Ritual Sacrifice May Have Shaped Dog Domestication
[no-caption] Marc Lester/Getty Images In the Siberian Arctic, the Ob River flows lazily across vast, cold stretches of tundra. In the city …
Can Cryptocurrency Revolutionize the Rituals of Money?
[no-caption] Andrew Baker/Getty Images Objects—pieces of paper, coins, lumps of precious metal—may serve as currency and represent specific monetary values, but what …
Lessons on Social Difference from an Ancient Maya City | Ryan Collins | TEDxBrandeisUniversity – This Anthro Life
Hey Listeners, we wanted to share some news. As you have probably noticed, TAL has been slow to post as of late. …
The Basics of Mass Suicide
Mass suicide is not as uncommon as you’d think nor is it a modern phenomenon or even an event confined to crazed …
Putting the Fun in Funeral
What describes your life? Is it a camera? A football? Maybe a plane? I have a hard time picking an object that …
Death of the Northern White Rhino
This week, the last male northern white rhino, Sudan, finally died from age-related complications along with a newly developed infection on the …
Coco: How Pixar uses Mexican culture to talk to kids about death
This past Friday night, my Disney-obsessed best friend dragged me to watch Coco with her at Harland Cinema. Okay, okay, you got …
The Weird, Wild World of Mortuary Customs
A couple of months ago, I attended the funeral of a friend. Howard was almost 90 years old when he died, and …
Why This Paleolithic Burial Site Is So Strange (and So Important)
Ivory beads and ochre—affixed to the pelvic bones of a child—likely decorated the burial clothing of this 10-year-old interred at Sunghir some …
On Fat Tuesday, Break an Egg Over Someone’s Head
A group of hard-working young market traders in Antigua, Guatemala, take a break to smash cascarones over each other’s heads. Dawn Starin …
Funeral Traditions in Tana Toraja
Death is something that is unavoidable. Whether you have experienced the death of a close one or have yet to do so, …
Southern Christian Mourning
In the fall of my sophomore year, my friend Kalyssa, who attended Georgia State University, killed herself. While suicide is in itself …
The Death of a Hungry God
[no-caption] Paul Keil One evening in August 2014, a wild elephant was accidentally killed in Gajbari village* in Assam, a state in …
The Chinese History That Is Written in Bone
These “oracle bone” fragments, some of which show an ancient Chinese script, are housed at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. The …
Why Do We Wrap Presents?
[no-caption] Buppha Wuttifery/Getty Images The holiday season is here. That means presents under Christmas trees, next to menorahs, accompanying Kwanzaa candles, traded …
Death and Dying 101
Students from the author’s class on death and dying explore Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Anita Hannig Back in February, on …
The Struggle to Protect a Tree at the Heart of Hopi Culture
To Hopi traditionalists—Hopis who practice traditional culture—the humble one-seed juniper tree has deep cultural meaning. Mark Sykes A rumbling, low boom unfurled …
The Church of the Solar Eclipse
Extreme eclipse chasers travel the world roughly every 18 months to witness a total solar eclipse from inside the path of totality. …
The Perils and Privileges of an Amazonian Hallucinogen
As practices associated with the use of ayahuasca grow in popularity, so do concerns about the appropriation of Indigenous traditions. Barbara Fraser …
How and Why Hazing Evolved
Sailors aboard the USS Lexington celebrate crossing the equator with an elaborate hazing ritual on April 5, 1944. Participants include Her Highness …
Graduation as seen by faculty
Last Friday, as my last work event at Whittier College (since my postdoc contract is finishing up), I went to graduation. A few observations …
Eating People Is Wrong—But It’s Also Widespread and Sacred
This 15th-century depiction of cannibalistic practices was inspired by Marco Polo’s writings about traveling through Asia. Bibliothèque Nationale/Wikimedia Commons This article was origin…
Aboriginal Mortuary Rituals
Similar to many practices that we’ve discussed in the blog and in class, Aboriginal mortuary rituals in Australia are much different than …
Wrestling With the Culture of Drug Testing in Sports
Lutte avec frappe, or “wrestling with punches,” the most popular sport in Senegal, adopted international anti-doping rules in 2015. Mark Hann On …