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National Human Remains Guidelines in England
and the Educational use of Archaeological Human Remains
Simon Mays
English Heritage
The Guidelines
DCMS EH\C-of-E BABAO
Educational value of human remains is often not emphasised in guidelines on archaeological human remains
• Ethical debates in England & elsewhere mainly framed in terms of research versus reburial
• EH / CofE policy of use of partially or fully redundant churches to store remains
Do we need to use real bones for university teaching?
• DCMS, EH\C-of-E & BABAO guidelines say yes!
• Models / casts:• Do not adequately reproduce anatomical detail• Do not reproduce archaeological reality• Do not encompass range of natural and pathological
variability
Should we use real bones for handling sessions at public events?
• Why would we need to?
• DCMS guideline: emphasises risks involved
• EH/C-of-E guideline: models / casts may be preferable
• Some organisations do use real bones & report no problems
Different criteria affect research and teaching value of a collection
Research Teaching
Large collections √ X
Good bone preservation
√ √
Tight dating √ X
Articulated skeletons
√ Not always
Ethical issues in the use of human remains for teaching
• Knowledge-based ethics: the preservation of the information content of a collection
Actions: obligate behaviours that ensure the integrity of a collection
• Respect for human remains:
What does respect mean in practical terms?
Actions: Only use remains for their intended purpose; refrain from actions that are not consistent with this
Destructive sampling of human remains in student projects: how
can it be justified?
• Imperative of preservation of collections vs imperative toward gaining new knowledge from them
• Likelihood of useful knowledge being generated that could not be gained in another way
• Educational value to the student