{"id":21381,"date":"2015-05-25T05:55:41","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T09:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=21381"},"modified":"2015-05-16T09:12:09","modified_gmt":"2015-05-16T13:12:09","slug":"putting-flowers-on-graves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting flowers on graves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Many of us will observe Memorial Day by putting flowers on the graves of loved ones.\u00a0 This custom seems almost universal.\u00a0 In fact, archaeologists studying the burial site of a stone-age woman have found that the cave dwellers put flowers on her grave.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a beautiful, touching custom.\u00a0 It feels deeply meaningful, but what does it mean?\u00a0 Why do you think people do this?<\/p>\n

From Stone Age mourners \u2018placed flowers on graves\u2019 \u2013 Telegraph<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Placing flowers on the graves of loved ones seems to be as old as mankind, a new study suggests.<\/p>\n

Remains of fossilised pollen were found on the decorative tomb of a Stone Age woman known as the Red Lady found in the El Mir\u00f3n cave at Cantabria, Spain.<\/p>\n

The reddish colour of the bones and the sediment in which they lie point to the use of ochre as part of the interment while engravings suggest a ritual burial.<\/p>\n

\n

Archaeologists found the remains date back more than 16,000 years ago and come from a period when the ice age was retreating and the climate was improving.<\/p>\n

The flowers would have been colourful in an overwise drab environment and their appearance in the cave did not seem \u201cnatural.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maria Jose Iriarte of the University of the Basque Country said: \u201cThey put whole flowers on the tomb, but it has not been possible to say whether the aim of placing plants was to do with a ritual offering for the dead person, or whether El Mir\u00f3n cave was inhabited between the Middle Palaeolithic and the Bronze Age and therefore contains a significant archaeological deposit.\u201d<\/p>\n

However she ruled out these plants may have been used for food or therapeutic purposes and added \u201cthe most plausible hypothesis is that complete flowers were placed on the tomb.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has not been possible to say whether the aim of placing these plants was to give the dead woman a ritual offering, or whether they fulfilled a more simple purpose linked, for example, to hygiene or cleansing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith their small, generally white or yellowish flowers we would not regard them as colourful plants today although we cannot apply the Principle of Actualism to human conduct in these merely aesthetic matters.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is worth lingering awhile on the scientist\u2019s speculation.\u00a0 The Principle of Actualism<\/a> is the assumption that what holds true in the present holds true in the past.\u00a0 She dismisses \u201cmerely aesthetic matters\u201d and speculates that the flowers might have been a ritual offering to the dead person.\u00a0 But maybe the human being who lived in caves was essentially the same as human beings who who live in climate-controlled houses and was motivated by the same impulse.\u00a0 Maybe what holds true in the past holds true in the present.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of us will observe Memorial Day by putting flowers on the graves of loved ones.\u00a0 This custom seems almost universal.\u00a0 In fact, archaeologists studying the burial site of a stone-age woman have found that the cave dwellers put flowers on her grave. It\u2019s a beautiful, touching custom.\u00a0 It feels deeply meaningful, but what does […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,21],"tags":[2606,3823,1425],"class_list":["post-21381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-holidays","tag-death","tag-flowers","tag-memorial-day"],"yoast_head":"\nPutting flowers on graves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many of us will observe Memorial Day by putting flowers on the graves of loved ones.\u00a0 This custom seems almost universal.\u00a0 In fact, archaeologists\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putting flowers on graves\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many of us will observe Memorial Day by putting flowers on the graves of loved ones.\u00a0 This custom seems almost universal.\u00a0 In fact, archaeologists\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-25T09:55:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-05-16T13:12:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/\",\"name\":\"Putting flowers on graves\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-25T09:55:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-05-16T13:12:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Many of us will observe Memorial Day by putting flowers on the graves of loved ones.\u00a0 This custom seems almost universal.\u00a0 In fact, archaeologists\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2015\/05\/putting-flowers-on-graves\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Putting flowers on graves\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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