Ethical Approaches to Human Remains

This book is the first of its kind, combining international perspectives on the current ethical considerations and challenges facing bioarchaeologists in the recovery, analysis, curation, and display of human remains. It explores how museum curators, commercial practitioners, forensic anthropologists, and bioarchaeologists deal with ethical issues pertaining to human remains in traditional and digital settings around the world.

The book not only raises key ethical questions concerning the study, display, and curation of skeletal remains that bioarchaeologists must face and overcome in different countries, but also explores how this global community can work together to increase awareness of similar and, indeed, disparate ethical considerations around the world and how they can be addressed in working practices.
The key aspects addressed include ethics in bioarchaeology and forensic anthropology, the excavation, curation, and display of human remains, repatriation, and new imaging techniques. As such, the book offers an ideal guide for students and practitioners in the fields of bioarchaeology, osteoarchaeology, forensic anthropology, medical anthropology, archaeology, anatomy, museum and archive studies, and philosophy, detailing how some ethical dilemmas have been addressed and which future dilemmas need to be considered.

Philosophical approaches to the ethics of bioarchaeology. - The scientific value of human remains. - History and ethics of bioarchaeology. - Excavation of human remains. - Analysis of human remains. - Curation of human remains. - Repatriation of human remains. - Displaying the dead. - Religions and ethics. - Funerary aspects of ethics. - Imaging techniques and the rise of social media. - Ethics in Forensic Anthropology. - Case Studies. - Closing Remarks and Future Directions and Challenges.