ABOUT ME

 

 

Welcome to my site; it's so nice to meet you!

 

My name is Nikki Simon, in April (2025) I wrapped up a Master's in Archaeology at Simon Fraser Universtiy. My research for the last two years has been the Klondike Gold Rush dead: relocating the dead for whom we have no estimate, understanding the mechanics surrounding death and commemoration during the gold rush, and exploring how the cultural and societal norms of the day impacted how the dead and the broader event have persisted through time, in record and memory.

 

Currently, I am a PhD student in Anthropology at the University of Victoria, with my research centering on internment-related mortuary spaces across Canada, with the Spirit Lake Internment Camp Cemetery in Quebec being the locus. I want to understand the intersection between the life histories of these spaces and the identity and agency of those contained within and those that cared for them.​

 

I don't think it would be inaccurate to say that I have held a fondness for religious and mortuary spaces for even longer than I have wanted to be an archaeologist—and I have wanted to be an archaeologist from a VERY young age! There is just something about the materiality of these spaces: the way they trigger sense and emotion and bring you closer to those who built and occupy them, like old friends ready to tell you their stories.

 

So - if any of the above interests you - join me on my journey, and together we will discover what becomes of the dead!