Hillside Burials in Hong Kong

Burial traditions are an important aspect in any culture. Different societies have different ways of attending and preparing the bodies of their loved ones after they have passed away and internment is also very important. For those who are buried, most bodies are placed in graveyards, where hundreds of people are laid to rest.

In Hong Kong, the indigenous people had an old tradition where they could bury their dead in hillsides. During the imperial period, the native Chinese people were allowed to have their departed family members buried on any chosen hillside. However, when the British came to rule the island, there were regulations imposed on this tradition. Under the Public Health and Urban Services Ordinance (Cap 132), indigenous inhabitants were required to obtain burial certificates from District Officers, and interments were restricted to government-assigned burial area.

This, however, has not stopped the native people from carrying on this tradition. One reason for this is that there is no expiry date for these burials. In public cemeteries, human remains are required to be exhumed after six years, to be either cremated or reinterred in an urn cemetery.

Because of this, the non-native Hong Kong people and politicians have campaigned in recent years to abolish the indigenous burial rights. There have been three reasons for this. “First, the government has long maintained a policy that strongly favours cremations for most if not all Hong Kong people, and it is argued that there is thus no real justification for allowing indigenous inhabitants to maintain the tradition of hillside burials, especially when this right is denied to others. Second, hillside graves detract from the green environment and landscape, as many of them occupy scenic sites. Third, the government is required to pay generous compensation –totalling more than HK$17 million from 1997 to 2002 (SCMP 2002) - when it needs to move such graves in order to implement public works. Under these circumstances, there would appear to be clear justification for the abolition of this burial right”.

Despite these reasons, the Hong Kong government has been reluctant to abolish the practice of hillside burials, mainly because it would break Article 40 of the Basic Law. Another reason is because the indigenous people still continue this practice, and cherish the fact that they have, above all, never had to worry about the re-location of the graves, especially those residing in a good fung-shui position that is commonly perceived to bring affluence and offspring to descendants.

It is uncertain as to when this practice was established in Hong Kong but the tradition still continues today. The indigenous people cling to hillside burials as part of spiritual protection and benefits for their families.

Bibliography:

Chan, Kwok Shing (2003) Hillside Burials: Indigenous Rights in the New Territories of Hong Kong, Anthropology Today, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland.

The Significance of Lamps and Torches in the Late Archaic and Classical Periods

There are many ways of understanding the culture and history of civilizations - literary sources, archaeological remains, art, architecture etc, and each type can offer us different aspects of their lives. In this article, I wish to look at the history and significance of women’s lamps and torches from the Late Archaic and Classical periods of ancient Greece to determine what information they may offer us.

Let us determine, first of all, when these periods took place and what we will be discussing. 650 – 480 BCE is the generally accepted period of Archaic Greece, and the Classical period c. 500 – 323 BCE. For this article, I will be examining the images of Athenian women and their activities that were illuminated by lamps and torches, and whether a different type of lighting device can offer us other aspects of Athenian women’s’ lives.

Aristophanes claims that the lamps is ‘the all-seeing witness of the domestic female world’ (, p.19) in the prologue of the Ecclesiazousai. The lamp reflects the female aspect of domestic life in the ancient Greek world, whereas torches reflect the male features of the house. We can see the social representations of this in vase paintings – in one Athenian vase the female holds a lamp, the male a torch. Torches represented the outside ‘brighter’ world of men, lamps the ‘darker’ inside wide of women. Due to the theory that women were restricted to the gynaikeion, thought to be on the upper floor, and since respectable women were mainly confined to their houses, natural light would have been very poor. Lamps would have been necessary for women’s daily activities. So it could be suggested that lamps and torches could have represented the male and female aspects of the domestic household, or as a symbol of their confined domestic world as a maiden or mother, and their attachment to the oikos of their father or husband.

In contrast to the respectable woman’s confinement to her home, lamps in scenes depicting hetairai (prostitutes or professional female entertainers) represent the luxury of her environment. Scenes show bronze lamps instead of the clay lamps, as Late Archaic vase painters introduced bronze lamps on stands in erotic scenes of different sorts. The involvement of lamps and lovers is clearly expressed by Aristophanes in Ecclesiazousai, where the lamp is a silent witness of female bodies while involved in intercourse (, p.26). This is an especially enlightening reference to the generally unspoken responsibilities of legitimate Athenian wives.

We can also see the lamp becoming a personified god. One example of this is the 3^rd century BCE epigram by Asclepiades. Herakleia had sworn before the lamp of her love for her lover. However, she broke her oath and having sworn it three times, her lover asks the lamp, as a personified god, to seek revenge by refusing to light Herakleia’s chamber when she meets her new lover. In this context, it could also be a way for lovers to recall memories of their time together.

The study of lighting devices within Athenian women’s lives has shown that artificial light was detrimental both day and night. Whether a ‘respectable’ or ‘non-respectable’ woman, lamps and torches symbolised characteristics of their private and public lives and will continue to offer us great insight into the world of Athenian women.

Bibliography:

Parisinou, Eva (2000) ‘Lighting’ the World of Women: Lamps and Torches in the Hands of Women in the Late Archaic and Classical Periods, Greece & Rome, Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical Association.

Fossil Mammals from the Late Miocene of Vietnam

Fossil mammals are able to tell us much about the ancient world but little is known about the evolutionary history of mammals in Southeast Asia. The vast amount of knowledge comes from Burma and Thailand but research in Vietnam has given us much insight.

Scholars travelled to Hangmon, a location in the northwest region of Vietnam in Son La Province, west of Moc Chau and southeast of Son La. At the site of a deserted coalmine, coal-bearing sediments were shown to preserve fossil plants indicative of a humid, subtropical climate. The researchers were able to be collected with surface prospecting and also by screen washing.

“A fragmentary left maxilla preserving M1-2 and an isolated left P4, that was found close to the maxilla, represent a tragulid. The specimens are similar in morphology to those of Dorcatherium minus from the Chinji of Pakistan but are slightly smaller: Ml is 9.2 mm in its anteroposterior length and M2 is 8.8 mm. The first and second upper molars resemble those of other tragulids in: (1) being bunose lenodont teeth; (2) having a mesostyle that is pyramid shaped and larger than the parastyle; (3) having an anterior lingual lobe (protocone) that is rounded and projects strongly anteriorly; and (4) having a protocone crescent that is L-shaped - that is the posterior arm of the crescent is perpendicular to the anterior arm. These upper molars resemble Dorcatherium specimens from the middle Miocene of Sihong, China, described by Zhanxiang and Yumin in having a weakly developed cingulum that is stronger on the posterior lingual lobe (hypocone) than on the anterior lingual lobe. The partial maxilla does, however, differ from previously described Dorcatherium specimens described by Gentry and Zhanxiang and Yumin in having a first molar that is larger than the second molar”.

Scientists were able to learn much from the fossils that were found. A lower left molar, a lower right third molar and an upper left fourth premolar were among the fossils found. Some of these represent the presence of a rhinocerotid and the fully bilophodont morphology characteristic of the rhinocerotid subfamilies Aceratheriinae and Rhinocerotinae.

Looking at the fossils and the data scientists collected, scholars suggested that they belonged to the late Miocene, based on the presence of invertebrate genera such as Acuticosta, Cu neopsis, Oxynaia, and Unio.

This site is extremely important as it gives scholars the chance to learn more about the evolution of mammals in this area, a region that has only just begun to be fully explored.

Bibliography:

Covert, H. Herbert & Hamrick, Mark W. & Dzanh, Trinh & McKinney, C. Kevin (2001) Fossil Mammals from the Late Miocene of Vietnam, Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

Gaia In Ancient Greek Mythology and History

The ancient Greeks have come to be known as the great ‘myth-makers’ of the ancient world; indeed, they gave us our word ‘myth’ which derives from the Greek ‘mythos’ or ‘mythologia’ to refer to the amazing stories of gods, heroes, men and creatures.

When one looks at world mythology, there are always striking similarities between far-flung and nearer cultures. Creation myths are very similar, with one primal deity emerging from chaos in order to start the creation process. For the ancient Greeks, Gaia was one of the very first deities to exist.

There are a few versions as to the birth of Gaia; in one version she simply emerged out of the chaos; another states that she was born from Hydros (also spelt Hydrus), the primeval god of the waters; or that she was born from Aither (light) and Hermera (day), the Protogenes (the primeval gods).

Gaia is the personification of the earth. According to Hesiod, she gave birth to Ouranos (also spelt Uranus), the sky god, to cover her and be a home for later gods. She then gave birth to the mountains who were divine personifications, and Pontus, the mythological personficiation of the sea. This then brought into existence the basic structure of the world, according to Hesiod.

Hesiod described Gaia as “broad-chested, the secure foundation of all forever”. Other poets claimed that she was the ultimate mother and the source of all fertility in nature, thus making her not only the physical embodiment of the earth, but its very essence and power.

When looking at the worship of this goddess, the archaeological record has indicated that her cult could have predated that of the Olympian gods. Before the Olympian gods were widely worshipped, there was a female earth deity known as Tellus who was worshipped in some parts of the Mediterranean who continued to be worshipped even after the establishment of a pantheon of newer gods. It has been suggested that Gaia was the eventual descendant of this early goddess.

In the mythology of ancient Greece, Gaia gave birth to Ouranos who was not only her son, but her husband as well. They had numerous children, many of whom were monstrous in appearance and in character. Their first born children were the Hecatonchires (the Hundred-Handed) - monsters with 100 arms and 50 heads each. The Cyclopes (according to some versions) were next, named Arges (Bright), Brontes (Thunder) and Steropes (Lightning).

Gaia eventually went on to produce many other children but not all were monstrous. It is said that she gave birth to the lovely nymph Daphne, who caught the attention of Apollo. Her most famous children were the twelve Titans who became the first gods of ancient Greece; Oceanus, Tethys, Hyperion, Theia, Themis, Rhea, Mnemosyne, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phoebe and Cronos.

Gaia was integral in the dethronement of her husband. Ouranos had buried their children deep within Gaia’s womb, causing her considerable pain. She encouraged her youngest son, Cronos, to challenge his father when the others refused. She created a sickle from her body and told her son to lay in wait. When Ouranos lowered himself (at night) to make love to his wife, Cronos lashed out with the sickle and castrated his father and became the new ruler of the heavens.

However, Gaia did not fade away into the background like that of her husband. She featured in many myths, including the dethronement of Cronos by his son, Zeus, as well as others. She was still widely worshipped throughout Greece as well as the Near East and there is archaeological evidence of the worship of both her and Zeus together on Crete, Dodona and Sparta.

From looking at and analyzing the mythology concerning the myths and legends of this goddess, we can see that Gaia was the ‘Great Mother’ of the gods; without her there would have been no gods for the ancient Greeks to worship. She was the very foundation of the cosmos and the very foundation of the Greek religious belief system.

Bibliography:

Cotterell, Arthur & Storm, Rachel (1999) The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology, Hermes House, Anness Publishing House.

An overview on the languages spoken in Siberia

Whenever we think of Siberia, we imagine a land full of ice and snow but nothing of the languages. The different languages spoken here are rich, full of tones and tell us much about the history of the land and its fascinating people.

Siberia is located in the western regions of the Russian steppes. The Russian language is still very much the dominant language spoken here, but this North Asian land has more than 40 different languages spoken by its different communities. However, preserving, cataloguing and understanding these languages have not been a priority for the government or scholars; this is such a shame as we are gradually losing the opportunity to do so as younger generations are more frequently using the most dominant languages in the country, ignoring their past languages.

There are several language groups in Siberia belonging to what is known as the Paleo-Asiatic or Paleo-Siberian languages. These include the Yukaghir, Nivkh, and Ket.

The Ket language is the most famous and widely known to scholars and the world. It has been known in the past as the Yenisei Ostyak language. Ket is the only spoken language from the Yenisei language family unfortunately. It is spoken by the Ket ethnic group, a people who live along the Yenisei River, running throughout Central Siberia.

The Ket language has managed to survive into this century despite the centuries under Russian rule and their dominating language. However, it is still faces the high risk of extinction. Those who speak the language are quickly diminishing and the younger generation are choosing to speak Russian instead of Ket; by the end of the 20^th century, it was estimated that only 500 people knew and spoke the language.

Yukaghir is also known as Jukagir, a language mixed up of the Tundra and Kolyma dialects. It is spoken in the far east of the Kolyma River by the Yukaghir people.

Nivkh is part of the Paleo-Siberian language group, spoken by the people living the border of what used to be Manchuria. It is what is called an ‘isolate’ language, spoken in the Amur region, possibly down to the north of Sakhalin Island.

Another language spoken in Siberia is the Ainu language. Although closely associated with Japan, the Ainu language is spoken by a few communities in the Kamchatka Peninsula region.

Other language umbrella groups spoken in Siberia include the Chukotko-Kamchatkan. Including in this group are the Chukchi, or Chukot, Chukcha or Luoravetlan, as well as other smaller languages. These are used by the Chukchi people, who live in the far east of the country.

In the late 19^th century and early 20^th century, scholars from Germany, Poland, Hungary, Russia and other nearby countries started to record some of the languages spoken in Siberia. It is only hoped that we continue to do so before time runs out and the languages are dead.