Honouring the Ancient Dead

Honouring the Ancient Dead

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.

‘It makes no difference how long ago someone died. We are their living relatives.’" [http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/medialibrary/documents/respect/human_remains_the_acknowledgement_of_sanctity.pdfHuman Remains] : The Acknowledgment of Sanctity" Emma Restall Orr, paper delivered at the conference ‘Respect for Ancient British Human Remains: Philosophy and Practice’ Manchester Museum, 17 November 2006]
Honouring the Ancient Dead communicates with academics and museums to raise awareness of the treatment of human remains in the British Isles. [ [http://www.britarch.ac.uk/BA/ba77/issues.shtml British Archaeology 77, July 2004] ] 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. [ [http://www.museumsassociation.org/ma/8125 Museums Association] ] The debate over human remains ranges widely with the needs of science, specific cultures, and the bones themselves under consideration. [ [http://www.archaeology.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1531&Itemid=47 Current Archaeology - Human remains: retain or return?] ] 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.fact|date=April 2008 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.' [ [http://www.culturalpropertyadvice.gov.uk/assets/userfiles/index.php?file=000212.pdf Cultural Property Advice] ]
HAD is backed by PEBBLE, the Public Bodies Liaison Group for British Paganism. [http://www.pebble.uk.net/ PEBBLE website] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.honour.org.uk/ Honoring the Ancient Dead] Official website
* [http://www.newstatesman.com/200611060020 Grateful dead] Article in the New Statesman
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/art/news/story/0,,2006202,00.html Give us back our bones, pagans tell museums] Article in The Guardian


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • The Druid Network — Founder(s) Emma Restall Orr Type Religious Charity Tax ID No. 1138265 Founded February 2003 …   Wikipedia

  • ancient Rome — ▪ ancient state, Europe, Africa, and Asia Introduction       the state centred on the city of Rome. This article discusses the period from the founding of the city and the regal period, which began in 753 BC, through the events leading to the… …   Universalium

  • Ancient Greek grammar — is morphologically complex and preserves several features of Proto Indo European morphology. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, articles, numerals and especially verbs are all highly inflected. This article is an introduction to this morphological… …   Wikipedia

  • ancient Greek civilization — ▪ historical region, Eurasia Introduction       the period following Mycenaean civilization, which ended in about 1200 BC, to the death of Alexander the Great, in 323 BC. It was a period of political, philosophical, artistic, and scientific… …   Universalium

  • Veneration of the dead — Ancestor worship at a Chinese temple complex in Sichuan A Korean …   Wikipedia

  • Egypt, ancient — Introduction  civilization in northeastern Africa dating from the 3rd millennium BC. Its many achievements, preserved in its art and monuments, hold a fascination that continues to grow as archaeological finds expose its secrets. This article… …   Universalium

  • Sacrifice of the Mass — • The word Mass (missa) first established itself as the general designation for the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the West after the time of Pope Gregory the Great, the early Church having used the expression the breaking of bread (fractio panis) or… …   Catholic encyclopedia

  • Catherine de' Medici's patronage of the arts — made a significant contribution to the French Renaissance. Catherine was inspired by the example of her father in law, King Francis I of France (reigned 1515–1547), who had hosted the leading artists of Europe at his court. As a young woman, she… …   Wikipedia

  • John the Baptist — Saint John the Baptist John the Baptist by Bartolomeo Veneto 16th century Prophet, Preacher, Forerunner, Martyr Born c. 5 BC Died 3 …   Wikipedia

  • Wheel of the Year — Sabbats redirects here. For other uses of sabbat or sabbath, see Sabbath (disambiguation). For Wheel of time, see Wheel of time (disambiguation). This article is about the modern Wiccan Sabbat. For the historical and legendary Witches Sabbath,… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”