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My wife and I have had conversations about exhuming human remains in pursuit of science a number of times, and I haven't quite been able to settle on when or wh

My wife and I have had conversations about exhuming human remains in pursuit of science a number of times, and I haven't quite been able to settle on when or why it is or is not appropriate. In a personal context - it seems a violation of one's own choices (granted that those choices might not be one's own). But the scientific community doesn't seem overly concerned with that - and the learning opportunities are significant to me. Does anyone else have these ambiguous uncertainties about this kind of stuff?

bitcurious 2y ago
Some ways one could approach it: Religious: the body is connected to a spirit and should be protected. Familial: the body is scared to individuals who knew the person. Cultural:; the body represents a current people, and to exhume it makes them feel dehumanized. Legal: the body is property and property rights are to be respected. Seems like with ancient Egyptian mummies none of those are relevant. The modern Egyptians have moved on from the old faiths, none trace their lineage to those mummies, culturally they are proud of them, legally there has been too much churn for the old claims to be relevant.
drooby 2y ago
I think you might be talking about a "body farm" There are many organizations and universities that perform similar research. I.e forensic anthropology
jl6 2y ago
It might be that thousands of years is enough time that your body and everything about you has fully passed beyond any claim you ever had on it and now belongs to the world at large.
andai 2y ago
"When there's a literal curse protecting the body" might be a good start.
CamperBob2 2y ago
A more-general question is whether archaeology should be done at all. Some have argued that future imaging technologies will render it completely unnecessary to dig and displace artifacts, and that future archaeologists and anthropologists will curse us for trashing untold volumes of evidence because we couldn't stand to wait. I don't really buy that, especially in the absence of any clues regarding what these magical 'future imaging technologies' might turn out to be, but it's an interesting argument to consider. It would certainly have applied many decades ago, and if we say it doesn't apply now, then where was the cutoff?
FuriouslyAdrift 2y ago
hey at least people aren't eating them anymore... https://www.chefsresource.com/why-did-victorians-eat-mummies/#The_History_of_Mummy_Consumption https://www.chefsresource.com/why-did-victorians-eat-mummies...
- tomcam 2y ago
  Speak for yourself

bitcurious 2y ago

Some ways one could approach it: Religious: the body is connected to a spirit and should be protected. Familial: the body is scared to individuals who knew the person. Cultural:; the body represents a current people, and to exhume it makes them feel dehumanized. Legal: the body is property and property rights are to be respected. Seems like with ancient Egyptian mummies none of those are relevant. The modern Egyptians have moved on from the old faiths, none trace their lineage to those mummies, culturally they are proud of them, legally there has been too much churn for the old claims to be relevant.

drooby 2y ago

I think you might be talking about a "body farm" There are many organizations and universities that perform similar research. I.e forensic anthropology

jl6 2y ago

It might be that thousands of years is enough time that your body and everything about you has fully passed beyond any claim you ever had on it and now belongs to the world at large.

andai 2y ago

"When there's a literal curse protecting the body" might be a good start.

CamperBob2 2y ago

A more-general question is whether archaeology should be done at all. Some have argued that future imaging technologies will render it completely unnecessary to dig and displace artifacts, and that future archaeologists and anthropologists will curse us for trashing untold volumes of evidence because we couldn't stand to wait. I don't really buy that, especially in the absence of any clues regarding what these magical 'future imaging technologies' might turn out to be, but it's an interesting argument to consider. It would certainly have applied many decades ago, and if we say it doesn't apply now, then where was the cutoff?

FuriouslyAdrift 2y ago

hey at least people aren't eating them anymore... https://www.chefsresource.com/why-did-victorians-eat-mummies/#The_History_of_Mummy_Consumption https://www.chefsresource.com/why-did-victorians-eat-mummies...

tomcam 2y ago
Speak for yourself