HW # 53 - Independent Research A

“The Dead Tell a Tale China Doesn’t Care to Listen To”
www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/world/asia/19mummy.html

In the Xinjiang region of China there have been over 200 extremely will preserved mummies discovered over the past couple of decades, and the oldest one is 3,800 years old. They are one of the greatest archeological discoveries of recent times, but the Chinese government doesn’t want researchers going near them. The reason is that Xinjiang is a rich oil province, and there is a strong nationalist movement of 9 million Turkic-speaking Uighurs, who are Muslims, living there, and they would like to separate from China. The Chinese government likes to think that Xinjiang has been part of China for many centuries, but the mummies, who are not Chinese and come from the west, a mix of Uighurs and people who were Indo-European and also from Iran, show that others were there way before the Chinese.

“Dead Join the Living in a Family Celebration”
www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/world/africa/06madagascar.html

In Madagascar it is a custom for people to dig up the remains of their ancestors from time to time and dance with their bones in a big celebration. Some believe it is possible to ask the dead for good health and wealth and that their spirits will grant requests, and others just use the occasion to tell younger family members about their ancestors. The event is called a famadihana, and the one being reported on was requested by a widow hose husband had died 16 years earlier and who had just saved enough money ($7,000) to buy a crypt for him.


In both of the above stories the remains are thought to have a useful purpose by the living. If the bodies had been cremated, then there would not be mummies to show who was around long ago or bones to dance with in order to feel close to the formerly living. Do these burials make me think that cremation (or composting) is not such a great idea because ashes don’t leave a record historically and aren’t easy to dance with? No, I don’t feel that way. There are so many people on earth, and there will always be many who are buried. We can’t afford the space to bury everyone, and for many people burial is too expensive. It makes me think that a few mummies should be made in every generation in desert climates, where they seem to last best.