Grave Sites Research Articles

Texting and tombstones: Impact of mortality salience on risky driving intentions

ObjectiveThis study investigated the impact of a new mortality salience (MS) manipulation on the intentions of young adults to drive a motor vehicle while texting or using a cell phone. MethodsFour hundred and eight participants were randomly assigned to one of four experimental conditions. Participants in the MS condition were shown a color photograph of a gravesite and tombstone on which the participant’s name was inscribed. Participants in the quasi-MS condition viewed a color photograph of a grave site and tombstone on which the participant’s family name was inscribed. Participants in the two remaining non-MS conditions viewed color photographs depicting scenes unrelated to death. A 10-item scale assessed the extent to which a participant’s self-image was linked to their cell phone use. The 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) served as the distractor task, enabling images of death to fade from conscious awareness prior to completing the dependent measures. ResultsBoth mortality salience manipulations increased negative attitudes toward driving while using a cell phone (DWCP) and decreased DWCP behavioral intentions. A subsequent test of an interaction between experimental condition and self-image scores on DWCP attitudes and intentions was non-significant. ConclusionPublic health campaigns that personalize the risk of DWCP and link images of death to one’s own health threatening behavior may increase negative attitudes towards DWCP and reduce DWCP intentions even after these images fade from conscious awareness. This finding is based on a new method of increasing mortality salience, which has implications for future morality salience research, terror management theory, and the development of risky driving interventions.

Мемориальные надписи в память о репрессиях: Соловецкие острова и урочище Сандармох

This essay analyzes texts of memorial plaques and inscriptions on monuments commemorating victims of political repressions of the 1920s and 1930s at Sandarmokh in Karelia and on the Solovetskie Islands. The erection of these memorial tokens on the sites of mass graves is seen as one way to approach the historical memory of political repressions in Russia. Inscriptions on monuments not only testify to the special attention given to certain social groups of victims but also create distinct hierarchies and interpretative models reflecting attitudes towards the persecution of the diverse social groups that erected the monuments. The author suggests that the practice of installing memorial plaques to commemorate the repressed is rooted in the tradition of placing memorial plaques in urban spaces. Both types of memorials are relatively easy to install (especially as compared to constructing a memorial complex) and both are transient by nature, always ready to be turned into a monument, museum, or a memorial complex— or to vanish altogether. However, in contrast with urban memorial plaques marking sites of birth, work, or major life events, memorial signs on mass grave sites refer to places of death. For this reason, creators of these commemorative texts are compelled to go beyond biographical details, such as dates of birth and death, and to articulate their attitude to the deceased’s violent death. Consequently, the memorial inscriptions at Sandarmokh and the Solovetskie Islands are less formal than the more standardized texts of urban memorial signs, bearing witness to interpretations typical of the groups that erected the monuments. The relative ease of installation explains the popularity of this particular kind of commemoration of mass grave sites. Along with influential public organizations and religious and ethnic communities, local residents also make their presence known in the memorial spaces of Sandarmokh and the Solovetskie Islands by mounting photographs of their repressed family members onto trees and crosses. As a result, the many memorial plaques all along Avenue of Remembrance on the Solovetskie Islands and at the site of Sandarmokh constitute a specific feature of commemorating Soviet repressions and illustrate the diversity and heterogeneity of this memory. Text in Russian. DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2018-10-2-149-156

Identifkasi dan Inventarisasi Permasalahan Pelestarian Situs Makam Megalitikum di Distrik Mulyosari, Kecamatan Malangsari, Kabupaten Banyuwangi, Jawa Timur

Te existence of ancient grave sites in Banyuwangi save the potential of historical data to uncover the origins of Javanese civilization. However, the sites have been damaged by the activity of looting graves in the last ffteen years. Tis Community Engagement Activity aims to identify socio-economic issues and the substance of the object of the site study to stop looting and raise the potential of ancient tombs academically and politically concerning historical heritage management policies, as well as ocioeconomically for the local community. Community Engagement Activities was conducted in November 2015. Te team found that the looting of grave sites by residents was motivated by economic problems. Nevertheless, the problem network is rooted in the political aspect of the absence of a policy that places the ancient site’s grave as an area of cultural heritage. Tis issue is closely related to the low level of awareness of government and citizens. In addition, there are complex issues concerning the ownership and management of the land area of the grave site, which is a coffee plantation.

A howl from the grave: Osteological analysis of 12th‐ to 15th‐century dogs from Santa Ana, Manila, Philippines

AbstractThis research article examines the dog remains recovered from the archaeological excavations of a 12th to 15th‐century CE grave site in Santa Ana district of Manila, Philippines. Of particular interest in this study is the articulated dog remains recovered beside a child burial, wherein spinal deformities were observed. Through osteometry and physical examination of individual bones, with consideration of their archaeological contexts and inference from ethnohistorical texts, the study was able to provide a general picture of the physical stature of dogs and their social significance within the human communities in Manila during the period known as the Protohistoric period.

Monuments to Absence: Cherokee Removal and the Contest over Southern Memory by Andrew Denson

Reviewed by: Monuments to Absence: Cherokee Removal and the Contest over Southern Memory by Andrew Denson Denise E. Bates Monuments to Absence: Cherokee Removal and the Contest over Southern Memory. By Andrew Denson. ( Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2017. Pp. xiv, 289. Paper, $29.95, ISBN 978-1-4696-3083-0; cloth, $85.00, ISBN 978-1-4696-3082-3.) In Monuments to Absence: Cherokee Removal and the Contest over Southern Memory, Andrew Denson makes a significant and timely contribution to a growing body of scholarship on the Native South. With a carefully constructed argument, he demonstrates that "memorializing Cherokee removal is a southern tradition" that has its roots in the early twentieth century and has been manifested in the creation of memorials, the designation of historic sites, and the establishment of tourist attractions spanning at least seven states and continuing into the present (p. 3). Public memory surrounding the forcible removal of thousands of Cherokees from their southeastern homeland in the 1830s, popularly referred to as the Trail of Tears, offers a lens through which to better examine the roles of race and identity in heritage work and memory construction. One of the prevailing themes of this book is the complex manner in which Cherokee removal entered the collective memory of white southerners. Denson argues that for "non-Indians," remembering removal served an emotional and political need that helped them "fulfill their obligation to recognize injustice and trauma in the nation's past" (p. 11). However, "the memory remained politically innocuous" given both its historical distance and its predication on the belief that Indians vanished from the region and ceased to have claims to the land(p. 11). The continued presence of Cherokees in places like western North Carolina did little to challenge these beliefs, as they were deemed an anomaly and even became an asset in bolstering tourism. The civil rights era saw a surge in Cherokee removal commemorations "as the acknowledgment of Native American dispossession granted some white southerners a politically safe way to consider their region's heritage of racial oppression" while continuing to deny the violence and injustice toward African Americans, whose history had been largely excluded from heritage projects (pp. 112–13). Removal memorials, Denson argues, reinforced white authority in defining the South. Denson describes how commemoration is a form of "place making,""an act of possession" where meaning is assigned, values are imposed, and interpretations are always shifting (p. 12). Cherokee removal commemoration efforts have largely been carried out by white southerners who claimed personal connections to Cherokee history and historic sites, seeing them as part of their own community's heritage and, therefore, as infused with meaning that was significant to their own history. Denson offers one example, the memorialization of the grave site of Nancy Ward, a Cherokee "'Beloved Woman'" who is recognized as a significant character in Tennessee's colonial history (p. 91). As a result, Denson argues, the "commemoration emphasized Ward's significance to Tennessee and the United States, while all but erasing her Cherokee [End Page 438] identity" (p. 91). One of the book's biggest strengths is its attention to how Cherokee people interacted with, benefited from, and were sometimes at odds with "heritage tourism" (p. 10). While removal commemorations sprang up across the Southeast, Denson states, "Cherokees proved capable of repossessing this history and applying it to their own purposes" (p. 10). Members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, and other Cherokee communities scattered throughout the Southeast used removal memory to assert and shape their identities during critical shifts in U.S. Indian policy. Monuments to Absence is an important book that draws from an impressive array of sources to offer a series of cases that span the region. It tells a multidimensional story that makes a significant contribution to several areas of scholarship. Most notably, it directly engages with modern discourse on public memory and reminds historians and heritage workers of the power they wield and the responsibilities they have in how they put "history to work in the present" (p. 17). Denise E. Bates Arizona State University Copyright © 2018 The Southern Historical Association...

Ethanol/Chloroform Precipitation-based PCR Amplifiable Method for DNA Extraction from the Human Skeletal Remains Recovered from Gandhara Grave Sites in Pakistan

The study of DNA extraction from bones is an important part of archaeogenetics. This study has provided a new investigating power to view and understand the human past. Gandhara Graves are widespread throughout the Gandhara region, from Bajaur to the Indus in Pakistan. The graves are not only widespread throughout Gandhara but other regions (the areas east-of the Indus River) as well. Dani has divided Gandhara Graves into three distinct groups belong to three distinct periods. In the present article, the systematic research has been undertaking by the researchers to isolate DNA from the fragments of human skeletal remains recovered from Gandhara graves. Although in this regards the researchers have mentioned novel methods that could be used for DNA extraction but the only method applied is ethanol/chloroform precipitation-based PCR amplifiable method for DNA Extraction from the human skeletal remains recovered from Gandhara grave sites.

REPRESENTASI RELIEF OGUNG (GONG) PADA KUBUR KUNA SITUS SUTAN NASINOK HARAHAP, KECAMATAN BATANG ONANG, KABUPATEN PADANG LAWAS UTARA, SUMATERA UTARA

Gong musical instrument as an ornamental motif is found on ancient graves at Sutan Nasinok Harahap Site, Batang Onang Subdistrict, North Padang Lawas Regency, in North Sumatera Province. Sutan Nasinok Harahap site is an ancient grave complex located on a quite extensive landscape of about ± 7 Ha. The purpose is to find out the reasons for the use of gong decorative motifs and interpret the use of gong decorative motifs on the ancient graves at the site.The applied method is qualitative research with ethno-archaeology study. The study was used to interpret more deeply the ogung (gong) relief at the ancient grave site of Sutan Nasinok Harahap. Comparison with existing ethnographic data is expected to give a good picture about the meaning of ogung (gong) relief on ancient grave complex at Sutan Nasinok Harahap Site. The result shows that ogung (gong) relief on the ancient grave complex of Sutan Nasinok Harahap Site confirms the long journey of utilization of the instrument from the past until now. Its position on the tombs in particular also reveals that the figures who have been buried had carried out customary duties such as horja godang during their lives – namely Siriaon (joyous event), Sipareon (to raise dignity), and even on the occasion of death or Siluluton (sad event) – carried out by their heirs. The existence of ogung (gong) reliefs and the like can also illustrate that the buried figure is a distinguished figure and had been given the title of adat king.

From the Closet To the Grave: Architecture, Sexuality and the Mount Royal Cemetery

This paper argues that the burials of individuals who engaged, or were speculated to have engaged, in same-sex relations in the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were in constant relation to the material and metaphoric closet. Due to limited archival material concerning cases of same-sex activity in Montreal, Canada, I look out toward international grave sites to construct a framework for analysis. Using case studies from French and American cemeteries alongside those in Mount Royal Cemetery in Montreal, I argue that, for those whose memory is directed by the living, the grave functions much like the closet—closing or disclosing what institutions and society deemed “abominable.” However, more powerful individuals were able to subvert the authority of the cemetery by immortalizing their “romantic friendships” in the grave. By navigating the binaries of the closet—closure/disclosure, hetero/homosexual and repression/pride— the grave has the potential to function as an important archive of identity, sexuality and memory.

Skipsgrav eller skipsgraver på Rolvsøy? Om Tuneskipets utgravningshistorie

One or more ship graves on Rolvsøy? On the excavation history of the Viking ship from TuneIn 2017 150 years have gone since Oluf Rygh excavated the Tune ship burial on the island of Rolvsøy, producing the first preserved Viking ship to be brought in archaeological custody. However, older reports from 1755, 1823, and oral tradition passed on to Rygh in 1867, knew about earlier sightings of this and perhaps other ships graves too on Rolvsøy. Over time, no less than three different ship grave sites have been postulated on the island.This article examines the reports from the Tune excavation, the sources detailing the ship sightings as well as cadastral sources. It concludes that a) there is convincing evidence that the Tune ship had been excavated at least once before 1867; b) all three reports about early sightings of a ship may chronologically and geographically very well report the same event; and c) a change in cadastral affiliation of the land on which the Tune ship grave was situated may be responsible for part of the confusion. Further it is pointed out that the Tune ship burial differs in ritual from those known from Oseberg and Gokstad, and that the relationship between the three graves, as well as between the Tune ship grave and other contemporary high status graves on Rolvsøy deserves further investigation.

Grave mapping in support of the search for missing persons in conflict contexts

We review the current and potential uses of Geographic Information Software (GIS) and “spatial thinking” for understanding body disposal behaviour in times of mass fatalities, particularly armed conflict contexts. The review includes observations made by the authors during the course of their academic research and professional consulting on the use of spatial analysis and GIS to support Humanitarian Forensic Action (HFA) to search for the dead, theoretical and statistical considerations in modelling grave site locations, and suggestions on how this work may be advanced further.

Violence, desecration, and urban collapse at the Postclassic Maya political capital of Mayapán

This article presents evidence from a mass grave at the Itzmal Ch’en administrative group, an outlying ceremonial center at the Postclassic period Maya political center of Mayapán, Yucatan, Mexico. The grave contains the remains of at least 20 individuals, likely the group’s elite patrons. The remains were subject to extensive postmortem treatment that included butchering, burning, and scattering, along with ritual paraphernalia and midden debris. The deposit is significant in the context of the city’s prolonged sociopolitical collapse, as radiocarbon evidence suggests that the deposit predates the final abandonment of the city. The shallow grave is instead associated with an ethnohistorically-documented period of internal conflict from between CE 1302 and 1400. More broadly, we evaluate the Itzmal Ch’en mass grave as a rare form of mortuary deposit in the Maya region, an example of desecration and ritual violence. The abandoned ceremonial plaza and grave site would have represented a macabre monument to a period of violent conflict in the city’s history that would have been visible to the city’s remaining occupants for the last half century prior to Mayapán’s final abandonment.

Predicting where victims of Mexico's violence are buried.

Statistical model of hidden grave sites could guide future searches for the disappeared.

Steinbeck Today

Steinbeck Today

The clandestine multiple graves in Malaysia: The first mass identification operation of human skeletal remains

The first ever mass identification operation of skeletal remains conducted for the clandestine graves in Malaysia consisted of 165 individuals unearthed from 28 human trafficking transit camps located in Wang Kelian, along the Thai-Malaysia border. A DVI response was triggered in which expert teams comprising of pathologists, anthropologists, odontologists, radiologists and DNA experts were gathered at the identified operation centre. The Department of Forensic Medicine, Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah, Alor Star, Kedah, located approximately 75km away from Wang Kelian, was temporarily converted into a victim identification centre (VIC) as it is the nearest available forensic facility to the mass grave site. The mortuary operation was conducted over a period of 3 months from June to September 2015, and was divided into two phases; phase 1 involving the postmortem examination of the remains of 116 suspected individuals and for phase 2 the remains of 49 suspected individuals. The fact that the graves were of unknown individuals afforded the mass identification operation a sufficient duration of 2 weeks as preparatory phase enabling procedurals and daily victim identification workflow to be established, and the setting up of a temporary body storage for the designated mortuary. The temporary body storage has proven to be a significant factor in enabling the successful conclusion of the VIC operation to the final phase of temporary controlled burials. Recognition from two international observers, Mr. Andréas Patiño Umaña, from the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and Prof. Noel Woodford from Victoria Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) had proven the mortuary operation was in compliance to the international quality and standards. The overall victim identification and mortuary operation identified a number of significant challenges, in particular the management of commingled human remains as well as the compilation of postmortem data in the absence of antemortem data for future reconciliation. CF Index in this DVI operation is 9%, indicating the primary identifications in this operation were effective. Limitations and further improvements of the mass identification operation will be discussed. This paper details the planning, preparations and management of the mass identification operation on the exhumed human remains which was also a forensic humanitarian service for the dead with dignity and respect.

(VHO) ABEL MPHAGI – THE BAREFOOTED NATIVE 'PROPHET' AND 'EVANGELIST' OF VENDALAND: A TRANSITION OF INDIGENOUS BELIEF SYSTEMS AND CHRISTIANITY

This paper details the life and ministry exploits of prophet Abel Mphagi. Snowballing was used in identifying Key Informants. Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were employed to gather data for this paper. Abel Mphagi was a powerful religious personality in the class of many other national religious figures who performed many outstanding miracles and fulfilled prophesies in South Africa in general. Despite Abel Mphagi's influence and exploits, he could not have received any interest or recognition from the various European missionary bodies which operated in the former Vendaland where he operated, because, first, Mphagi never was affiliated to any such organisations. Secondly, Mphagi was never a convert of the missionaries. Thirdly, Mphagi 's practices were considered barbaric, unchristian and pagan with weird theology which the missionaries had associated with African witchcraft rather than Christianity. Although Mphagi was to stay celibate for most of his life, he ended up eloping a woman called Miriam who took him to Duthuni Village. Mphagi stopped his work as a result. Mphagi's grave site has been located at Ha-Mphego Village, Thulamela municipality, Vhembe District of Limpopo Province. Mphagi's grave site could be protected and proclaimed a heritage site, at least by the church.

Catastrophic Effects of Floods on Environment and Health: Evidence from Pakistan

<span>Torrential rains and floods have been causing irreplaceable losses to both human lives and environment in <span>Pakistan. This loss has reached to an extent of assively aggrieved situation to reinstate life at <span>operationally viable position. This paper unfolds the notion that only constructive paradigm shift to <span>overcome this phenomenon is vital as a strategy. Multiple levels of observations and on-site assessment <span>of various calamity-prone venues were considered to probe into this scenario. Some of the grave site in <span>Sindh and Punjab were observed and necessarily practicable measures were recommended to avoid loss to <span>human health and environment. The paper finds that a consistent drastic management authority on <span>national level with appropriate caliber and forecasting expertise can reduce the damage to human life and <span>environment to great extent. Weather forecasting system need to be installed at many appropriately <span>observed cities and towns in the country with adequate man power, funds and technical recourses. By <span>implementing the proper frame work of prevention and mitigation of floods country can save the major <span>costs cleanup and recovery. These measures are expected to reduce operational cost of state in terms of <span>GDP and GNP to restore life and environment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br /><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /></span>

Geoarchaeology, Forensics, and the Prosecution of Saddam Hussein: A Case Study from the Iraq War (2003–2011)

During the Iraq War (2003–2011), the U.S. government dispatched teams of forensic archaeologists and anthropologists to examine a series of mass graves, a site of genocide allegedly perpetrated by Saddam Hussein in the late 20th century. Remote sensing and limited field‐testing disclosed a crime scene featuring extensive landscape disturbances from haphazard placements of shallow, presumed grave trenches and associated spoil heaps. Geoarchaeological expertise was used to explain the terrain irregularities at the crime scene and to reconstruct the processes and sequence chronology of grave site selection, interments, and site abandonment. Geomorphic investigations included observations of field relations and follow‐up sedimentological and geochemical analyses. The precrime scene landforms were demonstrably Upper Pleistocene in age and were underlain by calcretes of variable morphogenetic origins; they produced an impenetrable crust of variable depths. Misreading of these elements underpinned the flawed planning and inefficient excavation and disposal strategies by the perpetrators. Geochemical analysis of the grave fills isolated elements (chiefly K) that could be diagnostic of otherwise homogeneous sediment units. Taken together, these data provided key evidence for conviction of the Hussein regime. A “geotaphonomic model” for mass graves analysis is proposed as a blueprint for practical and critical future applications of geoarchaeology.

ECOLOGICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF TERRITORIES NON-WELFARE FOR ANTHRAX IN THE REPUBLIC OF BURYATIA

Aim. Analysis of results of ecological and microbiological examination of territories nonwelfare for anthrax in territories of Barguzinsky and Kurumkansky districts of the Republic of Buryatia for justification of prophylaxis measures. Materials and methods. Space photographs were used and area and landscape signs of cattle grave sites were established. 174 samples of soil and 6 samples of bone remains of agricultural animals were obtained and studied. Results. Examination of 15 objects in 12 non-welfare for anthrax stationary points of the Republic of Buryatia was carried out in August 2014. A novel approach to detection of abandoned cattle grave sites, where DNA of Bacillus anthracis had been detected in samples, was developed and proposed. Conclusion. Ecological properties of soils 2 districts of the Republic facilitate prolonged conservation of B.anthracis in the environment. Measures of sanitary clean-up of non-welfare territories, utilization of biological waste and decision on legal status of abandoned objects are recommended.

The Ancient Grave of Troloyo in Trowulan

This study aims to know the existence of Troloyo grave site background, to reconstruct the ancient of Troloyo grave site, and to explain its cultural continuity. The data were collected through observation, documentation, and interview. This was elaborated by typological, technological, and contextual analyses. The findings are (1) existence of Troloyo grave site as the tombs of Majapahit king’s families shows people’s religion conversion to Islam. The court places the Troloyo into the centre of Islamic community settlement and the centre of Islamic development; (2) the grave site of Troloyo basically is not properly arranged but is distributed into some areas of the bounded fence wall, the covered “cungkup” or the opened grave; (3) the decorated kind and the form of Troloyo Islamic grave depicts a cultural continuity of pre-Islamic period. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n4p512

Tinggalan Arkeologis di Pesisir Utara Jawa Bagian Barat dan Kaitannya dengan Perubahan Budaya

Abstract Archaeological remains from prehistoric until the colonial period in the northern coastal areas of western Java (Karawang, Subang, Serang), is closely related to changes in the cultures of people. Some of the findings of archaeological objects, including fragments of bone, fragments of pottery, frag­ments of pottery, grave sites, ancient tombs, ancient mosques, colonial build­ings, and so forth. Entering the era of history, the coastal community vjith dis­tinctive cultural character of the coast have been in contact with the outside world or the culture of the immigrants, who have different cultures, through the channels of trade and friendship. By using methods of descriptive and inductive reasoning, based on archaeo­logical objects have been discovered, cultural change occurs due to mixing of two or more cultures (acculturation) and the fusion of one culture into another culture with a voluntary one (assimilation). These cultural changes occurred in various areas of life, whether social, political, economic, and technology.. Kata Kunci: Tinggalan Arkeologis, Masyarakat pesisir, Akulturasi, Asimilasi