Why Do We Have to Dig Up THe Dead?

Question

Personally, I feel it is wrong: whether in a cemetery, a shipwreck, Indian reservation, or if an ancient body is found.

Where are people's morals and ethics, really, any respect?

Would an anthropologist or scientist go dig up their mom/dad sister or brother after 10-20 years? I guess not, so why do they do it to others.

Please don't give excuse because it's curiousity, or money, or history.

If one sleeps in the ground he sleeps there for eternity.

Answer 1

I empathise. it is a morbid fascination - however early archaeology learned much about the way humanity developed by digging up the dead. one example, the simple act of burying a pot with a man revealed that we had developed religion - a basic belief that a pot would be useful to a dead man. if we had not dug up a lot of graves we couldn't accurately determine when this happened.

However, more recent diggings are getting to me a bit too - they seem often pointless and necrophilic

Answer 2

If we didn't dig up bodies, fossils, etc... then how would we trace our own existence?  Also, entire civilizations would be completely lost without exploring and digging up the bodies of their people.  

I can think of many worse things than being dug up... like being put in the ground without a tombstone (it happens) and having a bulldozer come along a decade later and digging me up... at least Anthropologists do it for a reason and we can learn from it.

Answer 3

So, we can't give "excuses" that are the actual explanations? What exactly are you looking for, here? Just someone to agree with you? Sad.

And that bit about the anthropologist digging up his/her own relatives is just silly. A couple of decades isn't enough time to justify excavating a cemetery for anthropological purposes. Ten to twenty years on, we still know the hows and whys of burial rituals. Hundreds and thousands of years later, we do not--no one from that time is living anymore to tell us.

Answer 4

I don't think it is right either.  BUT there is much to be learned as to how the individual lived, when was he/she alive, what was he/she buried with, who was he/she, why did he/she die?

Anthropology is studying  origins of humankind, such as customs, way of life, life expectancy, and sometimes how the individual died gives some indication of what diseases existed then.  Knowing some of these answers gives us a better understanding and respect of how they lived.

I believe modern anthropology now incorportates reburial of some dead.  But it depends on where in the world.  

In some places where the living must expand, it intrudes on those long gone.  In China, with the Summer Olympics held in Beijing, they have found several tombs.  Quite the dilemma, with the time schedule to get building built in time.

There are no set guidelines, and ethics differ from culture to culture; some cultures dig up bones of those long gone and move them along as the family moves.

I hope I've given you something to think about; even if you personally think it is not right, culturally it may be right.  There is something to be learned from it.

Answer 5

I am an anthropologist myself and have worked for several years in the field or archaeology.  Interestingly enough, I find your point of view equally valid. I can relate to the idea that digging up human remains is disrespectful and unnecessary. However, there are so many benefits that come along with the scientific evidence that is uncovered.  Modern society can learn so much about the past through studying these remains. We can investigate disease, diet, burial customs, genetics and the history of our culture.  Do you also object to medical studies performed on dead bodies as well? Is it the matter of consent that bothers you most? No one is suggesting that we go out and dig up your grandmother that died last year. The bodies that are exhumed are often so old that no relatives are around to offer consent.

So the dilemma becomes : Is the scientific evidence more important then the ethical issues?

Thanks for your opinion. I suggest you read some Vine Deloria. He is a Native American anthropologist who shares some of your views. I love his books, I read them all. Try RED EARTH, WHITE LIES.

Answer 6

I am an archaeologist, and I feel I must take issue with your statement that archaeologists have no respect for the dead. I have great respect for the dead, and as far as I know so do all of my colleagues. I think we may approach the dead and burial places a little differently than you do, but having respect for the people we work with (dead or alive) is part and parcel of the job.

It is true that earlier in the history of the discipline, respect for the dead of other cultures was not priority, or at least it was laid aside when found to be inconvenient. This is quite unfortunate. But today, in the United States, it is actually against the law for an archaeologist to study human remains unless the descendants of whoever those remains belonged to give permission. So archaeologists do not simply dig people up. If we find human remains, there is a very specific process we must go through before we can study either the remains or the materials found with them. Once we are, it is with the permission of who those remains belong to. If you want to talk about the sacredness of the dead, talk to the people (many of them Native Americans), who understand our purpose in these studies and allow us to do it.

Furthermore, I've been an archaeologist for over 3 years now, and I have yet to even find humans remains in the field. Many archaeological sites consist solely of tools, settlement, garbage, or hunting remains. Not all sites are graves. Not by a long shot.

The ethics of archaeology are something we talk about a lot within the field. Disturbing the dead - why we do it, if we should do it, what we gain from doing it - are all questions we ask ourselves.

Suffice to say, the matter is not as simple as, "It's wrong." I understand that you think we should respect other cultures, but I'd like to remind you that you are the one telling people they were raised wrong.

Answer 7

I think that might be the people who donate their body to science, so yeah.

Answer 8

Much can be learned from the remains of our ancestors and the ancients.  Some pathogens, such as leprosy, can be identified in bones.  Determining the life expectancy and number of inhabitants are also very helpful when human remains are present.  Some things would not be known without the excavation and study of human remains.  For example:  Did you know that the ancient Romans had developed dentures?  This extent of Roman dentistry would be unknown if it were not for the discovery of remains that included prosthetic teeth.

Answer 9

so nice of you to say that if people didn't learn the same lessons and feel the same way as you that they missed out.  how very egocentric.  we don't run around digging up graveyards.  anthropologists find bodies left in the earth and proceed to determine everything they can about them.  what we learn about them teaches us about ourselves.  you should try a little more learning and a little less preaching.

Answer 10

WE MUST RAISE THE DEAD FROM THEIR CREVASSES!

Your reluctance to "disturb the dead," seems to resemble the priority of superstision to not question the truth, if science "let the dead rest" then we would still treat disease by letting blood with contaminated impliments! We would still think the world was orbited by the sun!

It is our moral duty, to seek truth!

Not to avoid "disturbing" meat!

The dead, ARE DEAD! They cannot BE disrespected! They do not have feelings anymore!

The only way your argument is justified is through offending the living, I can understand you wouldn't want your mothers remains disinterred because it would be upsetting...

But you must realize that SHE would be unable to care, right?

Even if you BELIEVE in heaven and h**l, the spirit is gone, the body is compost...How could moving it from its niche of putrescence be more harmful than beetles eating her flesh?

Are you trying to suggest that when we dig them up, THEY WAKE UP?

Answer 11

Once again an anthropology question/answer needs to be started with the warning - BEWARE OF ETHNOCENTRISM -

Do not judge everyone by your values or cultural norms and do not assume everyone shares them.  

There are actually cultures and places in the world where it is the norm to "dig up the dead" - for a variety of reasons.  In many places you will find Ossuaries - places where the original folks periodically dug up their own dead and them reburied them altogether - take a look at some of the literature on the Feast of the Dead among the Huron and other Northeastern Native American groups. (see http://www.wyandot.org/burial2.htm for details)

many more examples exist of secondary burial forms among natives around the world, bundle burials, pot burials, etc.

With regard to our culture and today,  many of the reasons have already been noted in previous responses - research in history, societal development, disease development and transmission,..... and many more areas of research that have provided important information more modern populations.  Also to protect burials from more significant impacts (grave robbers, bulldozers, shopping malls, etc.)

I have been an archaeologist for 30 years, and although I have had the opportunity to excavate many sets of human remains, not a single set of those would still be in the ground if the archaeologists had not been invovled - culprits that would have removed the bodies range from municipal water lines, to Wal*Mart to a local resident that accidentally found the burial in her yard and demanded that the archaeologists remove "it" or she would have her husband do it (we actually tried to talk her into leaving it in place since there was no gooe reason not to avoid it).

As for would an anthropologist dig up their own - I would have no problem with it, or with having someone dig me up - as long as the process included research that allowed something to be learned (I would not want to be dug up to be someone's living room novelty).  I have even considered donating my body to med schools or the body farm for research.

Finally I want to address the individual that recommended reading Vine Deloria.  Please keep in mind that much of what Deloria wrote, was published a generation or two ago - and that archaeologists of today (at least reputable ones) do not carry on the same practices that led to his thoughts.  Over the last 40 years a lot has changed - unfortunately not everyone keeps up to date with such changes and that can lead to misconceptions.

DM

Answer 12

We dig up the dead for several reasons including:

1. Curiosity

2. Understanding

3. Science (most justifications can be found here)

4. Negate the destruction of an individual by a bulldozer

And the Number One Reason....(Drum Role Please)

Dead people make for Excellent Mirrors!