I do enjoy seeing things that suggest we are not completely cut off from our past, even if it may actually be a happy coincidence.
quote:
Bronze Age grave tribute that said it with flowers
Feb 11 2006
Gareth Morgan, Western Mail
THE tradition of laying flowers at the graveside of loved ones stretches far further back than was previously imagined, Welsh research has revealed.
It is common in the modern Western world to mark death with wreaths at a graveside. And in recent years mourners have left flowers at the sites of tragic accidents, especially road crashes. But the need to lay flowers may be an inherent part of human nature and not a modern innovation.
Researchers in Wales have combined archaeology with laboratory technology to discover evidence that suggests the practice dates back 4,000 years.
Our ancestors were following the same tradition all over the area now called the UK. Archaeologists have most recently been examining a Bronze Age burial mound on the Black Mountain in Carmarthenshire. As well as analysing cremated bone, an urn and flint tools, tests on soil found microscopic pollen grains. Researchers believe it paints a new picture of ancient burial rituals, a more sophisticated and loving one than had previously been thought.
The excavation on Fan Foel, above Llyn y Fan Fach, was carried out by Llandeilo-based Cambria Archaeology. They unearthed the bones of what they believe to be a 12-year-old child.
Analysis of the soil surrounding the burial site by specialists from the University of Lampeter found the microscopic pollen grains. They show the burial was accompanied by a floral tribute of meadowsweet, with its attractive clusters of creamy-white flowers.
Adam Gwilt, curator of the Bronze and Iron Age Collection at the National Museum of Wales, said the discovery shed new light on ancient burials. "It gives tenderness to otherwise remote and impersonal burial rites," he said.
He added the same burial ritual had been found as far away as the Orkney Islands, Scotland. But this additional find means the Bronze Age people were maintaining the common tradition of leaving flowers for the dead despite being separated by hundreds of miles.
Director Gwilym Hughes said the dig was necessary as the burial mound was slowly disappearing due to weather and walkers.
"Visitors were collecting stones from the monument," he said. "The only solution was to excavate and record the vulnerable parts of the site and protect the remainder from further damage."
At the centre of the mound archaeologists examined the contents of a large rectangle stone cist, or burial space, that had been covered by a large capstone. It contained cremated bone, a pottery urn, a bone pin and flint tools.
These long-standing traditions contrast with the views of a report in 2004 which said that leaving flowers and teddies was a modern phenomenon. Think tank Civitas dubbed it "mourning sickness" and said it was a religion substitute for lonely people that no longer subscribe to orthodox churches. Mourning for celebrities that people have never met was the most meaningless display of emotion, it contended, and people should go out and do some real good instead of laying flowers.
But it seems that laying flowers is a human instinct too primeval to ignore. There are now even Asian websites where "virtual flowers" can be left for loved ones.
An ancient tradition
Although our Bronze Age ancestors used the meadowsweet flowers of the countryside, mourning flowers have since taken up a host of other traditions.
Gayle Christie, founder of florist website Florage.com, said, "Flowers have long been used for healing the senses, and soothing the spirit. Sympathy flowers seem to bring one back to nature and closer to one's creator at a time when a spiritual connection has extreme value."
Many countries use traditional chrysanthemums for funerals. White is the most popular colour as it denotes truth and honesty. Roses are used because of their striking beauty, and lilies, in white, are popular.
I wonder when the practice of laying flowers at the scene of a road accident started ? It seems to have only been occuring only for the last 10yrs or so. I must admit that it's a practice I find somewhat "tacky"
........................................................................ Support the PAS Go with the FLO
Originally posted by Tetricus: I wonder when the practice of laying flowers at the scene of a road accident started ? It seems to have only been occuring only for the last 10yrs or so. I must admit that it's a practice I find somewhat "tacky"
Despite what a lot of people might suppose, it was certainly something that was becoming more prevelant before Diana's death. I always remember seeing a lot of flowers being laid at a notorious accident blackspot in West Sussex even as far back as the early 1970's.
The way that flowers are left at the scene of an incident rather than at a victims home or being sent to relatives, seems to have something of the feel of lighting a candle in a church - but a secualr version.
Are flowers at funerary sites functional in any way I wonder - for the departed or those that are left behind, or for the God(s) as an offering?
I remember seeing little bunches of flowers by the roadside whilst on holiday in southern Europe. Maybe it's something that other holidaymakers picked up from seeing the temporary wayside "shrines". I agree about the outpourings of fake grief for celebrities. The sheer awfulness of the public response to Diana's death was only mitigated by my being in the States at the time. Even so people kept coming up to say how sorry they were. They might have been; I wasn't.
Is it not all part of the present fashion to blubber away in public and deny any dignity, even in death? The 'Heart On The Sleeve' syndrome again. Historical note; H on S. Recorded as being practised by the servants in 'Leasowe Castle' Wirral. In the late 16th century. They would pin a heart to their detachable sleeve and present the sleeve to their betrothed. Later, to become popular in East Anglia.
Pollen grains found with one of the Shanidar Neanderthals suggest he may have been buried with bright red flowers. This is now being disputed - wind action & burrowing rodents are the favourite explanations these days. Shame really.
Originally posted by mlh: I remember seeing little bunches of flowers by the roadside whilst on holiday in southern Europe. Maybe it's something that other holidaymakers picked up from seeing the temporary wayside "shrines".
I remember in Crete, their is a fair number of these little roadside shrines, usually the size of a dogkennel and some quite ornate. I understand that a lot of them were to commemorate those who had died in Road accidents ,but there were also some that were put there simply as a place for the passing wayfarer to stop to pay their devotions.
Originally posted by AJ ap Hywel: There were thought to be flora burial tributes in the Neolithic period at some stage.
There is indeed, but I haven't the energy to track down the source at this late hour.
I've a feeling that there maybe even earlier traces too.I'm sure I remember from either a conversation or possibly a snippet of something I've read that a Neanderthal burial had produced rather dubious pollen evidence hinting at some kind of floral tribute.
I'm a bit late on this strand but pollen in the soil doesn't exactly suggest that plants were in situor left at the site. Pollen blows in from all over the shop.
What raised the initial excitement is that the pollen grains were all round the head of just the one individual (there were about 9 in the same cave), so in that case it's unlikely to be wind-blown, or it would have been in more than one place. The burrowing rodent theory would fit the pattern though.
