麻豆社

Archaeologist Rose Ferraby considers the grave as a site of slow accumulation, where the lives and deaths of human history intercut and overlap. She visits the British Museum to hold in her hands the Folkton Drums, three decorated chalk objects discovered in the grave of a Neolithic child in the Yorkshire Wolds over 5000 years ago. She reflects on how human rituals of death have sought to meet the loss of bereavement, with the practice of installing grave goods helping to bridge a sense of loss and love that can touch us still today. There鈥檚 a peculiar privilege of an archaeologist鈥檚 work to encounter and handle the remains of previous generations, to become closely connected with the sites where a life has been shifted into the land. Archaeology, Rose concludes, is about people, empathy and humanity.

Produced by Mark Smalley
A Reduced Listening production for 麻豆社 Radio 3