Museum mulls re-burial of historic bones

[altyfc]

Skeletons in a London museum could be given a Christian burial as curators look for more ethical ways of keeping human remains than in storeroom boxes.

 

The Museum of London's collection of 17,000 skeletons includes over 10,000 from medieval hospital grounds in London's Spitalfields and many more from the 14th century Black Death. Other remains go back to the Roman occupation and before.

 

But ethical problems have arisen.

 

"The Church is concerned that the remains of Christians disturbed from their graves should be reinterred on or in consecrated ground, either as soon as possible or after an agreed period of time to allow for study," said Joseph Elders, archaeology officer for the Church of England's Council for the Care of Churches.

 

The museum said several options were being considered.

 

"Reburial of some of the skeletons is one option," it said in a statement. "Another might be long term storage in a church or cemetery."

 

Storage on consecrated ground would allow researchers access to the remains. The museum was currently creating a database of its stored remains, a spokeswoman said, and any change in policy would be after this was complete.

 

The issue is not entirely new, with Aboriginal groups pushing for the return and reburial of their ancestors' remains from Britain.

 

Other museums were less keen to consider giving up their dead. The Natural History Museum said it believed its examples were necessary for scientific research and had no plans to bury any.

 

The British Museum's collection, dominated by ancient Egyptian mummies, would also not be buried, a museum spokeswoman said. That also applied to the 2,000-year-old Lindow Man, found preserved in a bog in northern England.

 

"He's one of our star attractions so he won't be reburied," said Hannah Boulton. "What the Museum of London is talking about is Christian burial, and most of our bodies are too old."

 

Aaron