representation in annihilation

After finding the midden of journals, the biologist describes the lighthouse as a reliquary. Reliquaries generally contain the body part of a deceased saint; they are both art objects and holy objects and are cherished as containers of organic material that is directly linked to God. The lighthouse may not contain the bodies of all past explorers, but it does contain their aforementioned "flimsy gravestones" (110). These explorers who died in Area X are also known to be absorbed by Area X in death, which the biologist admits "is not the same thing here as back across the border" (144). The explorers live on in the landscape of Area X as saints are thought by Christians to live on through God. Through this reliquary metaphor, VanderMeer depicts Area X as a sacred presence in the world.