Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
ANTH111: Introduction to Anthropology
Section 06
Fall, 2007
Instructor: Gregory Vogel

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For this exercise you will visit a cemetery and record 10 gravestones.  In class, we will conduct several different analyses on all of the information that is collected. 

Only record gravestones that have some sort of epitaph: a saying, phrase, or other piece of writing that does more than just state who is buried there and when they lived.  Common examples are "Rest in Peace", and "Gone but not Forgotten".  More elaborate epitaphs include:

"Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones."
(Shakespeare's epitaph)

"Remember me as you pass by
As you are now so once was I
As I am now so you shall be
Prepare for death and follow me."

Try to record gravestones of different ages, some old and some new.  Record information in the following format, line-for-line:

- Name, birth year, death year, age (use a separate line if there is more than one person marked by a stone.)
- Gravestone type and height in cm (tablet, thick tablet, round column, square column, pillow,
obelisk, monument, block, pulpit, other.)
- Motifs (flowers, cross, gates, hands, crown, bird, lamb, tree, Masonic symbols, etc.)
- Epitaph (put in quotation marks).

For example:

Lester Jake, b. 1883, d. 1929.
Tablet, 125 cm high.
Flowers, hands, tree.
"Here lies Lester Jake, stepped on the gas instead of the brake."

Lester Jakie, b. 1910, d. 1989.
Bernice, Wife of Lester, b. 1912, d. 1992.
Monument, 90 cm high.
Wedding rings, flowers.
"Together in heaven we will meet again."

Be sure to record kinship terminology that goes with the names (wife/husband/brother/sister/son/daughter/mother/father, etc.),

- Do not record stones unless at least two out of the following three pieces of information are given: birth year, death year, age.  When you send me your recorded gravestones, DO NOT figure out any missing information: e.g. do not (just yet) figure out age from birth and death years.

- Send the information to me (siueanth@yahoo.com) within the text of an e-mail.

- Be sure to include the following information: which cemetery (or cemeteries) you visited, what day you visited, and about how much time it took.

- You may work in groups (e.g. two people may work together and record 20 gravestones), but each student must send me information on ten gravestones. 

- For information on gravestone types, etc., visit here: http://www.projectpast.org/gvogel/Resources/cemeteries/cemeteries.html


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