Digging my own grave

I was reading the textbook late one night and I found a case study where they found silver bracelets in one grave and gold ones in another. The researchers wrote that the one with the gold bracelets had to be representative of the individual's  higher social status because, clearly, gold is more valuable. But how do we know what was valuable in that person's society when they lived? There are so many variables that need to be found before the researchers can make that assumption. In fact, I may be completely wrong and gold was more valuable back then and I'm digging my own grave for the researchers who may be mad at me for doubting their work.

Of course we may never have all of the answers to the questions that will help to solidify that society's history.

Gold Bracelets image
Silver Bracelet image

Green Burials

During yesterday's class we discussed what are called 'Green Burials'. I was really interested in the idea because after being in Europe in 2010 and visiting all of those graves, I wondered how, as time went on, when we were going to run out of space. And from what I understood, the bodies would decompose to feed the earth. ( Here is a link to an interesting e-zine about the concept)
Last night I watched the TEDtalks (Green burial presentation) video that Dr McGuire posted on Moodle and the speaker was talking about these 'hybrid mushrooms' that are used in the decomposition process of Green Burials. And I wondered, have these hybrid mushrooms been introduced in with other mushrooms and what was their effect on the natural wild mushrooms and what is the effect on the natural ecosystem from these fancy mushrooms? The speaker didn't cover these questions, and when this technology comes available to the everyday people, will they damage our world even further rather than hoping to fix the problems that we currently face with current burial techniques?

Introduction

Hi,
my name is Jenny, I'm in my second year here at UVic. I'm originally from Kelowna, and I have two younger brothers. I have an interest in prehistoric cultures, much like the ones that we will be studying in class.  I also have an interest in primate behaviour. I have also been studying French here at UVic. I was in French Immersion all through out grade school and have been enjoying studying the language at a higher level.
My favourite sport is basketball, but have not played as much as I would like to since my leg injury during my short stint on UVic's rowing team.
I've really enjoyed stuyding Anthropology here at UVic, it has certainly opened my eyes to many issues in today's world.