saint Philip of...
@ The Israeli Museum of Art and Antics
Dead and Buried is an innovative research project that enagaged a group of young people with the opportunity to work alongside Dr Hannah Rumble, from Bath University’s Centre for Death and Society and Charlotte Chapman, a facilitator from Kumiko Community Arts, to engage in a participatory arts project exploring death and natural burial. The project ran for 7 weeks, meeting one afternoon a week, at The Park local opportunity centre in Knowle West, Bristol. The participants ranged in age from 17 to 25 and all came from very different backgrounds.
Through a series of structured workshops that provoked questioning and exploration around death and burial, the young people were encourgaed to think critically, to explore these themes and develop a “creative response”.
The result was a very successfull week long exhibition at Centrespace Gallery in Bristol in April 2013.
(Source: Vimeo)
Cross Bones Graveyard, Southwark, London. Final resting place of the ‘outcast dead’. For more info see here…
(Source: xmorbidcuriosityx)
The grave of a crew member who survived the Titanic disaster has been marked for the first time in Ballymoney.
Wilfred Deable Seward was born in London in 1887 and by 1912 he was already an experienced crewman.
He was chief pantry steward for the second class passengers on Titanic.
Seward was on his bunk reading when the ship shuddered as it struck the iceberg late on 14 April.
Initially he was not concerned until another member of staff told him there was something wrong and he better go up on deck.
When the order was given to abandon the ship, the 25 year old was tasked with getting passengers on to lifeboat number three. He joined the passengers and helped row the boat away from the doomed liner.
(Source: BBC News)
The Strangest Tradition of the Victorian Era: Post-Mortem Photography
After the invention of daguerrotype, the memorializing habits of people have changed: they’ve chosen the cheap, higher quality photographs instead of expensive and not so lifelike paintings. Painting dead people was common for centuries, so it’s no surprise that, in the Victorian Era, post-mortem photos also came into fashion. Here are some of the strangest ones.
(Source: io9)
As Johnny Cash’s hometown prepares its tribute, we look at where rock fans can head to get in touch with other dead heroes…
American roadsides are home to a vast range of impromptu memorials, some anonymous and modest crosses at the scene of a tragedy and others elaborate and well-maintained commemorations. Most of the markers on the shoulders of American streets commemorate the victims of an automobile accident, but there seem to be no especially systematic surveys of the geographical distribution, styles, composition, or duration of such markers. The phenomenon is not restricted to the US: In Australia, for instance, an astounding one in five auto accident fatalities is commemorated by a roadside memorial, and a thorough and fascinating catalogue of its roadside memorialsreveals exceptionally complex markers and a diverse range of material commemorations; in the Ukraine, markers are traditionally placed at the site of tragedyand dot Ukrainian roadsides; and an ambitious French study by anthropologist Laetitia Nicolas inventoried markers and elements of roadside shrines throughout the country, with some thorough ethnographically researched studies of some shrines. While these memorials appear to have become much more common in the past few decades, the historical roots for such memorials extend well into the past, too, evoking the trailside burials left along arteries blazed by the earliest settlers into the American West.
There is a series of compelling archaeological questions in these spontaneous shrines that reflect how we manage tragedy and loss and collectively approach public space.
This is a brilliant post - click through to read the rest!
Ghost Bikes are small and somber memorials for bicyclists who are killed or hit on the street. A bicycle is painted all white and locked to a street sign near the crash site, accompanied by a small plaque. They serve as reminders of the tragedy that took place on an otherwise anonymous street corner, and as quiet statements in support of cyclists’ right to safe travel.
The first ghost bikes were created in St. Louis, Missouri in 2003. Currently there are over 500 ghost bikes that have since appeared in over 180 locations throughout the world. For those who create and install the memorials, the death of a fellow bicyclist hits home. We all travel the same unsafe streets and face the same risks; it could just as easily be any one of us. Each time we say we hope to never have to do it again — but we remain committed to making these memorials as long as they are needed.
Ever seen a white bike chained to a railing and wondered what that was all about? It’s a ghost bike and this great website explains all.
A MEMORIAL gate to help mourners grieve has had to be removed - as people said it ‘reminded them about death’.
Volunteers at Your Good Mourning shop, in Walkley, were ‘gobsmacked’ to be told to take down the gate or it would be torn down by objectors.
Tributes, ribbons and memorial doves had been tied to the gate, which had permission to be attached to the tree outside on South Road, in memory of lost loved ones.
Its aim was to help people come to terms with a death as part of the Dying Matters national campaign.
Glenda Kirkby has founded the shop, which acts as a chatroom to help people dealing with the death of a friend or loved one.
She said: “We want to make people aware that to be able to grieve and talk about it does help the process of losing somebody.
“The gate was up there for two days when a woman came in the shop and said ‘can you take it down because it’s upsetting people’.
“We were gobsmacked so asked why and she said it was reminding people about death.
“She said there was a group of people who don’t like it and they will rip it down if you don’t take it down.”
Hours later, posts at the side of the gate had been ripped down and Your Good Mourning volunteers felt forced to remove the memorial.
Glenda, who set up the shop after finding a lack of support when her father died, wants Star readers to give their views on what happened.
She added: “We were worried that some of the tributes people had left might be taken which would be far more disrespectful.
“The only problem we possibly thought could happen with the gate is that somebody take it for scrap, that’s why we secured it.
“We never thought people would complain because it reminded them of death.
“The situation we have faced is crazy. This just shows there are still a lot of taboos about death.”
Click the rather fabulous-looking skull for a brilliant article about the evolution of mourning jewellery - it’s fascinating stuff!
A devoted farmer created this touching heart-shaped meadow as a tribute to his late wife - by planting thousands of oak trees.
Dedicated Winston Howes, 70, spent a week planting each oak sapling after his wife of 33 years Janet died suddenly 17 years ago.
He laid out the fledgling trees in a six-acre field but left a perfect heart shape in the middle - with the point facing in the direction of her childhood home.
The labour of love has now blossomed into a mature meadow - a peaceful oasis where Winston can sit and remember his wife of 33 years.
His meadow cannot be seen from the road and has remained a family secret until a hot air balloonist took this photograph from the air.
So sad and yet so beautiful at the same time! *sniff*
The rise of genocide memorials
Members of England’s European Championship squad have visited the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camps. This comes as memorials and museums marking the sites of mass killings around the world witnessed an increase in visitors.
A delegation led by Wayne Rooney and England manager Roy Hodgson took time out from training on Friday to visit the notorious death camp Nazi Germany operated on Polish soil after invading its neighbour during World War II.
Another group headed by captain Steven Gerrard travelled to Oskar Schindler’s factory in Krakow.
The visits received a mixed reaction from commentators, with the Daily Mirror’s Oliver Holt saying the “harrowing visit… made an extremely powerful statement” at a time “football is wrestling with new and grave concerns over racism among players and supporters”.
But for the Daily Mail’s Melanie Phillips, it was a “deeply distasteful football PR stunt”, which was “intended to cleanse the besmirched reputation of English football”.
Yet England’s players are not the first footballers to visit Auschwitz. Holland and Italy, who are also camped in Krakow, have already been, as have representatives of the German team.
And they join the millions of tourists who have walked through the iron gates at Auschwitz bearing the legend Arbeit Macht Frei (work makes you free) to pay their respects.
Last year, a record 1.4 million people visited the site, while Holocaust memorials all over the world are also seeing numbers soar.
Click through to read the rest of the article.
The 400th anniversary of the Lancashire witch trials will be marked by a series of 40 events, it has been announced.
The two-day trials in 1612 led to 10 people being hanged at Gallows Hill in Lancaster, after being found guilty of causing death or harm by witchcraft.
Commemorative activities include the launch of a sculpture trail in the woods near the village of Barley.
There will also be guided tours at Lancaster Castle, where the accused were imprisoned.
The programme of events starts on 18 March with a guided walk.
With more people being cremated rather than buried after death, ash-scattering ceremonies are gaining in popularity. But what happens when it doesn’t go according to plan - or if no-one collects the remains?
There is a moment in the film The Big Lebowski where the Dude (Jeff Bridges) and Walter (John Goodman) take their late friend Donny’s ashes to a cliff top. Walter insists on saying “a few words”, then scatters Donny’s mortal remains from a coffee tin.
But prevailing winds mean that Donny, instead of ending up in the “Pacific Ocean, which he loved so well”, ends up all over the Dude.
For a meaningful, solemn occasion to be unexpectedly blown off course is a real and increasing phenomenon. We want to say the right words, in the right place, at the right moment and with all the right people in attendance. But it doesn’t always go according to plan…
