Upon entering the Ross Bay Cemetery, the astounding amount of graves becomes instantly overwhelming. Once my group partner, Courtney, and I had decided that we wanted our focus to be on infant graves, our first initial question was, is there any specific pattern(s) of placement for infant graves? After posing this question, the purpose of the map of Ross Bay Cemetery is to plot the placement of the infant graves we had chosen to examine and then analyze this data so we are able to come to some conclusions.
The scope of our dataset was infants and children within the cemetery. The limitations we had to consider was the fact that we were only a group of two, so we couldn’t have a large of monuments to analyze, causing us to limit ourselves to thirteen graves. The reasoning for picking these thirteen graves was completely random; we roamed the cemetery and simply stopped to record the first thirteen we came across. Compared to the other monuments at the cemetery, infant graves are few in numbers, that being said, we did not have to have a thoroughly confined or defined scope.
One of my research questions that came about when looking at these monuments was, are there symbolic aspects behind the features on some of the grave stones? If so, what are they? Another question that arose while meandering through the cemetery was, is social status evident within the cemetery?
The main research question that I wanted to answer was, is there any specific pattern(s) of placement for infant graves? After examining the graves and then plotting them online, on a map, it is quite evident that there is no particular section set aside solely for infant plots. Although, we did come across some graves that were clustered and in close proximity to each other, that was the closest visible representation to a section we detected. Below is a picture of the plotted monuments we studied in the cemetery, for further clarity. From our observations, we learned that it was the result of random occurrences rather than the pre-determined congregation of infant mortality.
My second research question was, are there symbolic aspects behind the features on some of the grave stones? If so, what are they? Once we had combined all of the images of the monuments we looked at, the different symbols that we came across were: a cross, a crown and cross, drapery of fabric, a lamb, a scroll and a vacant chair. After researching the symbolism of these different figures, the Association of Gravestone Studies revealed the meaning behind all but one of these figures. According to the Association of Gravestone Studies, the cross poses as a symbol of “religious faith; resurrection” (2005), which is quite sensible, seeing as the grave we looked at with a cross on it was in the religious Roman Catholic section. The symbolism of the crown and cross represents “sovereignty of the Lord; triumph over death” in addition to “Christian faith” (2005). The drapery of fabric symbol illustrates the “mourning; death; sorrow” (the Association of Gravestone Studies, 2005). The figure of a lamb on a monument symbolizes the “innocence of a child; a Lamb of God” (the Association of Gravestone Studies, 2005). The use of lambs on the two monuments we looked at makes perfect sense, as they were both in the Roman Catholic section of the cemetery in addition to the extremely young age at the time of death. The age of the gravestones are also from the same time frame, explaining the stylistic similarities. The presence of a scroll on a gravestone is apparently the “decorative way of presenting inscription” and/or the symbol of a “bible reference” (the Association of Gravestone Studies, 2005). This use of the scroll seems perfectly logical as the grave was placed in the Roman Catholic section. The symbolism of the vacant chair was not found through the information from the Association of Gravestone Studies, but was found on the Grave Addiction website. As claimed by the Grave Addiction site, the symbolism of a vacant chair “usually symbolizes the death of a child”(2003).
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| The snapshot below is a visual summary of all the different symbols that were reviewed. The symbolic representation examples from left to right are: a cross, a scroll with a lamb on the top, a cross and crown, drapery of fabric, and a vacant chair. |
Another question that arose while meandering through the cemetery was, is social status evident within the cemetery? Not being able to appraise the human remains as well as not being able to see the grave goods that the individual is buried with, makes evaluating the social status of the individual extremely difficult. Despite the fact that we are ethically not able to assess the remains of these humans, we are able to use some other tangible aspects to depict the social standing of the individual. As we discussed in class time, like with the story Funeral of a Rus (Viking Answer Lady, 2012), it is extremely hard for Archaeologists to determine and interpret several cultural traditions even with material evidence. One factor that is evident of social status within the Ross Bay Cemetery is its divided sections. It is not tremendously stratified to the extent that every section within the cemetery has a specific rank, but rather that all the sections are on par with each other and the Potter’s field portion is the poorest, therefore lowest social standing. An additional depiction of social status among grave monuments is the type of inscription technique and the amount of detail that the markers possess. The more detailed the memorial, it can be said that the more time and therefore money was put towards this person, making them of higher status. This is very similar to the practices talked about in the journal article Mortuary practices in Bam after the earthquake. It was said in the article that “gravestones are [a] sign of the socioeconomic status of the deceased as well as that of his or her family” (Garazhian and Papoli Yazdi, 2008). A confirmation to this statement is shown with the graves decoration and design. In essence, the more ornamented the gravestone, the higher the social status of the individual/relatives, just like our examples from Ross Bay Cemetery.
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| These two monuments of the thirteen looked at, make for a clear distinction between individuals of low and high social standing. The gravestone on the left is of lower social status, which is clearly marked with the lack of detail, plain style and simple shape. The monument on the right is of higher social standing than that on the left as it is quite detailed, carved and constructed into an elaborate, unique shape. The fact that the whole “chair” component of the monument is then set on an additional table of stone, setting it higher off of the ground is odd and further sets it apart, distinguishing it’s high status. |
My groups Monument Analysis of Infants within Ross Bay Cemetery map along with all the monuments pictures and descriptions can be found by clicking on this link.
Works Cited:
The Association of Gravestone Studies, 2005. FAQ. [online] Available at: <http://www.gravestonestudies.org/faq.htm#Symbolism on Gravestones> [Accessed 17 February 2012].
Garazhian, O., Papoli Yazdi, L., 2008. Mortuary practices in Bam after the earthquake: An ethnoarchaeological study. Journal of Social Archaeology, 8 (1), 94-109.
Grave Addiction, 2003. Gravestone symbolism. [online] Available at: <http://www.graveaddiction.com/symbol.html> [Accessed 17 February 2012].
Viking Answer Lady, 2012. Risala: Ibn Fadlan’s account of the Rus. [online] Available at: <http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ibn_fdln.shtml#Risala> [Accessed 17 February 2012].
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