User:Lauramt1023/sandbox

Week 3 Article Evaluation
I took time to evaluate the article Ghost marriage (Sudanese). This article was obviously centered around the topic of Ghost Marriage, but the Sudanese definition holds a vastly different meaning than other cultural "Ghost Marriage" practices. I found this stub article on Category:Death stubs, and is a part of two WikiProjects: WikiProject Africa, and WikiProject Death. Within both of these projects, they are of little or no importance assigned, which is an enhancement of the article's 'stub' status.

This article has only 3 sections, one summary section underneath the main title, a 'See also' section, and the References. The first summary section is not labeled as anything, so that could be used to delineate what information is being provided there. I believe that this section could be summarized better, and some of the more detailed information could be taken out to build an "Other Ghost Marriage Definitions" section and/or a History section.

The 'See also' section links to other forms of Ghost Marriage or relevant topics. The most relevant link is to Levirate marriage. This is the more official terminology for this type of Ghost Marriage, and does have a section on South Sudan practices. However, it provides a very vague definition of it's practice in that region. I would love to add more context of areas that this practice takes place, the specific people that practice it, the benefits of doing it, and it's outlook in modern day society.

The Nuer people, are known to practice Ghost Marriage, and it is largely dependent on their ability to trade cattle. This aspect could be expanded upon further throughout the use of scholarly articles analyzing the culture. There is another group of people mentioned to practice this, however within their specific wiki page, Dinka people, there is no mention of this. This could indicate some inconsistency with information in one of the 3 pages, and could be improved with more sources, as there are deeper cultural reasons as to why these "Ghost Marriages" are practice.

Within the References section, the citations listed do not work and are not cited in an official format, and there are also no in-line citations. Due to the low-importance of this article, there is not additional information or discussion on the talk page,.

= Week 5 - Topics =

Excarnation
This article is noted to need more citations, and touches on a lot of different cultures that practice excarnation (sky burial in other terms), but they don't go very in depth to the cultures such as Native Americans, Neolithic farmers, Middle Ages, Japanese, and Hawaiians as the article mentions all of these. It only goes in depth with the Middle Ages practices, and I believe a more comprehensive historical background could be added.

Reference Quotes
Europe: "To facilitate the transportation of bones, corpses had to be defleshed or temporarily stored and later exhumed. Active excarnation became known as mos teutonicus (the German custom). The bodies were eviscerated and cut into pieces, and the flesh was removed by boiling the body in water, wine, or vinegar. "

India/Iran: Tower of Silence, Zoroastrianism

India: "In Mumbai, this has involved the use of 8 solar concentrators installed at a cost of Rs.200,000 each, which amount to Rs.1.6 million. The solar concentrations produce heat of 120 °C, which is sufficient to turn a body into a skeleton in 3 days." There is a shortage of vultures in India now and practices are changing.

Hell money
This topic is strictly focused on Chinese customs, but does indicate that this practice takes place in general East Asia. I believe there should be a delineation of the Chinese practices, and other country's specifics. Does it mean different things in different countries? Is the origin the same?

Reference Quotes
Taiwan: "In their lives, the intersection of this world and another is marked by the transfer of funds, linking the heavenly and earthly economies into a single system"

Additional Context: "On the use of paper money: the significance of the square hole in the center of the circular coin, offered at the gravesite (pp. 35-36), is a symbol used since Neolithic times in China." This source is a literature review of a comprehensive book on this topic, cited here , which I am currently seeking out.

Jar-Burial Culture
This article is extremely intriguing to me, as it is a unique burial practice and cultural aspect of death that does not have a very in depth page. I would like to add more about the particular groups that employed this practice, and see the varying reasons why some cultures implemented this practice. In doing research I found a lot of scholarly articles and sources that state the connection to cultures all around the world, artifacts they found, and reasons that this practice was tied to different death rites.

Reference Quotes
Modern Day Turkey (Anatolia): "After the jar was placed in the cutting, the body was contracted on its side on the floor of the inclined burial jar and tomb gifts -jewellery, weapons, tools, figurines and pottery-- put in an appropriate position"

Taiwan: "In the first place, the jar burial on Botel Tobago permits an insight into the culture history of the island. Furthermore, a link is established in the chain of jar burials reaching from Indonesia over the Philippines, the Babuyan and Batan archipelagoes, to Formosa, Japan, and Korea"

Thailand: "... Secondary jar burials are reported from the Mun and Chi valleys in the northeastern part of the country."

= Week 6 & 7- Jar Burial Culture Information =

Methods
Primary Burial:

Primary burial refers to the acts performed on the body immediately after death.

"Cretan societies ... internment entails planning and work as it requires the body to be tightly tied to fit the container ... the custom may had started as a solution for the burial of a small number of infants and evolved to include certain categories of adults"

Forced urn over "doubled-up body" upside down or lid placed on top when sat upright-- no order mattered -- Egypt

Con to primary burial was that it took more effort to make a jar big enough for an adult, deeper grave,

Secondary Burial:

Secondary burials are different acts performed on body that has already been buried. The allotted time between primary and secondary burials varies between cultures."secondary interment of defleshed bones" Bones cleaned and put in jar
 * So there is a time period between death, burial, and placement in the jars
 * Or neck of jar is broken off to put body in, and sealed with rock.
 * Lids can be another jar

Jar Additions
Types fo jars and additional components vary from location to culture. Different shapes of jars can indicate the prestige or societal level of the deceased, or it can be a commonplace jar. Funerary offerings are sometimes placed in or around the jars, thus revealing more information about the value different peoples have for certain items.

Decoration:

"...pithoi from both locations have vertical round to oval handles placed on the shoulder and sometimes just above the base" (page 29)

Jar carvings are also employed, sometimes depicting local divine beings of the time.

Some jars are specifically manufactured for this

Accoutrements:

"The presence of a variety of beads in the Cardamom Mountain Jar Burials offers possible insight on the previously unknown trade relationships of these upland peoples."

Swords, bronze mirrors

Offerings of animals

Archeological Locations/Cultural Differences

 * Lebanon
 * Mostly infants, but did contain some adults
 * Palestine
 * "Subfloor burial" Infants buried under floors in rooms- corners, doorways, high traffic areas where household tasks were performed-- in the main parts of life.
 * Some beads and shells found here but not sure if they are offerings
 * Egypt
 * Hemispherical & bowl urns-- not an embalming process until later
 * Taiwan
 * Glass beads
 * secondary burial
 * Japan
 * BC 300 - AD 300
 * Spatial organization reflects social hierarchy or frequencies of deaths. Certain clumps of burials faced each other, to connect the about-to-be-buried and the recently buried.
 * 3+ burials usually have offerings in the graves, show a lot more care put into them
 * Cambodia
 * AD 1395 to 1650
 * 152 individuals found in Cardamom Mountains
 * Radiocarbon dating indicate only a span of 15-45 years
 * Some animal bones (pig or dog), potentially offerings
 * Jars identified as maritime trading jars or ceramic production
 * Iran
 * No burial gifts usually
 * Area repeatedly flooded due to tropical conditions-- not well preserved
 * Syria
 * 1800-1750BC
 * "Jars" ranged from pots, goblets, have pins and cylinder seals inside
 * Sumatra
 * Secondary burials
 * sherd of pottery found in some urns
 * Thailand
 * Evidence that jar buried individuals had different diets? Suggesting different social status or immigrants?
 * Vanuatu
 * Ceramic fragments

Photos

 * Yang Shou Culture, Pan Shan Phase; The Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2500
 * Infant burial jar

= Week 8, 9, 10- Jar Burial Culture Draft = Hello Peer Reviewers! There isn't much information on the various cultures on the Jar-Burial Culture page, so I plan to revamp the entirety of the article.

Intro
Jar Burial is a form of post-mortem practice that can be traced to various regions across the globe. It is noted to have been practiced as early as BCE 900, and as recent as CE 15-17th centuries. Particular areas of studies on jar burial excavations include Lebanon, Palestine,Taiwan, Japan, Cambodia, Iran, Syria, Sumatra, Egypt, Thailand, and Vanuatu. These differing locations call for different methods, accoutrements, and rational behind the jar burial practices. Cultural practices ranged from primary  versus secondary burial  , burial offerings such as beads or swords placed in/around burials  , and hierarchical structures represented in the location/method of the placement of jars.

Methods
As previously stated, jar burial culture was employed by peoples who chose this practice for primary or secondary burial. Primary burial refers to the acts performed on the body immediately after death. In some cases of Jar Burial, primary burial with this technique was a lot more difficult to carry out. In Cretan societies, the dead body would be bound tightly to fit into the desired jar. This was believed to be originally intended for infants and small children, but it evolved into larger categories of adults. Adults, however required much larger jars, deeper graves, and more man-power to In Egyptian societies, the body also could be sat upright, and then the jar would be forced on top of the body. Egyptians also would place the body into the jar themselves, rather than pushing the jar downwards, but this would create a need for a lid. Lids are not specific pieces of pottery, they have been found to be as simple as a rock or another jar. The preference of how it the body was placed did not have any certain significance.

Secondary burials are different acts performed on body that has already been buried. The allotted time between primary and secondary burials varies between cultures, however an emphasis is placed on waiting until the body has decomposed, and whatever technique is carried out as "secondary", is dealing with only defleshed bones. With jar burials, the defleshed bones were cleaned and subsequently put in a jar.

Jar Additions
*this is where most of my pictures will come into play*

Types fo jars and additional components vary from location to culture. Different shapes of jars can indicate the prestige or societal level of the deceased, or it can be a commonplace jar. Funerary offerings are sometimes placed in or around the jars, thus revealing more information about the value different peoples have for certain items.

Decoration
Pithoi were typical storage jars, and were commonly used for burials, and they employ vertical round to oval handles (29). Carvings on jars have also been found, sometimes depicting local divine beings of the time. This is thought to assist in the passing of that individual to a realm beyond life. The carvings on jars are not standardized, meaning there is no particular pattern of a certain carving on multiple jars, but most carvings have been observed in Egypt

Some jars are specifically manufactured for jar burials, due to the varying size of bodies and grave sites available to different cultures.

Accoutrements
Many jar burial sites have also been accompanied by more than just the skeletons and jars. Beads, swords, mirrors, and other animal bones have been found in and around jars. In the Cardamom Mountains, a large amount of beads have been found in jars. These are most likely offerings to the deceased, in the same way that tombs have gifts in them. However the presence of these beads and other offerings give great insight into the lifestyle of the people. By studying the materials and methods the beads were made of, researchers have been able to link various cultures together based on their likely trade operations-- the way they obtained exotically different beads than what was typical to their own culture.

Geographical Locations of Jar Burials
The main time period during which jar burial was practiced was BCE 1395 to CE 1650. In the Cardamom Mountains specifically, a mass burial site with over 152 individuals was discovered. Using radiocarbon dating, researchers were able to indicate that this specific site was only an active burial site for about 15 years. In addition to human remains, they were able to genetically identify animal bones also (pigs, dogs,). These findings were deduced to have been placed with the grave as offerings. When analyzing the jars themselves, they were identified as being jars obtained through maritime trading or local ceramic production. In Egypt, prior to utilizing an embalming process, there is evidence that they practiced jar-burial. They used hemispherical and bowl urns, and the shape was not indicative of any external meaning. Some jars found here had inscriptions on the outside resembling common deities worshipped by the Egyptian people. In Iran, we do not find any items accompanying the burials, and no indication of offerings. However, this area is dictated by tropical conditions, and these conditions resulted in frequent and repeated flooding resulting in sites and artifacts that were not well preserved. Jar Burial was practiced in Japan from BCE 300 - CE 300. Sites here show the most intricate planning of burial sites, and the planning reflected a social hierarchy within the site. Certain areas of the site had multiple burials clumped together, with the most recent death buried closer to the surface, and the oldest would lie deeper and underneath the recent deaths. These clumps all faced each other, so when the site was opened again to bury someone new, all of the clumps were 'connected' and more inviting to the person about to be buried. Within clumps, most have offerings in or around the graves. Offerings plus the intricate planning of the site indicates that a lot of care was put into the disposal of the dead in this culture. In the sites discovered, Lebanese jar burials were particularly reserved for infants. It was rare to find an adult who had been buried in a jar. Most jar burials found were of infants. Palestinian jar burials were done as "Subfloor burial", in which they were buried under floors in rooms of the house. The areas chosen were mostly high traffic areas where household tasks were performed, thus connecting them with the main parts of everyday life. In these burials there were occasional materials found with the bodies such as shells, but there has been no evidence that these were placed with the bodies as offerings.
 * Cambodia
 * AD 1395 to 1650
 * 152 individuals found in Cardamom Mountains
 * Radiocarbon dating indicate only a span of 15-45 years
 * Some animal bones (pig or dog), potentially offerings
 * Jars identified as maritime trading jars or ceramic production
 * Egypt
 * Hemispherical & bowl urns-- not an embalming process until later
 * Iran
 * No burial gifts usually
 * Area repeatedly flooded due to tropical conditions-- not well preserved
 * Japan
 * BC 300 - AD 300
 * Spatial organization reflects social hierarchy or frequencies of deaths. Certain clumps of burials faced each other, to connect the about-to-be-buried and the recently buried.
 * 3+ burials usually have offerings in the graves, show a lot more care put into them
 * Lebanon
 * Mostly infants, but did contain some adults
 * Palestine
 * "Subfloor burial" Infants buried under floors in rooms- corners, doorways, high traffic areas where household tasks were performed-- in the main parts of life.
 * Some beads and shells found here but not sure if they are offerings
 * Sumatra
 * Secondary burials
 * sherd of pottery found in some urns

Secondary burial was carried out using the jar burial method. The only other additions of note were shards of pottery found in some urns with the bodies. Syrian jar burial was noted to have been practiced from BCE 1800 - BCE 1750. The vessels used to bury individuals in did not always happen to be jars; they ranged from pots to goblets, and had pins and cylinder seals inside. Typical to Taiwanese jar burial, glass beads were laid to rest within the jars along with the body. Jar burial was used as a means of secondary burial here. Upon extensive testing, studies have shown that individuals buried in jars had different diets than other inhabitants of Thailand. This suggests a different social status of those buried in jars, or that those individuals were immigrants and brought that practice with them to Thailand. In Vanuatu, almost all jar burials were found with ceramic fragments in the jars. It is unclear whether those are shards of other broken jars or if they were placed in the jars as offerings.
 * Syria
 * 1800-1750BC
 * "Jars" ranged from pots, goblets, have pins and cylinder seals inside
 * Taiwan
 * Glass beads
 * secondary burial
 * Thailand
 * Evidence that jar buried individuals had different diets? Suggesting different social status or immigrants?
 * Vanuatu
 * Ceramic fragments

=Comments=

On topics Wow, Laura: you have some tremendous topics here! I actually think that any of them would be perfect for this project. Which one are you leaning towards? I say that you get a feel for which literature you'd like to read and go with that one. You've already done some research on these three topics, I see, so just feel your gut for what you find fascinating. Great work here. Alfgarciamora (talk) 22:35, 26 February 2018 (UTC)

Week 4 Really great work with all of this. I think that there might be good stuff for you to add to this topic, but make sure there are enough sources so that you can really add a substantial amount. Now that you've considered some of the online journals, I think you should go to the library and see what books are out there on this (and related) topics. Sounds like it could be a really exciting and interesting project. Alfgarciamora (talk) 16:15, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Week 6 Great work here, Laura. Make sure to keep writing on the sandbox and to keep up the great work with the citations. I am hugely impressed with the amount of literature you have considered. Please add a little more substance so that I can read your thoughts - this is just important for me to see your development in your work. The more you add here, the more I can help in the future! Alfgarciamora (talk) 22:19, 5 March 2018 (UTC)

Week 8 Peer Review Interesting topic, I've never heard of this before! I really appreciate how you've organized the content in your sandbox. You have a clear direction to which you plan to collect and distribute the information, which these Wiki pages benefit immensely from. If you haven't already planned on doing this, I would consider reworking the introductory paragraph of this page. There's a sentence that states, "The culture was characterized by the burial of the dead in a strongly flexed position on their sides in large clay jars." What do they mean by "strongly flexed position"? I have a picture in my head of would it could be.. but maybe an actual visual aid or better description vocabulary would help the reader understand more. I appreciate how you've made note of the importance of separating the practices geographically and culturally, and how those two are often co-dependent of one another. I think an interesting way to develop this article, which you seem to have somewhat head in the direction of, is a chameleon style analysis in which Jar-Burial is dissected across cultures, how does it differ from one religion to the next, or country to the next. How do different types of people practice this tradition, why do they practice it, what time period was it practiced in, why did it end, why hasn't it ended, how did evolve over time, where did it come from... are all good questions to ask over the course of your research. From now going forward, I would begin diving in deeper to all of your resources that you've found to start forming more contextual paragraphs. Right now you have a collection of quotes and super quick summaries, but now is the time to really read about each of these topics you've outlined, and to write out in your own words what they mean in relation to your topic. Throughout my own research, I have found that I learn the most about my subject by really wrapping my head around the contextual details. Along the way, you will probably find even more topic headers! Great job. Cacrotty (talk) 13:54, 16 March 2018 (UTC)

= Citations =