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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?!

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    Titanic: Grave of crew member who survived disaster marked

    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)

    ‘Medieval knight’ unearthed in Edinburgh car park dig The remains of a medieval knight or nobleman found underneath a car park are to be moved to make way for a university building. The grave and evidence of a 13th Century monastery were uncovered when archaeologists were called to an Edinburgh Old Town building site. An elaborate sandstone slab, with carvings of a Calvary Cross and ornate sword, marked the grave. The car park was cleared to build a new Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation. As part of low carbon measures for the University of Edinburgh scheme, work was being carried out in the former car park to create a rainwater harvesting tank for the new building. It was already known the area had been the site of the 18th Century Old High School, the 16th Century Royal High School and the 13th Century Blackfriars Monastery. Along with the knight or nobleman’s grave and skeleton, the excavation has revealed the exact location of the monastery, which was founded in 1230 by Alexander II (King of Scotland 1214-49) and destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in 1558. Richard Lewis, the City of Edinburgh council culture convener, said it was hoped more would be found out about the remains, but the grave had already been dated to the 13th Century. “This find has the potential to be one of the most significant and exciting archaeological discoveries in the city for many years, providing us with yet more clues as to what life was like in Medieval Edinburgh,” he added. The project’s archaeological services have been provided by Edinburgh-based Headland Archaeology. The archaeologist who found the grave, Ross Murray, had studied at the University of Edinburgh on a site only yards from where the find was made. Mr Murray said: “We obviously knew the history of the High School Yards site while we were studying here but I never imagined I would be back here to make such an incredible discovery.”

    ‘Medieval knight’ unearthed in Edinburgh car park dig

    The remains of a medieval knight or nobleman found underneath a car park are to be moved to make way for a university building.

    The grave and evidence of a 13th Century monastery were uncovered when archaeologists were called to an Edinburgh Old Town building site.

    An elaborate sandstone slab, with carvings of a Calvary Cross and ornate sword, marked the grave.

    The car park was cleared to build a new Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Innovation.

    As part of low carbon measures for the University of Edinburgh scheme, work was being carried out in the former car park to create a rainwater harvesting tank for the new building.

    It was already known the area had been the site of the 18th Century Old High School, the 16th Century Royal High School and the 13th Century Blackfriars Monastery.

    Along with the knight or nobleman’s grave and skeleton, the excavation has revealed the exact location of the monastery, which was founded in 1230 by Alexander II (King of Scotland 1214-49) and destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in 1558.

    Richard Lewis, the City of Edinburgh council culture convener, said it was hoped more would be found out about the remains, but the grave had already been dated to the 13th Century.

    “This find has the potential to be one of the most significant and exciting archaeological discoveries in the city for many years, providing us with yet more clues as to what life was like in Medieval Edinburgh,” he added.

    The project’s archaeological services have been provided by Edinburgh-based Headland Archaeology.

    The archaeologist who found the grave, Ross Murray, had studied at the University of Edinburgh on a site only yards from where the find was made.

    Mr Murray said: “We obviously knew the history of the High School Yards site while we were studying here but I never imagined I would be back here to make such an incredible discovery.”

    (Source: BBC)

    Peter the Wild Boy grave gets Grade II listing A stone marking the Hertfordshire resting place of a feral German child, invited to England by George I, has been Grade II listed. The headstone inscribed “Peter the Wild Boy”, stands in the graveyard of St Mary’s in Northchurch. English Heritage said the boy was found in a Hanover forest in 1724, unable to speak and walking on all fours. It said he was brought to the English royal family’s court as a “curiosity” two years later. He eventually became a farm labourer in Hertfordshire, where he died in 1785, aged about 72. Peter was buried at the government’s expense but his gravestone is said to have been paid for by local people, and flowers are regularly laid on it to this day. William Kent’s portrait of Peter the Wild Boy hangs at Kensington Palace The stone’s Grade II listing by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, means its “special interest” must be taken into account if changes to its appearance or location are proposed. English Heritage, who advised the on the listing, said Peter “appeared to be in his early teens” when he was found in Hertswold forest, apparently abandoned. Following a visit by George I, who was also Elector of Hanover, he was invited to England where he lived, as a curiosity in the King’s court where “his strange appearance and erratic behaviour caused a sensation”. Peter, so named because it was initially the only word he would respond to, became the subject of satires by Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe as his fame spread, and a wax figure of him was exhibited in the Strand. When his “novelty waned”, Peter was entrusted to the care of James Fenn, a yeoman farmer at Axters End, who was given a generous allowance by the Crown. English Heritage said results of recent analysis of Peter’s portrait by a professor of genetics, now suggested he had Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a chromosomal disorder first identified in 1978. It said its most distinctive effect is apparent in his curvy Cupid’s bow mouth, and the condition would also have affected his mental development.

    Peter the Wild Boy grave gets Grade II listing

    A stone marking the Hertfordshire resting place of a feral German child, invited to England by George I, has been Grade II listed.

    The headstone inscribed “Peter the Wild Boy”, stands in the graveyard of St Mary’s in Northchurch.

    English Heritage said the boy was found in a Hanover forest in 1724, unable to speak and walking on all fours.

    It said he was brought to the English royal family’s court as a “curiosity” two years later.

    He eventually became a farm labourer in Hertfordshire, where he died in 1785, aged about 72.

    Peter was buried at the government’s expense but his gravestone is said to have been paid for by local people, and flowers are regularly laid on it to this day.

    William Kent’s portrait of Peter the Wild Boy hangs at Kensington Palace

    The stone’s Grade II listing by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, means its “special interest” must be taken into account if changes to its appearance or location are proposed.

    English Heritage, who advised the on the listing, said Peter “appeared to be in his early teens” when he was found in Hertswold forest, apparently abandoned.

    Following a visit by George I, who was also Elector of Hanover, he was invited to England where he lived, as a curiosity in the King’s court where “his strange appearance and erratic behaviour caused a sensation”.

    Peter, so named because it was initially the only word he would respond to, became the subject of satires by Jonathan Swift and Daniel Defoe as his fame spread, and a wax figure of him was exhibited in the Strand.

    When his “novelty waned”, Peter was entrusted to the care of James Fenn, a yeoman farmer at Axters End, who was given a generous allowance by the Crown.

    English Heritage said results of recent analysis of Peter’s portrait by a professor of genetics, now suggested he had Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a chromosomal disorder first identified in 1978.

    It said its most distinctive effect is apparent in his curvy Cupid’s bow mouth, and the condition would also have affected his mental development.

    (Source: BBC)

    Grave interruption: Building around a tomb in China Developers bought a cemetery and paid villagers to relocate the remains of their loved ones. All except one. The grave has not been moved as the family is waiting for an auspicious date to do so and a reason from the developer for choosing this site, according to the owner of the tomb. The developers are now offering to pay nearly $160,000 to have it moved. The building is scheduled to be completed by April 2013, but for now, construction continues around the gravesite. Last week a home in Zhejiang province, that had been sitting in the middle of a newly built highway as the owners held out for more money, was finally demolished. I love this picture. Click through for more!

    Grave interruption: Building around a tomb in China

    Developers bought a cemetery and paid villagers to relocate the remains of their loved ones. All except one. The grave has not been moved as the family is waiting for an auspicious date to do so and a reason from the developer for choosing this site, according to the owner of the tomb. The developers are now offering to pay nearly $160,000 to have it moved. The building is scheduled to be completed by April 2013, but for now, construction continues around the gravesite. Last week a home in Zhejiang province, that had been sitting in the middle of a newly built highway as the owners held out for more money, was finally demolished.

    I love this picture. Click through for more!

    Richard III dig: MPs discuss cities' claim to bones

    A parliamentary debate has been held on where a skeleton that could be that of Richard III should be interred.

    The bones were found in September by archaeologists digging beneath a car park in Leicester.

    MPs from Leicester, Nottinghamshire and York discussed a permanent grave but officials said precedent meant Leicester cathedral was favourite.

    DNA results on the bones are being compared to that of living descendants of the king, who was killed in 1485.

    Richard died at the hands of forces of Henry Tudor near Market Bosworth, Leicestershire.

    His grave, in the church of Greyfriars in Leicester, was lost during centuries of redevelopment.

    However, the archaeologists from Leicester university have found a skeleton, which is consistent with the known details of his appearance and death.

    Campaigners from both York and Leicester have said the remains, should they prove to be the king, ought to come to them.

    In the debate, Labour MP John Mann, from Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire offered Worksop as a halfway point between the two.

    But Labour’s Jon Ashworth, who represents Leicester South, said: “Given it was the Greyfriars who took the body of Richard and buried him at what was then the Greyfriars’ church, a site which is today just a stone’s throw from Leicester Cathedral, and he has been in Leicester for 500 years, it would be most appropriate that he is finally laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral.”

    York Central MP, Hugh Bayley, also from Labour said: “He is still very well-regarded in York. We have a museum to Richard III, we respect him enormously.

    “But to argue on the floor of this place over his mortal remains is more like medieval cathedrals fighting over saints’ relics.

    “I don’t think it’s appropriate.”

    Tory MP Tony Baldry, answering questions for the Church Commissioners, admitted: “There is quite a lot of competition for this.

    “If there is conclusive evidence that these are the remains of Richard III, the tradition is that they would be buried and reinterred at the nearest Christian cathedral, which happens to be Leicester Cathedral.

    “In those circumstances, I would hope to arrange a meeting with the Dean of Leicester to see how that could happen.”

    But he emphasised no final decision had been taken.

    Missing monarchs: The kings who did not rest in peace

    DNA tests may be about to prove a skeleton found beneath a Leicester car park are the mortal remains of King Richard III.

    And while it may seem extraordinary that a king’s grave could be lost, history shows the last of the Plantagenets was not the only one to suffer such indignity.

    Here are seven English kings who have no confirmed grave…

    Full article here.

    • Posted 8 months ago
    • September 18th, 2012

    3 Likes & Reblogs

    Mysterious 1200AD temple under Mexico City has bodies of 15 children - and a dog slain to keep them company in the afterlife  Archaeologists in Mexico City have unearthed the skulls and other bones of 15 people, most of them the children of traveling merchants during Aztec times.  The mysterious mass grave had a ceremonial purpose, researchers say - and the children were surrounded by religious items including a dog sacrificed to ‘keep them company.’ It pains me to link to stories from the Daily Mail, it really does, but this is an interesting discovery and so needs must!

    Mysterious 1200AD temple under Mexico City has bodies of 15 children - and a dog slain to keep them company in the afterlife 

    Archaeologists in Mexico City have unearthed the skulls and other bones of 15 people, most of them the children of traveling merchants during Aztec times. 

    The mysterious mass grave had a ceremonial purpose, researchers say - and the children were surrounded by religious items including a dog sacrificed to ‘keep them company.’

    It pains me to link to stories from the Daily Mail, it really does, but this is an interesting discovery and so needs must!

    ‘Bizarre cow woman’ found in Cambridgeshire Anglo-Saxon dig Archaeologists excavating an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Cambridgeshire say the discovery of a woman buried with a cow is a “genuinely bizarre” find. The grave was uncovered in Oakington by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire. At first it was thought the animal skeleton was a horse. Student Jake Nuttall said: “Male warriors might be buried with horses, but a woman and a cow is new to us.” He added: “We were excited when we thought we had a horse, but realising it was a cow made it even more bizarre.” Co-director of the excavation, Dr Duncan Sayer, from the University of Central Lancashire, said: “Animal burials are extremely rare, anyway. Grave goods including brooches indicated the woman was of high status “There are only 31 horse burials in Britain and they are all with men”. Click through to read more about the ‘bizarre cow woman’…

    ‘Bizarre cow woman’ found in Cambridgeshire Anglo-Saxon dig

    Archaeologists excavating an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Cambridgeshire say the discovery of a woman buried with a cow is a “genuinely bizarre” find.

    The grave was uncovered in Oakington by students from Manchester Metropolitan University and the University of Central Lancashire.

    At first it was thought the animal skeleton was a horse.

    Student Jake Nuttall said: “Male warriors might be buried with horses, but a woman and a cow is new to us.”

    He added: “We were excited when we thought we had a horse, but realising it was a cow made it even more bizarre.”

    Co-director of the excavation, Dr Duncan Sayer, from the University of Central Lancashire, said: “Animal burials are extremely rare, anyway.

    Grave goods including brooches indicated the woman was of high status

    “There are only 31 horse burials in Britain and they are all with men”.

    Click through to read more about the ‘bizarre cow woman’…

    Prehistoric Teen Girl's Grave Found Near Henge

    archaeologicalnews:

    Four to five thousand years ago, a wealthy teenage girl was laid to rest in a grave at what archaeologists believe is a newly found henge in Kent, England.

    The discovery of the 17-year-old’s grave — along with a unique prehistoric pot inside of a ringed ditch near two other women —…

    Grave dilemma… Cemeteries across the UK are becoming overcrowded. Lucy Townsend explores whether there might be any space left for her. Resting beside our loved ones when the time comes is a reassuring notion for the living. Families pay thousands of pounds for land where generations can rest in peace together for eternity. But in the UK at least, the ground is filling up… Click the photo to read more!

    Grave dilemma…

    Cemeteries across the UK are becoming overcrowded. Lucy Townsend explores whether there might be any space left for her.

    Resting beside our loved ones when the time comes is a reassuring notion for the living. Families pay thousands of pounds for land where generations can rest in peace together for eternity.

    But in the UK at least, the ground is filling up…

    Click the photo to read more!

    Rudolf Hess exhumed from ‘pilgrimage’ grave… The grave holding the remains of Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess has been destroyed to stop it being used as a pilgrimage site by neo-Nazis. Hess’s bones were exhumed at the graveyard in the town of Wunsiedel, southern Germany, early on Wednesday. The remains were later cremated and are to be scattered at sea. Hess was captured after flying to Britain in 1941 and sentenced to life in prison. He killed himself in a Berlin jail in 1987 at the age of 93. As he requested in his will, he was buried in the small Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, where his family had a holiday home and where his parents were already interred. The local Lutheran church which supervises the cemetery gave its permission for the burial at the time, ruling that the wishes of the deceased could not be ignored. But they and local people have since become concerned by the number of far-right groups visiting the grave. Click the photo for the rest of the article…

    Rudolf Hess exhumed from ‘pilgrimage’ grave…

    The grave holding the remains of Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess has been destroyed to stop it being used as a pilgrimage site by neo-Nazis.

    Hess’s bones were exhumed at the graveyard in the town of Wunsiedel, southern Germany, early on Wednesday.

    The remains were later cremated and are to be scattered at sea.

    Hess was captured after flying to Britain in 1941 and sentenced to life in prison. He killed himself in a Berlin jail in 1987 at the age of 93.

    As he requested in his will, he was buried in the small Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, where his family had a holiday home and where his parents were already interred.

    The local Lutheran church which supervises the cemetery gave its permission for the burial at the time, ruling that the wishes of the deceased could not be ignored.

    But they and local people have since become concerned by the number of far-right groups visiting the grave.

    Click the photo for the rest of the article…

    Mona Lisa Descendant Criticizes Hunt for Grave

    A descendant of the Italian noblewoman thought to have inspired the Mona Lisa insisted her remains should be left in peace Wednesday as archaeologists began searching for her tomb.

    Experts began examining the site of a former convent in Florence, where they hope to find the body of Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo, the wife of a rich Italian silk merchant and the woman who many historians believe was the model for Leonardo da Vinci’s world-famous painting.

    A team led by Italian art historian Silvano Vinceti are using a ground-penetrating “georadar” device to search for Giocondo’s tomb, Italy’s ANSA news agency reported.

    If they find enough of her remains, Vinceti is hopeful of reconstructing part of her face so it can be compared to the Mona Lisa to determine whether she really was the inspiration for the portrait, which now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

    The search centers on the crumbling three-story Saint Orsola church building that dates back to 1309 that once housed the convent where it is believed Giocondo died in 1542 at age 63. The building in central Italy became a tobacco factory in the 19th century and more recently a barracks to house refugees.

    But not everyone shares Vinceti’s enthusiasm.

    Natalia Guicciardini Strozzi, a member of one of Florence’s oldest noble families — and a direct descendant of Giocondo — has attacked the latest bid to unearth the secrets of the Mona Lisa and its enigmatic smile, ANSA said.

    “It seems to me an act of sacrilege and not very appropriate,” said Strozzi, an actress and winemaker. ” Let my ancestor rest in peace.”

    Source: Ansa.it

    (Source: caraobrien, via )