Group items tagged

his paper examines the concept of commemoration as an expression of social memory and its relationship to time and space as manifested through the mortuary evidence from Modern Greek cemeteries. Of particular interest is the act of commemoration itself: who remembers whom and the length of time that this type of memory endures. Based on evidence collected from a number of different cemeteries in northern Kythera and the eastern Corinthia, I argue that memory at the nuclear family level determines the length of time a grave is remembered as a physical location. Once this memory ceases to exist, the grave gradually enters a process of neglect, which ultimately leads to its abandonment. Some abandoned graves are recycled for use by other families who, in the absence of any recollection or memory of the grave, remove and destroy the old monuments (if they exist) and the remains of the previous occupants. Particular burial spaces are, thus, reclaimed by new groups.

his paper examines the concept of commemoration as an expression of social memory and its relationship to time and space as manifested through the mortuary evidence from Modern Greek cemeteries. Of particular interest is the act of commemoration itself: who remembers whom and the length of time that this type of memory endures. Based on evidence collected from a number of different cemeteries in northern Kythera and the eastern Corinthia, I argue that memory at the nuclear family level determines the length of time a grave is remembered as a physical location. Once this memory ceases to exist, the grave gradually enters a process of neglect, which ultimately leads to its abandonment. Some abandoned graves are recycled for use by other families who, in the absence of any recollection or memory of the grave, remove and destroy the old monuments (if they exist) and the remains of the previous occupants. Particular burial spaces are, thus, reclaimed by new groups.

On a hot afternoon in July 2012, Giuseppe Vercellotti was digging up bones near the wall of an abandoned medieval church here, thinking about getting a cold drink, when he heard his students call his name. Faces glistening with sweat, they told him that they had found something strange buried half a meter down. Vercellotti took a look and saw a layer of lime, used in ancient times to squelch the stench of rotting corpses. When he tapped the hard layer with his trowel, it sounded hollow. "We immediately thought it was a mass grave," says Vercellotti, a biological anthropologist at Ohio State University, Columbus, who co-leads a field school here. "We instructors were all excited and hopeful."

On a hot afternoon in July 2012, Giuseppe Vercellotti was digging up bones near the wall of an abandoned medieval church here, thinking about getting a cold drink, when he heard his students call his name. Faces glistening with sweat, they told him that they had found something strange buried half a meter down. Vercellotti took a look and saw a layer of lime, used in ancient times to squelch the stench of rotting corpses. When he tapped the hard layer with his trowel, it sounded hollow. "We immediately thought it was a mass grave," says Vercellotti, a biological anthropologist at Ohio State University, Columbus, who co-leads a field school here. "We instructors were all excited and hopeful."

This is the story of Galland's (The Bond Between Women: A Journey to Fierce Compassion) involvement in restoring a rural African American burial ground in east Texas. While researching black history in her hometown of Dallas, Galland became interested in slave cemeteries and heard about the abandoned Love Cemetery in Harrison County. Although black farmers had owned the surrounding land after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, whites effectively gained control of the area through such means as illegal seizure as payment for debts. Later, the logging industry took over the land and prevented descendants from visiting the gravesites. Galland brought together many volunteers of varying races, ages, and faiths to restore the cemetery in a series of cleanups. As a white woman, she became unsure of her role in leading the restoration but never gave up hope that the cemetery could be used to further racial reconciliation. Her book brings attention to the history of black Texans and demonstrates the importance of restoring slave cemeteries. Recommended for African American history collections in public libraries.--Kathryn Stewart SLIS student, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City

This is the story of Galland's (The Bond Between Women: A Journey to Fierce Compassion) involvement in restoring a rural African American burial ground in east Texas. While researching black history in her hometown of Dallas, Galland became interested in slave cemeteries and heard about the abandoned Love Cemetery in Harrison County. Although black farmers had owned the surrounding land after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, whites effectively gained control of the area through such means as illegal seizure as payment for debts. Later, the logging industry took over the land and prevented descendants from visiting the gravesites. Galland brought together many volunteers of varying races, ages, and faiths to restore the cemetery in a series of cleanups. As a white woman, she became unsure of her role in leading the restoration but never gave up hope that the cemetery could be used to further racial reconciliation. Her book brings attention to the history of black Texans and demonstrates the importance of restoring slave cemeteries. Recommended for African American history collections in public libraries.--Kathryn Stewart SLIS student, Univ. of Iowa, Iowa City