16th March 2009, 10:30 AM
Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) have announced a conference on the care of human remains. The press release is below - they don't seem to have it on their website so I copied the entire thing, sorry for the length!
Dear All
Please accept the attached press release for HAD's Conference on The
Care of Human Remains, to be held on 17 October 2009 in Leicester. We
would appreciate it if you would publish the information and/or pass it
through your various networks.
Don't hesitate to let me know if you would like the document in another
format.
With many thanks
Emma Restall Orr
Honouring the Ancient Dead: ensuring respect for ancient pagan remains
PRESS RELEASE
Conference - 'The Care of Ancient Human Remains'
17 October 2009
New Walk Museum, Leicester
Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) is pleased to announce it is hosting
its first independent one day conference on the care of ancient human
remains. Conference themes will cover the leading edge of current
thinking from prominent speakers - representing museums, social
anthropology, national human remains specialist groups, as well as the
Pagan perspective that is central to HAD.
Conference participants will be invited from a wide community of
archaeologists, museums, government departments responsible for human
remains, together with Pagans and others with special interest in their
care.
Opportunity for discussion and questions has been built in to the
agenda, and papers given at the conference will be published following
the day.
CONFERENCE PURPOSE:
This one-day conference aims to explore the current issues around value,
custody and interest in human remains, with particular focus on how the
institutions that maintain custody engage with those external
communities who have a special interest in the remains. The conference
is organised by HAD, who as part of the conference will clarify its own
position in developing and maintaining dialogue and facilitating access
to and consultations on human remains. The speakers are invited from
amongst those who have worked with or engaged with HAD. Discussion will
play a key part
in the conference. The results of the conference will be used within
subsequent discussions relating to the respectful treatment of ancient
British human remains held between HAD and institutions such as museums
or government departments.
CONFERENCE THEMES:
'The Matter of Bones': Human bones are curious things: both person and
object, yet neither wholly one nor the other, they affect us, altering
how we perceive life and death, self and others, community and
relationship. From a social and cultural anthropological perspective,
this paper
explores why and how bones matter to the living, and indeed what that
matter - physically and emotionally - actually is. Furthermore, why and
how does their significance inform what we do with them?
'Consultation and Display': Best practice in museums, following the
guidelines of the Museums Association Code of Ethics, is to involve
audiences and communities in consultations around future displays. This
paper reports on a successful consultation around the redisplay of the
Iron Age gallery at Colchester Museum.
'The Issue of Custody': While museums and other institutions generally
accept they have custody not ownership of remains, recent
re-interpretations of the law by the Ministry of Justice have made it
more difficult for archaeologists to excavate and retain human remains
for more than two years.
There is, however, still lack of clarity; this paper seeks a path
through the minefield.
'The Pagan Voice': Though political correctness requires museums
respectfully process requests from overseas communities seeking to
repatriate ancestral remains, when British Pagans express significant
interest in remains museums have no effective guidance as to how to
respond. This paper explores the theologies that underlie the Pagan
spiritual connection to human remains, and asks what language would be
better employed by heritage organisations in such discussions.
'Practical Respect': What may be seen as respectful of human remains
within one culture may be felt as desecration for another. This paper
explores how consultative processes can ensure that the various notions
of respect are given equitable value, and integrated into the process of
decision making around the excavation, retention, storage, and disposal
of human remains. How can these be put into practice, who holds
responsibility and who bears the cost?
Presenters confirmed:
* Dr Joost Fontein & Dr John Harries, Social Anthropology, University of
Edinburgh
* Philip Wise, Heritage Manager, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service
* Professor Piotr Bienkowski, Professor of Archaeology and Museology,
University of Manchester
* Emma Restall Orr, Honouring the Ancient Dead
Notes to Editors: -
For print and online journalists: Please also note the distinction of a
capital 'P' for the established religion of modern-day Paganism (the
seventh largest faith tradition in Britain) and 'pagan' with a small 'p'
to denote the ancient pagan community.
Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD)
HAD office, PO Box 3533, Whichford, Shipston on Stour
Warwickshire CV36 5YB, England
tel: 01608 684848=20
email: mailto:office@honour.org.uk
website: http://www.honour.org.uk/