Monument Analysis

Section summary

:General

:Presbyterian

:Anglican

:Reformed Episcopal

:Wesleyan

:Roman Catholic

        The way the group I am part of chose to go about picking the mausoleums, for our project was due to one simple fact. We as a group did not want to have to look at tomb stones and check if they were kids graves and all that kind of work. We opted to go with mausoleum cause they were the easier to do and were much more visually appealing. The scope of our project from what I can recall was based on the fact we were not entirely sure how many graves we should include. We as a group decided that we should just do them all to be on the safe side.  I find it hard for me to really state the problems or limitations on the project as I did miss a good chunk of the work due to being sick. I have to thank my awesome group for helping out and doing my share of the work on the research stuff.
       
      The first question our group came up with was: Does position of the mausoleum within the Ross Bay cemetery landscape provide any information regarding the individual? The simple answer to this is yes, based on just looking at the map taken from the Old Cemeteries Society of Victoria's website. The section's of Ross Bay break down based on religion and a general area. The mausoleums in these areas are used as a way for families to show off their wealth while still maintaining a connection to their religious group. This becomes evident with the Rosso family mausoleum, which represents the families religious status among the Roman Catholic religion. This is evident by the crucifix on top of the mausoleum. It was also interesting to note that this was the newest mausoleum that our group found being built in the mid to late 90's. The other part I find really interesting with the division of the Ross Bay Cemetery was the "W" section in the general area. This area "Contains the Cross of Sacrifice, the Naval Memorial and many graves of soldiers who died in Victoria" (OCS). The reason that this is becomes interesting is that, this houses the dead based on military service rather then religious status. This makes sense as time change and the need for graves become more evident. All of this relates to the study that Garazhian and Papoli Yazdi did with their article "Mortuary practices in Bam after the earthquake: An ethnoarchaeological study."


         The next question our group came up with was: Was mausoleum use limited to, or favored by, a certain social class or social group in the Ross Bay Cemetery? The answer to this is, yes also. This can best be looked at by using the Rithet mausoleum. Thanks to Laura Chambers in our group who went and found out all the background information on all these people. Throughout all her research she was able to find out that the Rithet family was the most prominent family that Victoria had at the time. Laura found out all this info through the use of the website Victoria’s Victoria. The Rithet family prominence can be easily seen by looking at there mausoleum which is easily one biggest mausoleums that is in Ross Bay Cemetery.


http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?vps=2&hl=en&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=210630812341427334305.0004b7c446c9d63b9b5d9


Work Cited
Garazhian O and  Papoli Yazdi, L. 2008. Mortuary practices in Bam after the earthquake : An ethnoarchaeological Study. Journal of Social Archaeology. P. 94-112


Leona Taylor and Dorothy Mindenhall, “Index of Historical Victoria Newspapers,” Victoria’s Victoria, http://www.victoriasvictoria.ca/, 2007


Old Cemetery Society of Victoria. Ross Bay Cemetery. Available at http://www.oldcem.bc.ca/cem_rb.htm. Last Accessed February 19 2012.