Treatment of the remains found in crypts:
- how and when should they be examined?
- how to deal with them following their examination?
- what information about them should be made available to the public?
- should (and in what way) the burials discovered be presented to the public and exhibited?
Some more dilemmas are as follows1 Mark Strauss, “When Is It Okay To Dig Up The Dead?”, National Geographic, 07.04.2016, [accessed 10.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/04/160407-archaeology-religion-repatriation-bones-skeletons. For more see Duncan Sayer, Ethics and Burial Archaeology (series Debates in Archaeology), Bristol Classical Press, 2017.:
- who the remains might belong to?
- where is the boundary between the bodies of the ancestors and “anthropological material”?
- is there any difference between the remains of anonymous and known people in investigating and displaying them?
The ongoing discussions in the circle of scientists, and not only them, clearly reveal the sensitivity of this subject. Legal acts and Codes of Professional Ethics try to define this2For example, in Great Britain: Margaret Cox, Paul Kneller, “Crypt Archaeology: An Approach”, IFA paper, no. 3, [accessed 10.09.2018], [electronic], available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.112.5229&rep=rep1&type=pdf; “Human Bones from Archaeological Sites: Guidelines for Producing Assessment Documents and Analytical Report”, Historic England, 2004, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: www.babao.org.uk/assets/Uploads-to-Web/eh-humanbones-assessments.pdf; “Code of Ethics”, British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, [accessed 05.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.babao.org.uk/assets/Uploads-to-Web/code-of-ethics.pdf; “Code of Practice”, British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, [accessed 05.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.babao.org.uk/assets/Uploads-to-Web/code-of-practice.pdf; “Archaeology and Burial Vaults. A Guidance Note for Churches”, Association of Diocesan and Cathedral Archaeologists, [accessed 01.10.2018], [electronic], available at: http://churcharchaeology.org/ADCA.html.. Though there are no common rules, several trends might be distinguished:
- if the decision to investigate the remains is made, it is necessary to ensure the collection of scientific data during the investigations;
- it is necessary to decide in advance and in collaboration with the related and interested parties (communities) on how to deal with the remains in the course of the investigations and after them.
The boundary of three generations is drawn between the “object of the investigation” and the “individual”, that is, as long as memory is alive, mere scientific interests cannot “dictate” the strategies for dealing with the remains.
Justina Poškienė
1. | ↑ | Mark Strauss, “When Is It Okay To Dig Up The Dead?”, National Geographic, 07.04.2016, [accessed 10.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2016/04/160407-archaeology-religion-repatriation-bones-skeletons. For more see Duncan Sayer, Ethics and Burial Archaeology (series Debates in Archaeology), Bristol Classical Press, 2017. |
2. | ↑ | For example, in Great Britain: Margaret Cox, Paul Kneller, “Crypt Archaeology: An Approach”, IFA paper, no. 3, [accessed 10.09.2018], [electronic], available at: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.112.5229&rep=rep1&type=pdf; “Human Bones from Archaeological Sites: Guidelines for Producing Assessment Documents and Analytical Report”, Historic England, 2004, [accessed 14.09.2019], [electronic], available at: www.babao.org.uk/assets/Uploads-to-Web/eh-humanbones-assessments.pdf; “Code of Ethics”, British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, [accessed 05.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.babao.org.uk/assets/Uploads-to-Web/code-of-ethics.pdf; “Code of Practice”, British Association of Biological Anthropology and Osteoarchaeology, [accessed 05.09.2018], [electronic], available at: www.babao.org.uk/assets/Uploads-to-Web/code-of-practice.pdf; “Archaeology and Burial Vaults. A Guidance Note for Churches”, Association of Diocesan and Cathedral Archaeologists, [accessed 01.10.2018], [electronic], available at: http://churcharchaeology.org/ADCA.html. |