No description available.

Thesis (doctoral)--Uppsala University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 389-402) and index.

Nautical archaeology has made remarkable advances since its inception half a century ago, but one area in need of more attention is the examination of cultural aspects of seafaring. This dissertation advances understanding of eighteenth- through early-twentieth century British and American maritime culture by exploring traditional memorialization practices. Interpretations are based primarily on analysis of 412 maritime memorials recorded during two archaeological surveys in Great Britain and the United States. In addition, primary accounts from the Age of Sail are utilized to place maritime memorialization into its proper cultural and historical context. Research reveals three major themes in Anglo-American maritime memorialization. First, memorials show a striking concern for the dangers and hardships of life at sea. Numerous memorials describe the perils of the natural world and the group values that mariners developed to cope with the ever-present possibility of sudden death. Such values include attention to duty, courage, group loyalty, self-sacrifice, and pride. Second, maritime communities faced the problem of commemorating those who never returned from the sea. Many sailors were lost at sea or died aboard ship or in distant lands. In the vast majority of such cases, the body was never returned home, and many did not receive proper burial. As a result, family members and fellow sailors created memorials to honor the lost and to symbolically lay the deceased to rest. Evidence indicates, however, that such attempts were not entirely satisfactory. Many epitaphs lament the fact that empty graves cannot provide an adequate substitute for missing bodies. Finally, investigation revealed a significant increase in religious sentiment on maritime memorials from the mid-nineteenth century until the end of the Age of Sail. It is suggested that the increase in maritime religious sentiment was linked to nineteenth-century religious reform movements. The prevalence of religious imagery and inscriptions on maritime memorials during this time, however, probably does not indicate that most sailors became religious. Rather, most religious maritime memorials were erected by sailors' families. This suggests that maritime families turned to religion as a source of comfort when faced with the deaths of loved ones at sea.

Nautical archaeology has made remarkable advances since its inception half a century ago, but one area in need of more attention is the examination of cultural aspects of seafaring. This dissertation advances understanding of eighteenth- through early-twentieth century British and American maritime culture by exploring traditional memorialization practices. Interpretations are based primarily on analysis of 412 maritime memorials recorded during two archaeological surveys in Great Britain and the United States. In addition, primary accounts from the Age of Sail are utilized to place maritime memorialization into its proper cultural and historical context. Research reveals three major themes in Anglo-American maritime memorialization. First, memorials show a striking concern for the dangers and hardships of life at sea. Numerous memorials describe the perils of the natural world and the group values that mariners developed to cope with the ever-present possibility of sudden death. Such values include attention to duty, courage, group loyalty, self-sacrifice, and pride. Second, maritime communities faced the problem of commemorating those who never returned from the sea. Many sailors were lost at sea or died aboard ship or in distant lands. In the vast majority of such cases, the body was never returned home, and many did not receive proper burial. As a result, family members and fellow sailors created memorials to honor the lost and to symbolically lay the deceased to rest. Evidence indicates, however, that such attempts were not entirely satisfactory. Many epitaphs lament the fact that empty graves cannot provide an adequate substitute for missing bodies. Finally, investigation revealed a significant increase in religious sentiment on maritime memorials from the mid-nineteenth century until the end of the Age of Sail. It is suggested that the increase in maritime religious sentiment was linked to nineteenth-century religious reform movements. The prevalence of religious imagery and inscriptions on maritime memorials during this time, however, probably does not indicate that most sailors became religious. Rather, most religious maritime memorials were erected by sailors' families. This suggests that maritime families turned to religion as a source of comfort when faced with the deaths of loved ones at sea.

Thesis (doctoral)--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat zu München, 1935. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. [2-5]).

Not available / text

This study investigates the archaeological and social contexts of early Christian burial practices at Ostia Antica, Rome’s port city, through a case study of the cemeterial basilica at Pianabella. Built on a pagan necropolis in ca. 400 AD, the Pianabella Basilica is one of the few unambiguously Christian monuments from Ostia in the Late Antique period. Consequently, it provides evidence for the continuities and transformations of late Roman culture during the period of Christianity’s rise to prominence. Examination of the construction of the basilica, as well as its rich iconography and epigraphy, proceeds through a social approach within a holistic view of material culture, showing that the physical characteristics of Christian burial were acquired through selective appropriation of common pagan mortuary practices while also adjusting to changing cultural assumptions. The Pianabella inscriptions show the persistence of patronage, while the construction of the basilica and its dedication to a nameless saint show the increasing importance of the suburbium for the city’s religious topography. The semi-monumental nature and advantaged location of this basilica made it an important meeting place for the Christians, whose appropriations can be seen in three aspects: (1) epigraphy suggests that patronage by the institutional church gradually replaced that by important families; (2) patterns of sarcophagus use point to attempts at social improvement while showing clear preference for less iconic forms of sarcophagi; and (3) the arrangement of the burials in the basilica’s main funerary enclosure and epigraphy emphasize the prominence of the saint to whom the basilica was dedicated. The basilica thus took on much of the ritual and social creativity that had belonged to the family tomb, where reunion in death did away with death’s sting, while providing Christians with a sense of community. The organization of funerary space at Pianabella suggests further that the focus of mortuary provision was ultimately on the living. Taken together, it seems that funerary processions to the basilica provided a sphere in which local Christians could benefit from communal meals and the spectacle of status display, while pointing to God as a new and improved type of paterfamilias. / text

This ethnographic study investigates the frequency of use of the Navajo Blessingway ceremony during pregnancy by Navajo women in the Fort Defiance Service Unit of Indian Health Service. Through interviews with postpartum women and community members it was found that approximately 14% of the Navajo women at this hospital had a Blessingway ceremony during their current pregnancy. The data indicate that contemporary usage of the Blessingway ceremony is much less frequent than with previous generations. Factors contributing to this decline include a: decrease in the use of Navajo language, decreased number of practicing medicine men, increased reliance on Christian religions practices, influence of Western education and health care practices and changing socioeconomic conditions. The most significant factor in encouraging pregnant women to use this beneficial ceremony was the influence of the extended family.

No description available.

No description available.