Reflections On Cemetery Data-Taking

  
   Last week we finished our monument analysis project...after two trips to the cemetery and thoughtful reflections on the meaning of the data we took down. For our assignment, my group chose the Chinese Cemetery at Harling Point. I thought it would be an interesting site to look at because we figured that most people were going to be doing Ross Bay. So we decided to spice things up. It turned out to be much more complicated than originally anticipated. For some reason, I hadn't anticipated the gravemarkers being entirely in Cantonese (ignorance is bliss until someone has to translate 13 monument inscriptions). Because of this we couldn't choose the monuments based on an existing set of criteria, and had to chose them basically at random. Which ended up working out pretty nicely in the end.
   Two summers ago,  I went on a field school in Greece on a very dusty archaeological dig. After that, I decided being in the field wasn't my thing. I hadn't realized that there was more to being in the field than being in a dirty (and at times muddy) trench. Apparently data taking isn't too glamourous either! Myself and another group member had to return to the Cemetery for a second visit because we forgot to  record where all of the monuments were relative to one another and the boundaries of the cemetery in general. The morning we went looked beautiful...until we stepped out of the car and got gushed with wind as soon as we took out a paper and a pen. As we walked through the gate, I noticed my shoes felt really squishy. Goose poo. All over. Ever second step. It took all of my concentration just to watch where I was walking and force the paper from blowing all over the place. Indiana Jones completely misinformed me of the reality of archaeology!

Shine bright like a diamond...or firework?

Cremation Diamond courtesy of  Lifegem.com

Annoying song lyric aside- I just found out recently that one can choose to have his cremated remains made into a diamond. My sister mentioned this idea in a conversation we had about my hypothetical burial. This is a real thing. Mind. Blown. It makes sense, because both are made of carbon.

After 5000 degrees Fahrenheit (and several weeks), the ashes turn into graphite. All that's needed next is a diamond press and voila-you have a diamond made from your loved one's ashes. Also a lot of cash. According to ehow.com, a company called Lifegem will do this process (depending on size) from $2700-20 000.

After some perusing of the interwebs, it appears to be most popular in the UK to turn ashes into jewelry. Other things the Brits seem into are the usage of remains in a portrait, pencils, or paperweights and the weirdest two of all: tattoo ink and fireworks. You can literally have your loved one run through your skin! Brits have been experimenting with cremated remains for a while now. They invented bone china after all. I would have liked to hear the rationale behind the fruition of that idea.

Check it out:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/hereford/worcs/8334313.stm
 
http://www.heavenlystarsfireworks.com/

Taking it to the grave

   This overdue blog post is taken from one of the prompts from last week (note to self-don't make this a habit!). In part, I delayed writing this because it took some reflection to understand the conversations I had with my sister, boyfriend and another friend about what they would choose to include in my burial. Their comments were oddly humorous for such a morbid topic. I guess I can attribute that to surrounding myself with playful, silly people. My boyfriend and I talked to my sister over skype and we had an interesting conversation. My sister got really fixated on the lining of my coffin, even when I insisted that the question was less about the encasement, and more about grave goods. For some reason, it is really important to her that it have a "plush, cream lining". And apparently I should also have "nice fake flowers" because real ones would die. My boyfriend thought I should be buried barefoot but wearing a really nice watch...which is weird because I have never wore a watch except maybe when I was a kid. He also said I should be buried with all the books I've bought and never read. So cheeky.

  My first thought was that two of the people closest to me didn't really know me too well if they couldn't give me serious answers. But then I thought that maybe it's just a difficult thing to contemplate-that it is a certainty that most of us would prefer not think too much about. When I started to think of what I would want included in my burial (hypothetically, because I think I would go the way of cremation), I realized the complexity of the question. What is succinct enough to tell the story of a person's life through material remains? The only thing I know for certain, is that I would want one to be wearing one of my elephant pendants. When I asked my best friend what she thought I ought to have, she responded saying that it wouldn't make sense to have something buried that was of great sentimental value to my loved ones because they could never see it again. So maybe the question of which goods ought to become grave goods lies between the boundary of cherished and irreplaceable, in the eyes of those left behind.