To be unique or not to be unique: That is the question.

A Selection of Unique Graves at Ross Bay Cemetery Analysis   
           On Valentine's Day my group and I ventured within the serene landscape of Ross Bay Cemetery. It was my first time visiting this cemetery but three of the members of my group have grown up in Victoria and were familiar with it. We picked this cemetery because of its easy accessibility and because this cemetery was familiar and sentimental to a few of my group members( Meredith, one of my group members has relatives residing here). Due to the size of Ross Bay Cemetery there were a lot of possibilities for examining the graves. Our final decision was to select graves dispersed within this cemetery based on their uniqueness.


View A Selection of Unique Graves in Ross Bay Cemetery in a larger map

            We chose 11 graves to analyze ranging in era, age, gender and section within this cemetery. It is important to note that there were quite a few unique graves but due to time restraints et cetera, we chose 11 graves that were most prominent to us. To save time two members ( Meredith and Kristina) went into the field the day before we all met up and chose the 11 unique graves. They wandered around and looked for graves that stood out, were separate from other graves surrounding them, more ornate, etc. While only two members picked the graves, our entire group had an equal say in interpreting the graves on the next day of our fieldwork. I was not part of the initial survey of unique graves, but I agree with the graves they chose as being unique graves that stand out within a cemetery of many graves. It was neat to see the different sections of the cemetery and fully appreciate what Erin said in class about how a cemetery is a cultural landscape. It was an abstract concept I had given no thought to, until physically being within Ross Bay Cemetery and seeing the diversity. If we had had more time for this monument analysis I think an interesting thing to do would have been to let each member of our group enter into the cemetery alone and mark down 11 graves they thought were unique. It would be fascinating to see if there would be a lot of overlap, or if there would be disparities amongst our group's ideas of 'unique' graves. I find the concept of unique graves fascinating and I would like to do more research about what draws a person to a unique monument. When Kristina and Meredith went into the cemetery to pick these unique graves they tried to choose monuments in as random an assortment as was possible, we had a couple of guidelines for choosing the most unique monuments in Ross Bay Cemetery.
          First, we looked at where the monument was positioned within the cemetery ( i.e. next to family, farther away, alone, in an area with plain or more ornate monuments, etc). For example, The Bermarija grave with its impressive black marble slab is the only dark monument in that area. Another example of position which makes a monument unique is seen in the Nesbitt monument.  With its back facing the sea, this monument stands alone. Its odd stone wall is attached to a concrete L-shape that my group thought might release and open into a box. We thought maybe this wall was enclosing urns as behind the grave stone there is a hollow chamber that looks like it would fit urns. 

The Bermarija Monument was unlike any other in Ross Bay Cemetery, making it a unique grave that draws the eye.

The Nesbitt Monument is positioned away from other graves

 Agnew Monument: Unique because this family has their own enclosed non-gated wall, a sign that would have been evidence of stature and wealth. Prominent in an area with no other walled in grave sites.

          Second, my group looked at the size of the monument in terms of being unique ( was it small like D.B Cambells or Verna M.? Or large like the Deans or Schultz and Sims?).  One important observation that my group deduced was that most of the monuments that had to do with children ( We picked 3, Verna M, D.B Cambell & William Rhys Henderson-Van Rhyn) were often small as if to replicate the small life it represented. By looking at unique child burials we are able to understand that child burials can be a key component to understanding earlier interpretations of mortuary behaviour ( Chambon et al., 2011, p. 774). Previous ideas have been that monuments like graves represent a person's accomplishments, but young children do not have many, if any. So child burials suggest that the representation is based on the selection of those who wish to remember them in a certain way. The representation of certain monuments for young children can also represent the rank of child, especially in the older monuments that would have been costly to create.( Chambon et al., 2011, p. 783)

DB Cambell: A prominent monument small in size surrounded by larger graves and Helmken's mausoleum.

Verna M. :A small monument by itself with no family surrounding her.

Deans Monument: Lavish in size, a person's eyes are drawn to the robed woman atop this structure

          
 When we were in the field we had two research questions:

1. Are there more unique graves as time goes on?  And what draws us to them?
2. What is the motivation behind a really unique grave?

          As the graves we selected suggest, they are unique compared to many of their times. However it is important to note that because I did not pick the graves the day before I also did not fully walk around the cemetery. I followed the other two girls to our selected monuments. I would say that there are more unique graves as time goes on. That being said, I think newer graves are being more personalized which makes them seem more unique. However, our fieldwork also showed that unique graves have existed throughout time and there are always monuments that did not always conform to the norm of their time. Monuments that were created decades ago could possibly suggest greater status and wealth to afford such monuments. I would also be interested to see if an increase in unique monuments is due to the fact that more people are able to purchase unique monuments because they are easier to manufacture and at a cheaper cost than they would have been centuries ago?  As one of my group members Meredith commented, it would be interesting if we could talk to the families of the deceased and ask them what they would say about the uniqueness of the monuments. Was it a reflection of the person? or the family members? 
           In regards to our second question on the motivation behind a really unique monument, it could be a testament of the families influence or the features might be a representation of the deceased.  For example, the Schultz and Sim monument has a large anchor which appears to have been an authentic anchor. This could suggest a seafaring person/family. 

Schultz and Sims Monument: Sailors life?

     Another monument that might represent the deceased is the Ross monument which sports a garden table and ceramic roses and birds attached to the tree. My group thought it suggested love of gardening and perhaps bird watching as the tombstone says "...Whose soul is like the wings of his beloved birds."  

The Ross Monument: Unique in representation of the deceased individual.

       The fact remains that unique monuments help the living remember the unique individual that they are mourning. While unique graves might not be a representation of the person buried there, they might show the way in which the family thought about their loved ones. For example, Charles Moss's monument is an obelisk surrounded by an intricate black iron fence. Two features that as different as east and west. Moss died in Java which is unique unto itself and perhaps the family decided to use decorations from afar (obelisk) and near(wrought iron fence). By using these two unique monuments they were able to represent Moss's love of travel and their love of Moss by representing him in a familiar way. 

 

Moss Monument: East meets West

 

Erickson and Layton Monument: An example of a unique grave that is representative of  what the deceased loved to do in life. This is more reflective of personality.

William Rhys Henderson-Van Rhyn Monument: Small in stature like the infant it holds, but unique in the way the family has chosen to represent their infant son. He is surrounded by stuffed toy animals and the upkeep of this grave is lovingly tended to, the representation is an indication of the families image of their son and how they wanted to represent him.

To rap up,I think that placement is a crucial aspect for making a grave unique, as we've seen with the all of our graves. Most of the monuments we looked at were unique but it was due to where they were placed in the cemetery and if there stood out against monuments around them. I think that features of a monument are equally as important not only in what they tell us about the deceased but about their families. Features like Erickson and Layton appear to represent the deceased passions in life. As Day ( 1989) suggests rituals are created through monuments. Often these monuments are creations meant to leave a message about the deceased and prominence of monuments are meant to memorialize a person (Day, 1989, p. 17). Whether or not we truly understand what the representation was originally meant to be, it is obvious that these unique monuments memorialize the deceased in a way that stands apart from other burial rituals.

References
Chambon, P., Murail, P., Thomas, A., 2011. Unpacking burial and rank: the role of children in the first monumental cemeteries of Western Europe (4600-4300 BC). Antiquity, 85, pp. 772-786. 
 Day, J.D.,1989. Rituals in stone: Early greek grave epigrams and monuments. Journal of Hellenic Studies [e-journal], 109, pp. 16-28. Available through: JSTOR [accessed February 18^th, 2012]