When is 'grave robbing' considered archaeology?

Question

SandMan: thanks for the definition.

As an addendum, is there a minimum statute of time that may elapse before digging up a grave is considered to have genuine archaeological merit? Or is it context-dependant?

Answer 1

It's the purpose that distinguishes them: grave robbing is for profit; archaeology is for knowledge.

Grave robbers keep their profit; archaeologists share.

Answer 2

Interesting question.  From the definitions that I pulled off Wikipedia the only difference is one of scope.  Both grave robbers and archaeologist hope to gain personally from their acts.

Grave robbing or grave robbery is the act of uncovering a tomb or crypt to steal the artifacts inside or disinterring a corpse to steal the body itself or its personal effects. Someone who engages in this act is a grave robber.

Archaeology, archeology, or archæology (from the Greek words αρχαίος = ancient and λόγος = word/speech/discourse) is the study of human cultures through the recovery, documentation and analysis of material remains and environmental data, including architecture, artifact's, biofacts, human remains, and landscapes.

Answer 3

Grave Robbing is never archaeology

Archaeology is the scientific study of past remains to determine insights into the historical past. It involves (in temporal order) research, data collection, scientific testing, and the international publishing of results. Futhermore, archaeology is not confined to ‘graves,’ but also encompasses ethno-cultural analysis of the physical remains of past societies – that includes everything from bones and art to architectural ruins and linguistic remains.

Answer 4

Be assured that the US Army Medical Museum folks in Washington are still likely holding Native American remains.

Actually the distinction is more of a religious or cultural based one than something related to any anthropology or such determination.

Trust me there are universities that would dig up ones grandparents if they felt they could get away with it.

Most Western churches - faiths do not have a very strong set of "rules" about "science" wanting to dig up a persons body.

"Ethics" in anthropology is such as with allied professions if

they want to dig up such as Napoleon seems few care but try and do a DNA on QEI at Westminster Abbey and then you have an "ethics" dilemma.  

Guess if you want to have fun, call the police when a team locates some bones. more than a few anthropologists have ended up dead in such as Africa or South Asia. The classic cartoons of the pith helmeted gentlemen in the cannibals stew pot comes to mind. Later, sure enough along comes Indiana Jones and he gets a prize for analyzing the teeth marks.

If The Sun god Ra was still worshiped there would have been no locating King Tut, etc. Whatever few anthropologists run amuck around Indonesia digging up ones relations.

Answer 5

Interesting question.

Guess its down to point of view at the end of the day.

If your the one profiting from it, then its archaeology. If someone else is making the money, its grave robbing.

Answer 6

When the grave robber has a Dr. in front of their name.

Answer 7

It all depends upon your point of view, doesn't it?  The Grave Robber doesn't consider himself to be an archaeologist; and an archaeologist, while maybe having some qualms about disturbing the final resting place of the deceased (if there are, in fact, bones around), would not consider himself to be a classic "grave robber".  Meanwhile, the descendants of the people whose bones are being disturbed by the archaeologist will have their own view of the activity.

So, like I say, it depends upon your point of view, doesn't it?

Answer 8

That's quite a generalisation.  I dont see archaeologists running around my local graveyards looking for hidden gems.  If you mean the ancient burial grounds that are accidentally unearthed whilst developing ground then surely gaining valuable knowledge about our ancestors is better than just scooping them up and tipping away.  Unless every new development that encounters such finds is abandoned which would most likely involve developers not recording finds so as not to lose investment.  There is no clear answer.  Or did you mean tombs...........

Answer 9

Archaeology is not grave robbing. Since it does not care how expensive an artifact can be sold anymore, it won't be fair to describe archaeology as "grave robbing"...

Archaeologists excavate because they are in need of solving the historical problems. Every excavation shed light into a problem. So archaeologist does not excavate to find artifacts. Archaeologists excavate to find answers...

Answer 10

Good point. I always feel uneasy when I see 1000-year old graves being dug up in the name of science. If they have to, you'd think they'd do it with a bit more respect.

Answer 11

When someone or some group stands to make a buck out of it--then it's archaeology!

Answer 12

I just think it's a horrible thing to take a body from a grave no matter how long it's been there.  Time is irrelevant when the person and the persons family thought this would be their last resting place. Rotten lot thinking your science is more important than the very real feelings of people.

Answer 13

grave dug for tourist attraction artifacts