Forms of mummification
I have been interested in the different ways mummification can take place since I was a child, not just Egyptian or Northern European bog mummies but also high altitude mummification such as that of Otzi or Inca mummies. The natural or culturally devised manner in which to mummify, the context in which the mummies are found, and the (speculated) reasons as to why the mummification took place are all quire interesting. Therefore I try to keep abreast of ongoing investigations about them. One particular subtopic that has captured my interest is the Inca ceremony of capacocha which involved sacrificing children for important events at high altitudes (which led to their incredible preservation). This article has stayed with me for quite some time:Inca Child Sacrifice Victims Were Drugged
Mummies (depending on their level of preservation) give a human face to the people who died thousands of years ago, which to me makes death ever the more inescapable constant no matter the period in time.
I have been interested in the different ways mummification can take place since I was a child, not just Egyptian or Northern European bog mummies but also high altitude mummification such as that of Otzi or Inca mummies. The natural or culturally devised manner in which to mummify, the context in which the mummies are found, and the (speculated) reasons as to why the mummification took place are all quire interesting. Therefore I try to keep abreast of ongoing investigations about them. One particular subtopic that has captured my interest is the Inca ceremony of capacocha which involved sacrificing children for important events at high altitudes (which led to their incredible preservation). This article has stayed with me for quite some time:Inca Child Sacrifice Victims Were Drugged
Mummies (depending on their level of preservation) give a human face to the people who died thousands of years ago, which to me makes death ever the more inescapable constant no matter the period in time.
Neanderthal burials(?)
It is such a difficult topic to study since we do not have much to evidence to go on but speculation of Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities and how closely they are in the evolutionary tree to us Homo sapiens (depending who you ask).Burials such as the Shanidar flower burial are influenced in their interpretation both by experts’ biases in regard to Neanderthals and what they consider to be taphonomic processes. So what constituted a Neanderthal cultural burial? We can only imagine judging from our own experiences which might be completely off since many cultures vary greatly in their burial methods there is no standard rule. What can constitute to the trained human eye as a natural burial could potentially have been a form of cultural burial for them.
It is such a difficult topic to study since we do not have much to evidence to go on but speculation of Neanderthals’ cognitive abilities and how closely they are in the evolutionary tree to us Homo sapiens (depending who you ask).Burials such as the Shanidar flower burial are influenced in their interpretation both by experts’ biases in regard to Neanderthals and what they consider to be taphonomic processes. So what constituted a Neanderthal cultural burial? We can only imagine judging from our own experiences which might be completely off since many cultures vary greatly in their burial methods there is no standard rule. What can constitute to the trained human eye as a natural burial could potentially have been a form of cultural burial for them.
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