Bioarchaeology and Bioethos

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Future of Bioarchaeology in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The future of bioarchaeology requires a robust sub-disciplinary bioethos. The concept refers to consolidation of a habit that gives rise to moral, normative practices related to exhumation, documentation, analysis, and posthumous treatment of dead bodies. Conversations in bioethics—about consent, anonymity, vulnerable populations, legislation of policy, etc.—are germane, but require expansion so as to be useful for the particulars of studying archaeologically contextualized dead bodies. I cite the contemporary case of HeLa/Henrietta Lacks as instructive for building a bioethos applicable to the remains of ancient (or historic) decedents. Illustrative are Kennewick Man/Ancient One and Ata the "Alien" Mummy from Chile. More than cautionary or idiosyncratic tales, these cases, the latter of which continues to unfold in interesting and unforeseen ways, have involved normative, disciplinary practices in need of deeper deliberation. I focus on naming, facial reconstruction, and genetic testing. These techniques are useful for personalizing individuals, thereby making academic analyses more interesting to non-specialists. But, they also raise epistemological and ethical concerns related to stakeholders’ ontological security (or its destabilization) and dissemination of narratives in mediascapes, among other issues. By way of conclusion, I suggest that bioarchaeologists begin research by posing certain key queries.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• The Future of Bioarchaeology in Archaeology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23046