Let me begin by apologizing to any ardent zombie fans out there that may have been misled by my oh so clever title. Unfortunately, there will be little discussion of zombies, well next to no discussion of zombies really.... Alright fine there will be NO zombies what so ever, I am putting my foot down. Sorry but it had to be done.
I am writing this for "The Archaeology of Death" (coincidentally the best course title I have seen since Anthropology of Zombies which, lets face it is kind of hard to top) and as such I will be writing on death and funerary practices from around the world and from different time periods. Though I hope to entertain and maybe get a few laughs let me assure you that I will be approaching this material with the utmost respect and decorum as it is a deeply personal and often sensitive subject for many people.
I think that enough business for one day. On to introductions:
First the title: "The Talking Dead". I thought I was being clever (I will let you be the judge) but there is a serious reason for it as well. We are often told that "Dead men (or women) tell no tales", but this is simply not true and the overarching purpose of this blog is to tell those stories and discuss the ways in which we can interpret them and learn from them.
Now a brief introduction of myself and I will be done.
My name is Ethan. I am a born and bred Victoria boy and I have lived within 500 meters of the same spot for my entire life. I went to Belmont Secondary school and it was there that I took my first Comparitive Civilizations class and that was my first real foray into the world of Anthropology though I would not revisit this world for several years. Originally I was an English major but Anthropolgy was always knocking around the back of my mind and finally I abandoned English and dove in head first. I have not looked back since. I am primarily interested in paleaoanthropology and osteology but archaeology and Greek and Roman Studies are right up there.
One day I would like to work in faunal analysis in the lab and on digs (I love being in the field) but until then as long as I get to work with bones I will be happy. Grad school (and perhaps even a PhD one day) is certainly in my future though I have absolutely zero idea on what I want to study there just yet.
My interest in mortuary practices (and thus this course) was piqued in Dr. Burke's "Bronze Age Aegean" course last semester and I would love to get to look at the Lefkandi horse burials in the Heroon. I am also very interested in the differences in burials based on social status and socio-economic position. Once again Lefkandi is too blame, the difference between the shaft graves in the Toumba cemetery versus the domestic cist burials fascinates me.
In terms of intersting things about me... Well I spent a month last summer as the only male student at a dig in South Africa looking for hominin fossils (alas no such luck though baboon fossils and getting to meet the Taung child is still pretty cool). Aside from that I can usually be found on a mountain or beach or in some cave somewhere (often accompanied by my dog Seamus) and when not outside I am usually writing, reading or sleeping (when I can find the time).
Thats about it. We shall see how this whole blogging thing works out.
Cheers,
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