potential means of expressing and reinforcing social identity and group affiliation as well as being a form of protection from the elements. However, Brooches, weapons, amulets, and clothing did more than just keep those who wore them warm, dry, and safe; the also played an ideological role in conveying aspects of a person’s identity. Burial was either in the ground or in vaults. The body was wrapped in a shroud, knotted at the head and foot. In many cases it was laid directly into the grave, but wooden and lead chests were not uncommon. Much importance was attached to the place of burial. Funeral masses were occasions of great solemnity. Death and funeral practices included specially prepared burial garments, the use of a casket or coffin to be buried underground to protect the body from the elements of nature. The continuance of these death rituals predated the Middle Ages by thousands of years, but these rituals have become universally Christian in nature. Bodies were buried in the church or churchyard and the graves were dug traditionally six feet deep from east to west with the head lying to the west, so a person would rise up with his/her face to the east. The symbolism involved in the placement of the grave was a biblical teaching, but also because the head facing west symbolized the end of life. When old graves were disturbed, as was necessary after the churchyard was filled with graves, the old bones were put in the charnel house. Another common practice,…
correlation with the type of artifact each are buried with. First of all, Burial 10 contains a wide coffin. Inside the coffin is a skeleton with its head pointing…
About one hundred and fifty-five years ago, Abraham Lincoln gave “The Gettysburg Address” on a blood soaked battlefield in Pennsylvania (Brown). “The Gettysburg Address” was first verbalized months after the battle of Gettysburg at a service to dedicate the opening of the national cemetery (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica). Lincoln’s Address was spoken to the citizens and soldiers of the union in the wake of the second invasion of the North by Robert E. Lee (The Battle of Gettysburg Facts…
A man dressed in a robe coat, held a large gong, walked in the front, paved the way. Followed by the deceased 's children and grandchildren, who held the spirit tablet and a portrait of the departed, and three steps a kneeling, five steps a kowtowing. Catafalque was afterwards, solemn and respectful. A white hydrangea was placed on the black coffin top. Moreover, "Eight Buddha 's warrior attendants" carried the coffin, all in the straw sandals, white mourning, a grass rope around waist,…
nutritional stress. This showed that women of this age group performed some the hardest laborer in the 18th century [2]. A second burial discovery unveiled a man in a casket, decorated with iron tracks creating the initials HW; burial number 332. After further research, no records were found of any African man with the letter initials HW during the time of the cemetery. This was nothing uncommon as documents were rarely produced on the lives of captives. The team also discovered various beads,…
In the ninth grade my best friend attempted suicide. The doctors have no idea how she survived. When she overdosed on hydrocodone and some of her father’s prescription medicines, it had caused severe intestinal bleeding. Nobody knows how she lived from that. I remember going to the hospital to see her when she was in her near death state of being. She looked as if somebody had took a knife, cut an incision in her, and just let her blood drain out from her limp body. I was afraid to hug her. I…
I do not remember exactly the particular day but all I remember was that it was very humid and the sky was cloudy. It was just a few days before I joined first grade and I had just arrived home from my neighbors. I was utilizing my last few days of freedom and hence was tired and hungry. I had rushed home looking forward to my grandmother’s food and playing time. This had been my routine from kindergarten and it never bored me to say the least. I was however shocked as our house was full of…
A prince stumbles upon the glass coffin and sees the “beautiful” Snow White (Brothers 89). As time passes in the coffin, Snow White matures physically and attracts the eye of the prince which is evident when he describes her as “beautiful.” The prince proclaims that Snow White “shall be [his] bride” and carries her out of the forest a mature woman of marrying age (Brothers 89). Snow White ages and matures physically, enough to be taken by the prince as his bride. However, Snow White’s character…
The coffin of Ta-Mit, from Luxor in the 26th Dynasty, stands in a room dedicated to the artistic standards of Egyptians. Bestowed to the Toledo Museum of Art in 1906, the coffin of Ta-Mit is on view with many archetypal pieces analyzing the cultural values of Egyptians. The daughter of a priest was to rest in the exquisitely detailed coffin; she went by the name of Ta-Mit or She-Cat. The text and imagery contains formal information about her whereabouts, but neglect to express what type of…