My Grave, My Identity

In my Mortuary Anthropology class we’ve been focusing a lot on identity – what the graves say about the people in them, and what the graves say about those that buried the dead. Archeologists tend to focus on grave goods when studying identity in a funerary context. It’s really interesting what information Archeologists are able to interpret from grave goods – they can draw conclusions on the deceased’s preferences, social status, profession, familial role or where they may have travelled. It all gets a bit messy though when you really consider that the deceased did not bury themselves. It seems really obvious – but those burying the dead could represent the dead in a way that was not attune to their living identity. 

The professor of my Mortuary Archeology class posed a question asking us what we would like to be included in our burial, and what our friends and family may choose to include in our burial. I had never thought about my own burial – I found this question difficult! How can I properly express my identity in a few material items? It was sobering – I realized that I have developed the habit of making absolute deductions about the identity of the deceased that I’ve studied, based on their grave goods. It’s important for me to remember that I am analyzing complex and unique individuals.

Even though I have my doubts about completely expressing my identity to future archeologists through grave goods, I am up to the challenge. I asked friends and family what they would include in my grave:

My mother: after her initial alarm about my question, she said she would include my running shoes, cinnamon sticks and a world map because of my love of travel. I loved all of her suggestions. I really enjoy running (I’m training for my first half-marathon right now!) and I feel like it is a big part of my identity now – I consider myself a runner. I am cinnamon obsessed (my portions of cinnamon will burn your tongue) and I love to explore new places – I’ve always been travel obsessed. All of her suggestions said something about my aspirations, preferences and past times. Good job mom!

My father: He was not alarmed by my question, which to me is alarming in itself. Anyway, he said he would bury me with “those weird seedy things you eat that look like bird food” (I think he means chia seeds), Disneyland entrance passes and books.  These are fabulous suggestions too – I am quite health conscious, and the chia seeds represent that (super food!). Some of my happiest memories with my family are at Disneyland. My dad and I would ride the Matterhorn for hours. The books are a great suggestion too. I am a vicarious reader (well, as much as my University work load will allow) and I’d like to somehow represent my love for reading in my grave. My dad nailed it.

My boyfriend: I think he thought this was a test or something when I asked him what he would bury me with. I think he thought I had read in a magazine that told me this question would provide insight to our relationship. Too funny. He said he would bury me with my yoga mat, dark chocolate, and some of the pictures that he’s drawn for me. I was really fond of his suggestions. I practice Bikram yoga and I really enjoy it. I also absolutely love dark chocolate so including it in my grave is a must. The pictures were a wonderful suggestion too – I love them so much.

My roommates/best friends: I’m live with four girls, and they are some of my best friends. I posed the question to all four of them, and they seemed way too into it (which is worrisome). Aside from their silly suggestions, they said they would bury me with white wine, tea, coffee (but the coffee has to be buried with me in some way so the archeologist know that I drink it black) and my big scarves that I love so much. Their suggestions were very liquid focused, but spot on. I drink countless cups of tea a day, and I pretty much consume a trough of coffee every morning. I do love my scarves, but I am not sure I would want to be buried with them. I think I’d rather go for a nice dress or something.

All in all, my friends and family seemed to hit the nail spot on. I don’t know what else I would include in my grave to express my identity. Except for sushi – I would include sushi. A lot of sushi. It wouldn’t keep well of course, but having it in there is a must. It will be a full grave – but I don’t want to part with anything that my family and friends suggested. 

I don’t know how much these grave goods would express my identity. They certainly show what I love to do with my time, and what some of my aspirations are. It’s just weird to express something as complex as identity in grave goods. I’m also concerned about how this will all be interpreted by future archeologist – maybe they’ll think that I’m an aritist-extraordinare,  yoga-guru, with strong Japanese ties when I’m really a leisurely yogi with a nice boyfriend that eats too much sushi. We will see though. I don’t want my apprehensions come off as me having little faith in archeological interpretation – I think what archeologists do is amazing, critical and incredibly important. I believe that archeologists make correct and astute interpretations from mortuary finds. But I think it’s natural to feel a little nervous when it is your own identity that is being interpreted. This thought exercise has delivered an important archeological lesson for me – I so often so at grave goods and think about them in a group context (e.x. what does this say about the society that this individual is part of?) rather than analyzing grave goods in an individual context and really thinking about what the grave goods say about the person. I’ll work on that though – I am sure there is a happy medium between group and individual interpretations.