This doesn’t have a precise parallel in the archaeological record, but in crude terms it does evoke a range of shapes and sizes of funerary monument known across southern and central Scandinavia from the later Iron Age. The pyre set between two triads of low stone uprights. We later learn that Faye had marked this tree to be used for her pyre, and in doing so the protective magical barrier around their home is broken.īack at their home, the pyre is already part-prepared, several paces outside the main door. Once at a small jetty, he hauls the tree out and carries it across the snowy woodland to the pyre situated outside the cabin. He carries the trunk single-handedly and ties it to the back of the boat and drags it downstream. We start with a birch tree marked with a hand-print that Kratos then cuts down. Now through the early bits of the game I’ve viewed thanks to the YouTube video, the walking dead are among the enemies, and stone coffins containing treasures and human remains populate the environment, but here I want to discuss how a cremation ceremony serves as not only the starting point, but informs the structure and direction of the gameplay as Faye is cremated, then her ashes collected, and the quest is directed towards honouring her wishes of scattering her ashes from a mountaintop. Therefore, taking forward Nicholson’s (2019) funerary archaeogame focus, let me make some observations on the funeral of Faye, the giantess wife of Kratos, which creates a sombre start to God of War. I watched the opening sections of the game-play in this fantastic YouTube video by Jacksepticeye. To my delight, one of my super-helpful doctoral researchers – Abigail Downer – alerted my attention to the prominence of a cremation ceremony at the very start of the PS4 game God of War (2018), set in a fantastical yet detailed virtual world of Norse mythology. Moving forward, I’m keen to learn more regarding how video games portray mortuary archaeology, and early medieval funerals and cremation practices in past societies. Yet to my limited knowledge, Rachael’s is the principal discussion of the mortuary dimensions of past societies portrayed in video games. Another recent valuable collection is by Mol et al. The growing interest in archaeogaming owes a considerable debt to the fieldwork and writings of Andrew Reinhard whose Archaeogaming website is a rich resource of themes and debates. His book is recently out and also called Archaeogaming(Reinhard 2018). For example, in the forthcoming book of the 2nd student conference, from April 2017 – Public Archaeology: Arts of Engagement – there is chapter by former student Afnan Ezzeldin about ‘Archaeogaming as public archaeology’, identifying the rich potential for games to educate and inspire people to explore the human past. Rachael’s work is part of a burgeoning literature on archaeogaming – exploring archaeology in games as well as the archaeology of games. Published in the select proceedings of the conference – The Public Archaeology of Death – Nicholson explores themes in the mortuary archaeology of MMOs, MMORPGs and MOBAs (Nicholson 2019). These include not often only past material cultures (including treasures), buildings and landscapes – some broadly inspired in different measures by archaeological and historical sources as well as legendary and mythological themes – but of particular interest to me they can sometimes include direct inspirations from past funerary monuments and practices.Īddressing ‘mortuary archaeology’ in virtual gaming worlds, I recently edited a fascinating book chapter by Rachael Nicholson deriving from her 2016 student Dead Relevant conference paper. Modern video games are packed with archaeologically inspired themes and materials. Hence, no matter how fantastical, they afford an unrivalled sense of navigating seascapes and landscapes that is deserving of archaeologists’ attention. In particular, they are immersive and interactive past worlds. Still, I recognise them as an important medium by which imagined past times are disseminated and engaged with in the present. I don’t play video games – I’d get way too addicted way too quickly.
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