...Ethics...

I have the feeling that I'll be a bad archaeologist. Or perhaps a good archaeologist, but a bad ethical archaeologist. This may be my mother's fault for letting me study bones in the University of Winnipeg labs when I was a child and she a student. But anyhow.

I entirely agree, first of all, that the dead should be treated with respect, even the remains of animals, but I know too that they are dead. Personally I am not religious, which is a different conversation, and find the dead fascinating in their complexity and the complexity of their lives. And, so, I have a difficult time viewing certain concerns as ethically correct of incorrect.

With that said, on the subject of repatriation or of reburial my concern, on an ethical basis, is not on the idea itself but in terms of respect for the dead. The new law for England and Wales pisses me off a little in the two year time period, the absolute. If reburial is that... necessary than it should be agreed upon to be done as soon as analysis is complete. What I mean to say is that the study should be given enough time to at least study the remains sufficiently, yet within a fair time frame (without the option of renegotiation). Certainly not until after the record is published as that can take decades.

In terms of reburial, I would suggest that the archaeologists/anthropologists be on board. If I recall the new law (see vikingsatweymouth.weebly.com for a discussion on this subject), it does not state how or where the remains must be reburied, only that they are at some point. So, theoretically wouldn't we be doing more harm than good, to the dead, if we reburied them elsewhere or under a different ritual. One might even argue, depending on how old the deceased is (are) that one may not be repatriated. Just because remains are found in a modern geographical local does not make that person a part of those people.

This raises many arguments, on both sides. I would say that if it were possible to reconstruct a burial -- such as a thirteenth century Roman Catholic grave in Italy -- than by all means return the person. Reburial in this way, in respecting the dead, may not have, or may have less harm upon, the deceased in whatever context one believes it may have, be it the afterlife or not. However, if we simply toss these remains into a pit out back than it's simply idiotic, selfish, and hypocritical, and above all disrespectful.

There are still further issues, such as the First Nations in Canada. Many archaeologists and museums desire to work with these nations, sometimes in returning artifacts or remains and sometimes in allowing these nations to perform the proper rituals connected with these artifacts being studied or shown. We need to construct a structure in which reburial and repatriation can be viewd and practiced in contemporary times, between various groups, and yet, most importantly, recognize that the deceased should be respected to the best of the abilities of the living.