The last two postings demonstrate painfully that you reap what you sow.  If 
you excavate human remains, no matter where, you MUST insure the proper care of 
those remains while they are under analysis or being curated.  
 
The treatment of the remains described in the first e-mail are, 
unfortunately, typical of the neglect with which most human remains are treated.  I have 
had human remains shipped back to my office in garbage bags by the archaeologist 
who recovered them.  It took three months to sort out the remains, recover 
the original provenience information, and house them in a manner that was 
culturally appropriate.  It should be noted that we worked extensively with the 
cultural group affliliated with the remains to find a curatorially responsible 
means of housing the remains that was culturally respectful.  These remains are 
intact (generally remains are burned and buried by this particular culture), 
above ground ,and available, with the permission of the cultural group involved, 
for additional analysis in the future.
 
If you are not willing to treat human remains with respect that they deserve 
and in a manner that is consistent with the cultural traditions of whatever 
people may have a claim to them, you have no right to retain them claiming the 
importance of scientific inquiry.  If human remains continue to be treated with 
this kind of disrespect, you cannot be surprised at the methods used to 
insure that these remains are kept out of scientific hands.
 
Leslie A. Mead
 



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