Tag: history
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Creating Cryptozoological Remains in Expedition: Everest
Bigfoot. Mothman. The Loch Ness Monster. Even if you’ve never heard of the word “cryptozoology” or “cryptid” before, you definitely know at least one or two. One of the famous forms of pseudoscience, cryptids are the monsters and creatures that often originate from local folklore and spark the imagination of people all over the world
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Terror and Tradition Over Time: A Look at the Material Culture Of Halloween
Oddly enough, I didn’t really expect to run into that many significant cultural differences when I first moved from the United States to the United Kingdom. So I was actually a bit surprised when Halloween first came around. I expected there to be streets covered in decorations, but was surprised to see only a few pumpkins
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Selfies with the Dead: ‘Shadow of the Tomb Raider’ and the Dehumanisation of Human Remains
Content Warning: Discussion of human remains in this blog post. No actual images of human remains are used, however there are images of digital human remains from the Shadow of the Tomb Raider video game, so please be advised. Recently, the third instalment of the rebooted Tomb Raider video game franchise was released. This game,
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An Archaeology of Sudden Death: A Fallout Case Study
Content Warning: This post will discuss human remains and death from disasters and acts of mass violence. Although I will not be posting any actual images of real human remains, I will be using images of human remains from the video game Fallout 4. There may also be discussion of disasters and violence that may
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Monoliths Of Memory at Disney’s EPCOT Center
The dawning of the year 2000 was a big deal for everyone, but perhaps most especially for Walt Disney World. To mark the new millennium, the resort set up a series of new events and attractions as part of their “Millennium Celebration”; this included a new parade called the “Tapestry of Nations”, a new evening
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Side Quest: Archaeology!
Inaccurate portrayals of archaeology in other media has been discussed before – whether it’s fact checking the Indiana Jones franchise, reiterating that Lara Croft is indeed a Tomb Raider, or correcting someone for the 100th time that no, sorry, we don’t dig up dinosaurs…it can be exhausting! But unfortunately, it will always be necessary so
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The Archaeology of Vandalism
Monuments and, more specifically, the vandalization of monuments have become widely debated topics over the past year. American monuments of Confederate soldiers and others have been subject to destruction by activists across the country who protest against what they represent (Lockheart 2018) – just this week, the “Silent Sam” statue at the University of North
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Not For You: Cultural Appropriation in Neo-Paganism and How Archaeology Plays a Role
Issues of cultural appropriation in “New Age” and holistic circles isn’t breaking news – over the past decade, there has been much in the media and news discussing appropriation of ritual garb, sacred herbs, and practices, often by white spiritual leaders who make financial gain through their appropriative acts without providing anything in return to
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Werewolf? Therewolf! Lycanthropy in Skyrim (and Real Life!)
Content Warning: Photo of human remains included in this post. “Legends can take a life of their own, particularly when there are grains of truth, as here we have the very real threat of werewolves” – Lycanthropic Legends of Skyrim, Lentulus Invenitus In the world of Skyrim (Bethesda Game Studios 2011), werewolves (and other lyncanthropes
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No One Knows Who They Were or What They Were Doing: The Many Stonehenges of the United States
In ancient times, Hundreds of years before the dawn of history Lived a strange race of people, the Druids No one knows who they were or what they were doing But their legacy remains Hewn into the living rock, of Stonehenge – Stonehenge, This is Spinal Tap Stonehenge is arguably one of the most iconic
Animal Archaeology 