Honouring the Ancient Dead
Encyclopedia
Honouring the Ancient Dead (HAD) is a British
Neopagan
advocacy group working within Britain for the dignified treatment of human remains of British pagan provenance. It explores the issues of excavation, storage, museum display, disposal, repatriation and reburial. In particular questioning the idea of who has assumed authority over human remains, its core remit is dialogue and consultation between all relevant bodies when decisions are made about the remains of the ancient dead.
The organization was founded by Emma Restall Orr
, during the May 2004 negotiations regarding roads around Stonehenge
.
Honouring the Ancient Dead communicates with academics and museums to raise awareness of the treatment of human remains in the British Isles. Many museums are sending human remains belonging to native peoples of other countries back for reburial. Where British remains are concerned, it is difficult to prove direct ancestry, nor is there coherence of religious belief through time connecting the ancient dead with the living. However, Honouring the Ancient Dead is challenging museums, curators and scientists to consider the British dead in a new light and to treat all remains with respect. The debate over human remains ranges widely with the needs of science, specific cultures, and the bones themselves under consideration. HAD works successfully in cooperation with museums such as The Manchester Museum
(with whom it ran a conference in 2006), Leicester Museums, The Museum of London and many others, and has been developing sound relations with the National Trust and English Heritage
.
Current government guidelines regarding human remains are sympathetic to genealogical descendants, the cultural community of origin, and the Country of Origin. They require some proof of cultural, spiritual and religious significance of the remains.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Neopagan
Neopaganism
Neopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
advocacy group working within Britain for the dignified treatment of human remains of British pagan provenance. It explores the issues of excavation, storage, museum display, disposal, repatriation and reburial. In particular questioning the idea of who has assumed authority over human remains, its core remit is dialogue and consultation between all relevant bodies when decisions are made about the remains of the ancient dead.
The organization was founded by Emma Restall Orr
Emma Restall Orr
Emma Restall Orr is a British neo-druid, animist, priest, poet and author . She worked for the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in the early 1990s, becoming an Ovate tutor. In 1993 she became joint chief of the British Druid Order staying until 2002...
, during the May 2004 negotiations regarding roads around Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
.
It makes no difference how long ago someone died. We are their living relatives.
Honouring the Ancient Dead communicates with academics and museums to raise awareness of the treatment of human remains in the British Isles. Many museums are sending human remains belonging to native peoples of other countries back for reburial. Where British remains are concerned, it is difficult to prove direct ancestry, nor is there coherence of religious belief through time connecting the ancient dead with the living. However, Honouring the Ancient Dead is challenging museums, curators and scientists to consider the British dead in a new light and to treat all remains with respect. The debate over human remains ranges widely with the needs of science, specific cultures, and the bones themselves under consideration. HAD works successfully in cooperation with museums such as The Manchester Museum
Manchester Museum
The Manchester Museum is owned by the University of Manchester. Sited on Oxford Road at the heart of the university's group of neo-Gothic buildings, it provides access to about six million items from every continent and serves both as a resource for academic research and teaching and as a regional...
(with whom it ran a conference in 2006), Leicester Museums, The Museum of London and many others, and has been developing sound relations with the National Trust and English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
.
Current government guidelines regarding human remains are sympathetic to genealogical descendants, the cultural community of origin, and the Country of Origin. They require some proof of cultural, spiritual and religious significance of the remains.
Claims are unlikely to be successful for any remains over 300 years old, and are unlikely to be considered for remains over 500 years old, except where a very close and continuous geographical, religious, spiritual and cultural link can be demonstrated.
External links
- Honoring the Ancient Dead Official website
- Grateful dead Article in the New Statesman
- Give us back our bones, pagans tell museums Article in The Guardian