Death In Legend conference (original) (raw)
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Magic for the dead? The archaeology of magic in later medieval burials
Medieval Archaeology 52, 119-59, 2008
This paper examines patterns in the placement of apotropaic objects and materials in high- to late-medieval burials in Britain (11th to 15th centuries). It develops an interdisciplinary classification to identify: (1) healing charms and protective amulets; (2) objects perceived to have occult natural power; (3) ‘antique’ items that were treated as possessing occult power; and (4) rare practices that may have been associated with the demonic magic of divination or sorcery. Making comparisons with amulets deposited in conversion-period graves of the 7th to 9th centuries it is argued that the placement of amulets with the dead was strategic to Christian belief, intended to transform or protect the corpse. The conclusion is that material traces of magic in later medieval graves have a connection to folk magic, performed by women in the care of their families, and drawing on knowledge of earlier traditions. This popular magic was integrated with Christian concerns and tolerated by local clergy, and was perhaps meant to heal or reconstitute the corpse, to ensure its reanimation on judgement day, and to protect the vulnerable dead on their journey through purgatory.
In considering the funeral practices in the reign of Victoria, a number of questions are raised: why did Victorians choose to ritualize death, what were the rituals in which they engaged, what were the outward trappings of mourning, and how and where did they dispose of the deceased. It can be argued that during Queen Victoria’s long reign, the celebration of death reached its peak, which raises the further question of the degree to which the death, funeral, and grieving for Prince Albert affected the pattern of British mourning.This paper seeks to consider the various elements of mourning and funerals during the Victorian Era.
Tod ist ihr Geschäft – Die Ökonomisierung der Beerdigungspraxis im viktorianischen London
Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte, 2015
This paper draws on the company history of London's Brompton Cemetery to show how burial practices and, more generally, the handling of dead bodies changed during the nineteenth century. We argue that new strategies of dealing with the dead emerged which, in the long run, replaced established patterns: by the mid-19 th century burial places were managed according to prevailing notions of efficiency, elaborate marketing schemes were implemented, and administrators used an increasingly economic rationale. To take these developments into account, we propose using the term "economization". In more general terms, we highlight that cemeteries such as Brompton can serve as an indicator of how entrepreneurial action came to permeate new strata of British society.
The skeleton of Joan Wytte, or the Fighting Fairy Woman of Bodmin, was displayed in the Museum of Witchcraft in Cornwall in the UK for several decades until her eventual burial in nearby woodland in the autumn of 1999. Her story has been deployed as a critical historical source and a demonstrable link between Cornwall and magical histories. It is well established that the past is recorded and represented through narratives, artefacts and events in multiple and diverse ways, and museums are often idealised sites for historical knowledge. Historicity is contingent on current needs and agendas, and often contested. Through retelling over time certain elements are highlighted or downplayed. Since the burial, the life and death of Joan Wytte has become vividly invested with new meanings as her story becomes incorporated into the landscapes of folklore, Cornish histories and magical practices.
Life on Two Locations: „a Sense of Place“ and How to Connect the Old and the New Homes
This paper is based on in-depth interviews with three informants who are living on two locations – in a fl at and in a summer cottage, or in a fl at and in an old family house respectively. It discusses the qualitative concept of the living space (home). It deals with questions about the relationship between one’s identity and living space (home), as well as of the change in roles, quality and the way of life related to the specifi c location (the old or the new homes), through permanent interfusion and comparability between the old and the new homes. „The sense of place“ (home) is seen as a social construction, as a place of living, feeling, sharing, performing one’s rituals, reviving the tradition, as well as a place of one’s personal remembrances.
The rescue excavation and reburial of late pet animals as explorative archaeological autoethnography
Entangled Beliefs and Rituals: Religion in Finland and Sápmi from Stone Age to Contemporary Times (eds. T. Äikäs & S. Lipkin). Monographs of the Archaeological Society of Finland 8., 2020
Autoethnography is founded on personal participation, description, and analysis that results in a higher consciousness of the studied subject when personal experiences are transformed through systematic sociological introspection into understanding regarding other people's feelings and behavior. Hence, the chapter describes the rescue excavation of late family companion animals from the backyard flowerbed and their subsequent re-burial to the local pet cemetery through the lens of explorative archaeological autoethnography. While being physically routine, the excavation caused deep emotions of self-reflection and self-confrontation ranging from the questioning of the author's capabilities as a field archaeologist to human-animal relationships and the afterlife. On the contrary, the activity at the pet cemetery involved significant physical input, as each pet owner is responsible for backfilling their pet burial. Emotional and physical are here argued to enrich and deepen the interpretative framework of pet cemetery studies by offering new insights into the motives and actions of pet owners. Along this line, a somewhat excessive and constantly evolving memorial combining elements from several religions and cultures was set up on the grave. It aims to establish a material-culture-based dialogue with other pet owners in a dynamic deathscape, where pet memorials designs constantly seek to redefine and renegotiate the acceptable limits of pet animal commemoration.