So in my research of the Town Creek group - hopefully the early Mississippian group will be my thesis people - I come across this picture of one of the Siouan burials on the site. The Siouans were a different culture group (made up of different tribes) that moved into Town Creek after the Mississippian inhabitants had left. You can tell this from a number of things - one of them is through burial practices. The Mississippian group buried their dead in a slightly flexed (usually the lower limbs were folded or bent) or completely extended position along cardinal directions (some angle of N-S) with their heads angled East or West.The Siouans buried their dead in the fetal position, completely flexed. While a lot of Southeastern US groups buried their dead in this position, the interesting thing about this picture is the clay cover that retained the impression of the skeleton. The really interesting thing is that another blogger (http://gulahiyi.blogspot.com/2008/11/clay-sepulchres-along-cullasaja.html) posted some historical documents of Western Carolina settlers finding burials with clay lids. I had originally thought that those reports were anomalies, now it looks like, for the Siouan groups, it was a common practice.(Picture is from the master's thesis of Martha Graham)
Osteology test and rough draft of my environmental archaeology paper on the decline of Cahokia due tomorrow...going to be a long night. But at least there is Grey's Anatomy and the hot army dr, so that should be a good time to take a break.
It's cold, officially, and I am layering up because Florida definitely thinned my blood out. All the trees are showing some amazing colors. Walked by the big white oak when taking out the recycling and couldn't help but kick the thick cover of leaves on the ground like I was 5. We had a tree just like it across the road at the last place we lived in WV when I was a kid, and for a minute I was right back there standing across the street, getting ready for the bus...feeling how cold it was. Funny how little things like that can trigger sensory memories.
Working on getting the money together for my Thai field school...whoohoo digging up bones. If you would like to donate to the cause, I accept cash, checks, and all major credit cards : )
Yay for November, I can listen to Christmas songs now without feeling like I am starting too early and I think I may put up my tree soon. If ABC Family can start their countdown to the 25 days of Christmas countdown next Sunday, then I can start singing carols.
Back to work....
If you have read a few of my earlier posts, you probably know I am a fan of Obama and I am excited about the turnout of the election yesterday. BUT...I am worried about all of the incredibly negative messages I see on my friends' and family's facebook pages - people who are worried about the beginning of socialism and the end of America.
This is a difficult time for our country...we are losing jobs and homes and carefully invested retirements and college savings. There are people in this world that really do want to hurt us. And for a lot of people, Obama was an unknown and unwanted choice - not because he was Black- but because some of his polices and his rhetoric (and lets face it - a really good smear campaign trying to label him socialist/Marxist) made people nervous. I don't agree with these fears, but that doesn't mean they aren't legitimate. NOW - that does not mean they are entirely accurate - but it does mean that people are nervous and scared about the direction the country could go in and they don't trust Obama.
I'm sorry there is a lack of trust for him and I am sorry that there is so much animosity between conservatives and liberals - as a conservative liberal, I think Obama will turn out to be more centrist than people think, which is good for such a diverse country as ours. And he is no dove that will call the troops back from everywhere - I can only pray that he listens to the men on the ground in Iraq because we can't afford to lose the ground we have gained - we have a moral obligation and duty to leave that country better than when we first arrived. But you will see - liberals and conservatives - a stepped up program in Afghanistan...and some of you liberals will be pissed. But there, we also have an obligation to help...and we have a few people we need to find.
But the bigger thing right now - more than an historic election, more than worries about becoming Communist - is that we have major issues going on in this country that need attention and we need to come together and fix them. That means that even if we disagree about economics or social issues - we need to put those aside and remember that we all live here, together.
People will probably say - well, thats easy for you, your guy won. Honestly...honestly...if McCain had won, I would be saying the same thing. Granted, I would be all down in the mouth and sad right now, but I would suck it up...because my country is more than the issue of McCain or Obama, abortion, or the war in Iraq. However you voted on Tuesday - you voted for America...and we will be fine. That means liberals need to not be douches and gloat and call McCain supporters racist. And conservatives need to realize that some of the stuff said on the campaign trail about a turn towards socialism (and is this the 50's again all of a sudden? don't we remember the awfulness of McCarthyism?) are inaccurate and was done to scare you.
Everyone just needs to take a deep breath. We are going to be fine, but we all need to work together. I am no fan of Bush, but he's my president. And in January, Obama will be all of our president. This is democracy, this is what we stand for as a country.
