To think that digging up dead bodies to fascinate over us wrong?

[TigersRoll]

Or does it not matter if the dead people are Egyptian?

DH watches a program with his glasses on about a team digging up mummy’s from tombs in Egypt. They get all excited when they drag these bodies out, show skulls and other body parts to the camera and bang on about what s great find it is. AIBU to think this is wrong? These are not historical artefacts, they’re dead people!

@HumberElla well it was at a store which was in an old stable block in the countryside. The only other curator was round the other side of the building so there was noone else to talk to! And no phone signed or WiFi or radio signal either because it was in a technological blackspot.

Sometimes I put my iPod on speakers but then I felt a bit bad because I presumed they wouldn't like my music, so I stopped. And I felt rude wearing headphones

As an archaeologist I can tell you that most care an awful lot about exhumed remains. Probably a bit too much in some cases

They're not dead bodies though, they are bones.

To call them bodies, implies they're recently deceased enough to have family/friends still living.

Bodies have flesh on them - skeletons don't.

Bodies have flesh on them - skeletons don't

In the case of the Egyptians maybe but there are several “bog bodies” displayed in museums around the world where the bodies are so well preserved that you can see their hair, nails, facial features & even the wrinkles on their forehead.

There are also shrunken heads where you can clearly see what the person looked like & although no one is mourning them, it just doesn’t sit right with me that they’re on display for people to gawp at, especially considering what their demise must have been like to have ended up as shrunken heads.

I'd be happy to have my body dug up and examined if it were ti help the progress of humanity and give everyone a greater understanding of the past. It's not like they are just doing it for a laugh and then tossing the bones in the bin or something! These artifacts are treated with reverence and considered incredibly important.

I have no problem with being dug up and examined, what makes me uncomfortable is the display of skeletons, mummies etc in museums. The average visitor is going to learn nothing of worth by looking at these in display cases, so it is not unreasonable to assume they are being displayed for their entertainment value.

Well to ancient Egyptians the whole thing was that their names wouldn’t be forgotten. That’s why when a new ruler was pissed off with a previous one they scratched their names and faces off monuments and statues. So in this case maybe being in a case with your name on it would be the height of rememberance?

Bodies that have been prepared or buried in hot and dry conditions will last better than cold damp ground.

Obviously ancient ones won’t have family or relatives to claim them. More modern ones are more likely to be victims of crimes, genocide, or lost’ remains (ie war plane crash victims) and are studied then laid to rest. We must study mass graves - especially if they are modern. There is a poster on here who does this.

What about the bones in Cambodia - the remains of victims that are laid out as a memorial?

My family are all really interested in archaeology. We have a running joke about how we would want out remains discovered by future archaeologists that would make them really scratch their heads!

What about the bones in Cambodia - the remains of victims that are laid out as a memorial?

The intention is different - it is not entertainment.

We must study mass graves - especially if they are modern..

Absolutely, but we don’t display the remains.

Also confused about the DH's glasses.

I know it's a controversial subject, but archaeologists do treat human remains with a great deal of respect, and examining remains leads not just just to a better understanding of the past, but can also inform us about current issues - things like pandemics.

It's not for everyone, but I'd be thrilled to think I might exhumed at some point. I might have that engraved on my headstone.

There's worse things than being gawped at. When the railways first came to Egypt, the engine were fuelled by mummies, because they were dry and flammable. There was also a paint called mumia, prepared by grinding them up. Brown iirc.

There's worse things than being gawped at. When the railways first came to Egypt, the engine were fuelled by mummies, because they were dry and flammable. There was also a paint called mumia, prepared by grinding them up. Brown iirc.

I think when thousands of years have passed (or even hundreds) it’s ok. They have been dead for so long, and they are generally treated with respect and care when found.
I wouldn’t mind if someone dug up my remains centuries later and put me in a museum if it helped future generations learn about the past and how people lived. Of course it’s not the same with those who die in present day, but after so much time has passed I think there’s a difference.

Assuming you’re talking about the documentary series about the Valley of the Kings that was on tv last night, I caught a few minutes, where the long-haired female American archaeologist was talking very seriously to camera about very highly conscious the mummified remains she was working with had been real people, and they they would not be removed from the tomb where they’d been buried, and were afforded every respect, like being covered with cloths.

And grave robbers just dragged the bandages off the mummies to get to the amulets enclosed and threw the remains away. At least an archaeologist will treat remains with respect. I’m guessing if an intact ancient Egyptian grave is found these days any robber would do exactly the same and damage the body.

I’ve always kind of felt this way, OP. We bury our own dead often with quite a bit of ceremony and expect them to stay in the ground once put there. Presumably other civilisations did too. It’s not the worst crime in the world but does seem disrespectful, imo.

I agree with you, I have always felt uncomfortable with it. A few years ago, I accompanied a class of children to an exhibition which had an Iron Age(I think)mummy of a young girl. The information label said she was approximately 14 and had a head wound which probably caused her death. That just made it so real to me, that this had been a real girl. A young teenager had gotten up that morning with her hopes and dreams and had had them, and her life, ended.
So many thousands of years later, we are all looking at her remains, it just seems wrong.
I do now avoid skeletons and mummies in museums!

It's ok, they'll get their come uppance when the mummies come back to life and murder them all

Disclaimer: I may have seen too many 70s horror films to be a reliable source here

As an archaeologist I can tell you that most care an awful lot about exhumed remains.

I feel sorry for archaeologists...there careers are in ruins.

their

I can’t get upset about the bones of a person that died hundreds of years ago.

The bones of a recent dead person, sure.

What's the difference though Diana?

It’s called archeology. That’s how we study cultures from the past. It’s done to all cultures in all areas. They obviously wouldn’t dig up Egyptians but ancient Egyptian mummies are useful studies. You can discover a lot about public health and hygiene, burial practices, technonokogical capabilities etc.

YABU. A corpse is a mound of meat and bones, not a person.

One is a pile of bones with no links to anyone living. There is no one missing that person.

One has links to living people and has potentially gone missing or been murdered hence why they’re buried somewhere rather than ‘bones found in graveyard’.

I’m happy to have my flesh be watched rotting away and have my bone on display once I’m just bones. It honestly doesn’t matter to me. The person is long gone.

Assuming there is an afterlife and I was in some way aware of the process I would be quite proud that my remains were in some way interesting or useful to people 5000 years later. If there isn’t an afterlife and there are no surviving family members to object I don’t think it matters much.

I am much more uncomfortable with the interest in JtR. Partly because it’s more recent and partly because I think levels of interest in a serial killer are creepy.