The Problem of Enacting Ethical Practice in Historic Cemetery Excavation

Summary

The excavation, reburial, and permanent curation of human remains from historic cemeteries is inherently linked to complexities of Western paternalism, medical consent, nationality, traditional cultural practice, and a too-common absence of stakeholder engagement, among other pressing concerns. These important and fundamental considerations are often ignored or glossed over in both archaeological project planning and in publications utilizing these remains. The ideal of scientific objectivity inherently separates the researcher from the material, a suitable principle for particle physics but not for human remains. In order to ensure that active engagement in ethical discussion is a continual practice and not a cyclical concern-of-the-moment, we as researchers must consciously embrace the full range of our position as social actors as we seek to embrace a multiple consciousness at the intersection of divergent modern communities and judicious excavation.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 22641