Criminal Profiling and Archaeology

Investigating Myth and Ritual - Artifacts

Ubiquity of Greek Mythology and Rituals

Greek mythology and ritual significantly influenced Western civilization. Many modern buildings are close copies of the ancient sites in Athens, Mycenae, Olympia and Delphi, ancient sites that are steeped in myth and ritual. Ancient texts that are full of myth and ritual like Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod's Theogeny are still widely read today. Ancient myths such as Hercules and Odysseus have even made it to television. Also, many pieces of art containing aspects of ancient Greek mythology were created during the Renaissance, the rebirth of ancient civilisation (14th to 17th century). Greek gods and heroes show up in thousands of Renaissance sculptures, paintings and frescoes.

In addition to the many obvious examples of how Greek mythology and ritual has influenced Western civilization, there are many other more subtle influences. Have you ever wondered about the similarity between Lazarus’ resurrection and the many Greek myths that involve people going to and returning from the land of the dead? These myths probably come from the ancient ideas about the springtime rejuvenation of life after winter. Have you ever wondered about the fact that there were twelve gods in the Greek pantheon and that Jesus had twelve apostles? Another example of Greek myth and ritual in modern times can be found in the Orthodox Church. In the Orthodox Church people give ex voto (in promise) offerings in the form small brass plaques. These plaques usually contain images of body parts such as an ear or leg. This ritual comes from the ancient cult of Asclepios, the god of healing. It is also worth noting that the altars in cruciform churches face east (towards paradise) just as the altars in ancient Greek temples faced east (towards Helios, the sun God).

Using Ancient Myth and Ritual in Criminal Profiling Education

These ubiquitous ancient artifacts can act as the foundation for the novel approach to teaching criminal profiling described in this work and summarized here.

Ancient Artifacts: use sculptures, paintings, writings, etc. that depict ancient rituals and myths.
Use these ancient artifacts to demonstrate how brutal human behaviour was justified in ancient mythology. This will introduce students to brutal human behaviour and the concept of myth as interface between ritual and the world. Rituals will initially be presented without their associated mythology. As soon as the associted myths are presented students will understand their importance. Without myth, rituals are meaningless.
Case study (Knossos): investigating the ancient site at Knossos will familiarize students with the investigative process - basing conclusions on evidence and carefully using myth to guide the investigation. This case study will also demonstrate what can go wrong when myths are used carelessly. Several theories about Knossos will be compared to show their relative strengths and weaknesses.
Drawing parallels between archaeology and criminal investigation (using actual cases) will ease students into criminal investigation. Investigative techniques that were demonstrated in the case study of Knossos will be translated into the domain of criminal investigation. In this way, archaeology will act as scaffolding in criminal profiling education, constraining students temporarily so that they can develop necessary skills without the distraction of the full complexity of the subject.
Similarly, drawing parallels between the ancient myth-ritual relationship and the modern crime-personal myth relationship (using actual cases) will ease students into criminal profiling. Students will also be introduced to myth adaptation. The crimes that are presented will make little or no sense without the associated personal myths and students will begin to realise the importance of looking at crimes through criminal's personal myths. It will only be at this stage, after developing the necessary investigative and myth reconstruction skills, that students will be fully exposed to violent and sexual criminal behaviour.
Case study (West Memphis 3) - the culmination of this learning process wil be to see how all of the lessons apply to an actual case. Of particular importance will be the juxtaposition of the myth that investigators imposed on the crime (satanism) and the rich personal myth of the actual criminal.

Though this case-based/myth-based approach to teaching criminal profiling could be taught in a variety of ways, the most economical way to bring together the wide range of required media is using the Web. The Web also enables linking among related cases, facillitating the case comparison process that is required in this approach. Additionally, the Web already has much of the necesary materials at various locations. A set of Web pages (structured as suggested above) could make these distributed resources available to students all around the world. Finally, a Web-based asynchronous discussion forum would enable students to share ideas and information about what they are learning.

In summary, archaeology can be used to teach students about investigations while myths can be used as a tool when educating investigators about criminal behaviour. By thinking of criminals as mythmakers and myths as extensions of ritual, investigators can gain a basic understanding of criminal behaviour. Also, by seeing the complex reconstruction process in the familiar and non-threatening setting of ancient mythology and archaeology, investigators can also become comfortable with their role as objective myth reconstructors before launching into the study of unusually violent crime. Thus myth can act as a bridge between weak and strong understanding of criminal behaviour and investigation. To appreciate the importance of having such a bridge, consider some difficulties that investigators encounter when presented with crimes that involve some sort of psychopathology.

Fantasy as motive: One of the hardest lessons to learn is that some crimes do not have simple, familiar motives like anger, fear or jealousy but rather are motivated by complex fantasies, what I have been calling personal myths in this work. In such crimes the primary motive of the perpetrator is to practice the ritual that accompanies his personal myth, to act out and possibly develop his fantasy. Trying to understand this type of crime using our own views and values usually leads to misunderstandings and confusion. Instead, criminal profilers try to see inside the criminal’s fantasy, reconstruct his personal myth using the evidence from the crime scene. Viewing myths as extensions of rituals, criminals as mythmakers and themselves as myth reconstructors can help investigators become familiar with the concept of fantasy as motive before encountering the confusion inherent in such a criminal case.
Looking into the abyss and seeing yourself:

"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look long into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you."

Frederick Wilhelm Nietzche

Disruptive politics and personalities: Many investigators become disillusioned when they learn that egos and politics often disrupt and derail cases, leaving criminals free to commit more crimes. By first seeing how this can happen in an archaeological excavation (see Wunderlick) investigators can again gain some distance from the situation and learn that such occurrences are not uncommon and are not necessarily their fault. Also, learning how an archaeological investigation can go awry can help investigators avoid such unfortunate occurrences in criminal investigations where the dynamics are virtually identical.

Signature - Artifacts of Personal Myths

One aspect of criminal investigation that has not yet been dealt with directly is evidence - the most important artifacts in a crime. When a crime is commited the perpetrator often leaves evidence at the scene that relate to his personal myth like the type of knot that was used to restrain a victim, a specific type of injury or any sort of ritualistic behavior. Many serial killers mutilate and arrange their victims’ bodies and body parts purposefully to shock people or make it more difficult to identify their victims – thus making it more difficult to investigate the crimes. This in itself is a part of the criminal's personal myth. Put simply, anything that the criminal did that was not necessary to commit the crime is definitely a part of the criminal's myth. If a criminal does not have to do something but does it anyway, there is a reason that investigators should try to understand. Examining the meaning of these unnecessary acts will help investigators reconstruct the criminal's myth.

This is not to say that the acts that were necessary to commit a crime are not a part of a criminal's personal myth. Every act tells us something about the criminal. The more we know about what the criminal did and why, the better able we will be to reconstruct his personal myth. Even the criminal's favorite books and music should be included in an investigation because it might be a significant part of the criminal's personal myth. A picture, book or song could play a significant role.

General Conclusions

The fact that ancient myths have survived for two to three thousand years indicates that they are relevant and interesting to this day. That myths have remained relevant and interesting for so long implies that they contain something fundamental, something that all humans can relate to regardless of time or place. It is not just the content of the ancient myths that is fundamentally relevant and interesting to people, it is also the form. Ancient historians such as Herodotus and Thucydides presented large amounts of factual information about ancient Greece but their work is virtually unknown to the general public. Myths present information in a terse dramatic form that grips the imagination of children and adults alike.

Educators in all domains, not just criminal profiling or archaeology can learn from the example set by ancient mythology. Educators can examine myths to learn techniques for making more enduring and appealing educational environments. For example, learning how to present information in a terse dramatic form (like myths) could make learning environments more engaging. Actually, cognitive scientist have already rediscovered that stories are key in education and some have rediscovered the importance of making the stories dramatic and engaging. However, the one aspect of mythology that has not yet been rediscovered by learning theorists is the importance of story adaptation. People need to be able to adapt stories to fit new events and new understanding, to resonate with their current situation. In most modern story-based education environments the stories are static, retold without input from the students and without evolving over time. At first blush it seems that it would be difficult to create coherent and stable learning environments in which students can adapt stories to resonate with their current situation. However, we have excellent role models in the ancient Greeks who did it thousands of years ago without modern technology. The ancient Greeks combined drama, music and story telling and adapated their stories to fit the moment and their audience.

Computers are the obvious technology when talking about creating adaptive educational environments. Computers are the only technology that can manipulate information. Additionally, computers have reached the point where they can present many forms of media in unison. Computer games such as Myst and Riven are excellent examples of this capability. However, even these computer games lack the drama and adaptability of mythology and therefore will not endure for more than a few years. A good story teller will never tell the same story in exactly the same way, knowing that this would bore the audience. Also, different audiences need to hear different stories. So, this work culminates with a challenge to future educational technology developers - create dramatic story-based educational environments that are as engaging and enduring as the ancients myths, keeping in mind that story adaptation is the key to success.

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