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Forensic archaeologists, also known as forensic anthropologists, use their knowledge of anthropology to help identify human remains, usually in medical, legal or historical situations. Forensic archaeologists employ archaeological methods to assist in the excavation of human or animal remains. When an archaeologist examines preserved human or animals remains they also look for associated artifacts which may help decipher the history. Through science human remains can reveal vast amounts of information about the health and diet of the individual, where they grew up, types of work they did and cause of death. Also we can learn about burial practices and beliefs, rituals associated with death.
What is a forensic archaeologist?
Can use Antiquity- Preserved human remains pg 101
Some interesting examples are : Iceman, Bog bodies, body of Tutankhamun.
The treatment and display of human remains. Most museums and medical schools have a collection of human remains of some sort:
• disarticulated leg or arm bones, fingers, jaws or whole skulls, some that were buried and some cremated
• whole skeletons
• well-preserved and not-so-well-preserved bodies.
However, it is only fairly recently that the treatment and display of human remains has become an ethical issue. This arose predominantly through the concerns of indigenous peoples such as the Australian Aboriginal people, American Indians, and others for whom it is taboo to disturb the dead. It led to an impassioned debate, and requests for repatriation of their ancestors’ bones held in museums and institutions around the world. A collection of skeletal remains of known historical people in an Australian collection being used for scientific study (the Tasmanian Crowther Collection) were returned to the Aboriginal community and eventually underwent a traditional burial. The conditions under which the bones were originally collected were appalling and the Tasmanian government, on ethical grounds, could do nothing else.
Not all scientists are happy about the return of ancient bones as they regard them as an integral part of archaeological research and ‘an important source of information about both biological and cultural aspects of prior human populations’ and critical as well ‘to the field of forensics’.
Despite the one-time authority of science over the dead, scientists have to consider the sacred and spiritual beliefs of those cultures with which they come in contact. It is now generally agreed that if the bones are from pre-1000 CE, custody favours the scientists who must treat the bones in the same professional way as other artefacts.
Unfortunately, it was not always the way in the past to show respect for the dead, particularly with regard to the treatment of Egyptian mummies.
• Some of the greatest damage to mummies was carried out by exactly those who prepared their ‘houses of eternity’ and knew where the deceased nobles and royalty were buried. Often, in order to get to the gold and The definition of human remains is used to mean the bodies, parts of bodies and cremated remains of once living people … This includes osteological material (whole or part skeletons, individual bones or fragments of bone or teeth), soft tissue including organs and skin, embryos and slide preparations of human tissue.
It is imperative that all forms of human remains be treated with respect as outlined in the Code of Ethics for Museums in Source 1.35.
"Human remains should be displayed in a manner consistent with professional standards and where known, taking into account the interests and beliefs of members of the community, ethnic or religious groups from whom the objects originated. They must be presented with great tact and respect for the feelings of human dignity held by all people. "
What do you think this means? Write down your ideas? How can bodies be presented with tact and respect?
What is you opinion of these plaster cast bodies from Pompeii?
Is this tact and respect?
Unfortunately, it was not always the way in the past to show respect for the dead, particularly with regard to the treatment of Egyptian mummies.
• Some of the greatest damage to mummies was carried out by exactly those who prepared their ‘houses of eternity’ and knew where the deceased nobles and royalty were buried. Often, in order to get to the gold and jeweled amulets hidden within the mummy wrapping, they tore the linen bandages and damaged the mummy in the process, even to the extent of carelessly throwing it to one side, despite knowing of the written curses denouncing anyone who violated the tomb or the body, and that the deceased would be denied an afterlife. And yet their greed was so great that they ignored such things .
• Giovanni Belzoni once mentioned that he had pulled at the hair of a mummy he found in the Valley of the Kings and it had detached from its head, and many European travelers believed it would never do to return home from Egypt without at least a mummy and an embalmed crocodile.
Does this display in the British Museum achieve the criteria set out in Code of Ethics for Museums???
• Giovanni Belzoni once mentioned that he had pulled at the hair of a mummy he found in the Valley of the Kings and it had detached from its head, and many European travellers believed it would never do to return home from Egypt without at least a mummy and an embalmed crocodile.
Victorian dinner parties would often feature the unwrapping of some dead Egyptian English travellers brought home for this purpose. In fact museums are full of ex-souvenirs travelers purchased in the 1800 and early 1900's. If they couldn't take a whole mummy, it was possible to buy a body part! Some doctors of this age believed that health benefits could be achieved by grinding down Egyptian mummies and drinking the powder as a tonic!
Even Howard Carter, illustrious discoverer of Tutankhamun, in a rush to look on the face of the young king, unwrapped the mummy to examine it in 1926, and was apparently not as careful as his notes indicated. He did not re-wrap it, so that it deteriorated substantially over the next 42 years. In 1968, an X-ray examination showed that both of the mummy’s legs were removed from the pelvis to retrieve some of the jewellery, and the head was severed from the body in order to prise the death mask off .
Recently the royal mummies have been studied through DNA testing and CAT scanning to learn more about their lives and relationships. The previously identified body of a female mummy has been identified through DNA as being the mother of Tutantkhamun. Also the mystery body found in KV 55 in the Valley of the Kings was identifed as Tut's brother or father.
Compare these images. In the 1926 photo on the right, the chest was still intact. The clavicles were still in place. Note also the beaded cap on the mummified head, which is entirely absent in the previous CT scan image. Over the chest are several necklaces which Carter records in his notes as deliberately left in place because they were stuck firm within the resins coating the body. Perhaps the same was true for the beaded cap. Lastly, note the remains of eyelids. Compare this with a modern photo of Tut’s head:
What has changed???
In sum total, theories for ancient damage to the chest are probably best abandoned. Something must have happened between 1926, when the mummy was reinterred, and 1968, when it was next officially studied for the purpose of X-raying. In the interim was an event that involved nearly the entire planet: World War II. The theory is that during the war, when in fact the ancient tombs of Egypt were left largely unguarded, modern raiders entered the tomb to retrieve the embedded necklaces and beaded cap from the mummy. They cut through the chest to keep the necklaces intact, causing great damage, and roughly handled the head to remove the beaded cap (thus the frail eyelids disintegrated).
Interested? Learn more about Tut's death.
In a recent survey carried out in Great Britain, commissioned by English Heritage, over 90% of museum goers who were questioned agreed that museums should be allowed to display human remains.
The Egyptian authorities have struggled with the fact all the famous kings of the New Kingdom bodies have luckily survived to the present day. Currently they are housed in a new display in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, designed and managed to maintain a respectful display. It is cooled, darkened room and visitor numbers are restricted, no photos are allowed or talking.
Ancient Egyptian royal mummies were locked away by their President Anwar Sadat in the early 1980's for several years because he believed that gawking tourists violated the dignity of the dead. A new mummy room was created and opened in 2015 so the bodies of these famous pharaohs could be viewed in a manner that was respectful to their authority and importance.
Egypt reopened a display of 3,500 year-old royal mummies on in 2015 hoping the remains of its pharaonic ancestors would help attract tourists scared away by Moslem militant attacks.
Recently identifed, the remains of Hatshepsut are also on display in the royal mummy room.
What kind of damage has been done to Tut's body and when did it happen?
What did the technology reveal about his cause of death?
DO NOW:
DO NOW:
1 Are you for or against the display of human bodies in museums? Explain reasons for your view.
2 Do you think that the fascination with mummies in museums has contributed to the frequency of their representation in pop culture, or could it be that the pop culture representations have stimulated an interest in the real thing? Justify your answer.
3 Describe how mummies tend to be depicted in popular culture and how it can influence a person’s perception of ancient Egyptian culture.
Investigate further: Outline the controvesy surrounding the ownership of Otzi the Iceman.
Why did this happen?
What do you surprising or inappropriate about this issue?
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