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11th October 2012, 09:42 PM
Can anyone give me a definitive answer on what to do if you have a complete skeleton (human) in an evaluation trench section. i have been given conflicting advice from the relevent heritage planning bodies and the C of E archaeologist therfore I am unsure that if the site does not go to full excavation for cost reasons, I do not want to remove the bottom or top half of the skeleton and leave the rest in-situ. Thanks in advance.
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11th October 2012, 09:55 PM
Interesting prob.
If it ain't broke don't fix it is the rule. ie... if you have not 'disturbed it' then leave it./ If this is an evaluation then is the intention to return and dig more? In which case, could the remains be damaged? in which case remove it properly - after consultation with osteo/curator and client.
Mainly the rule would be leave jt... Coroner / Procurator Fiscal (Scotland) informed and or Police
Before you can even consider digging you would need an MOJ licence.
read this
http://www.scribd.com/full/453829?access...pf8n8yl352
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12th October 2012, 08:00 AM
just how can you have a compleat skeliton "in section", it would fall into the bottom of the trench wouldnt it? If it was me I would establish that it was articulated draw the section and leave it there. Then I would tell the coroner and put the mattewr back to the landowner.
Reason: your past is my past
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12th October 2012, 11:02 AM
what did you put in your wsi? where are you working and who for? is it part of a faculty? if it is in a known burial ground you should have decided what you were going to do before you started - if you didnt you shouldnt have started
if you are outside you should leave it be unless there is a risk that it will be damaged in which case you get an emergency license from the ministry of justice
If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about answers
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12th October 2012, 12:22 PM
Navajo,
It would be very difficult to give you a definative answer not knowing all the particulars of the project you are involved in. Moving remains, burials, bones, bone fragments etc from consecrated ground to different consecrated ground requires a faculty, no license is required. If exhuming and moving remains from consecrated gound and re-interring in the same grave plot, a license and faculty is required. These are just two examples to point out the necessity to consult those responsible for the project i.e. managers, CE archaeologists. I gather that your project is on CE grounds such as a church yard or known burial ground, the CE archaeologist has jurisdiction over these matters. This may be why your receiving conflicting information. I can only assume.
Additionally, it would be prudent to leave the remains in place until you can get the information from those who have the authority to make decisions regarding your matter. You'll need their input to move forward. Have a look at the links below FYI.
All the best.
http://www.archaeologyuk.org/adca/projects-issues.html
http://www.merton.gov.uk/community-livin...ations.htm
A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.
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13th October 2012, 12:46 PM
In an evaluation, we were told that if you exposed a 'half' skeleton in a trench, then you had to expand the trench to expose (and record and excavate) the rest of him/her. However, if you get a whiff of another skelly in that expansion bit, then leave it alone (developer only paying for what you find in the trench). Wouldn't recommend only excavating half a corpse. If you knew you were going to be excavating skellies, then the WSI should have set out a clear strategy for these situations. If you weren't expecting skellies, then the county mounty should get involved and a strategy should be clearly laid out before you start digging the rest of them...But that is in plan - not sure about section. I would suggest excavating all or nothing. If the development is going to dig it all out, then I would suggest 'all'.
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13th October 2012, 02:25 PM
Quote:I would suggest excavating all or nothing. If the development is going to dig it all out, then I would suggest 'all'.
...but only with the MoJ licence and (if appropriate) CE faculty. And the controlled lifting of human remains is mandatory if the site will be destroyed by contruction or other ground work - which will have to be delayed if necessary. Lifting human remains without the correct paperwork, or knowing they're there and leaving them to be JCB'd into a landfill lorry, aren't options.
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13th October 2012, 05:43 PM
The simplest answer is to not remove any of the skeleton. After all what benefit is there, considering that an evaluation's purpose is to determine the significance of remains, not to analyse or to 'preserve by record'? In evaluations, I always excavated just to the top of the human remains and didn't even fully expose them.
Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, if you have several metres of burials and need to determine how deep and concentrated they are, both to determine significance and to give the poor manager some data from which to cost an excavation. Or if the remains were clearly not going to survive in situ, e.g. just under plough horizon, changes in hydrology, etc.
Not sure that helps the OP...
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13th October 2012, 07:33 PM
In my experience skellies always get trashed if you rebury them - or, in at least one case I know of, machined-off by the next unit to play on the site who hadn't read the previous lot's eval report properly. Once exposed it's better for the actual remains to be lifted, ignoring the legal/moral/ethical minefield. After all, the trenching has already compromised their context? On the uni training excav I had inflicted on me in my youth I had a merry afternoon dispatched with a hacksaw to saw them all off flush with the sections... :0 [the rest got recovered as part of the next season though]
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13th October 2012, 08:06 PM
P Prentice Wrote:what did you put in your wsi? where are you working and who for? is it part of a faculty? if it is in a known burial ground you should have decided what you were going to do before you started - if you didnt you shouldnt have started
if you are outside you should leave it be unless there is a risk that it will be damaged in which case you get an emergency license from the ministry of justice
Exactly what I would have said! Only addition would be generally any site I have worked on our WSIs stipulated as standard that for evaluation human remains would be uncovered, recorded and left in situ. Watching briefs and excavations we would lift them... in general!
