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A comment on ‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route. Parent comment

Re:‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route by mc32 on Thursday June 16, 2022 @10:28AM (#31766464)
One bone is no more sacred than another. So, from that PoV, I think archeology should come up with some guidelines as to how to treat human archeological sites evenly rather than having a mish-mash of different rules for different bones.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route by AlotOfReading on Thursday June 16, 2022 @10:40AM (#31766603)
They have. Everyone is expected to follow something similar to the SAA guidelines:

* Treat human remains with respect

* Consult with descendent communities

* Follow the law

In the UK, the government usually combines #2 and #3 in one entity.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route by mc32 on Thursday June 16, 2022 @10:46AM (#31766674)
So in the UK, if they find a "Viking" burial site they have to consult with whom? Sweden or Denmark? And Roman, Rome does not exist, but I guess Italy is arguably the closest political entity, do they consult with Italy?

It seems they should just have some standard way to deal with this.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route by Ichthypresbyter on Thursday June 16, 2022 @01:47PM (#31768889)
During the excavations to build 30 St Mary Axe- better known as "the Gherkin"- in London, the grave of a young girl from Roman Londinium was found.

She was reburied with something approximating Roman funeral rites, and the new grave is marked with an inscription including the traditional Roman phrase "Dis Manibus" (To the Spirits of the Underworld) [0].

[0]https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/tomb-of-the-unknown-lond...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route by AlotOfReading on Thursday June 16, 2022 @10:53AM (#31766757)
The "descendent community" is the UK government, which claims all the lands within its borders and a few sites outside. That bit can also be interpreted as applying to the local landowners as well.

But if Sweden or Italy cared, yes it might be a good idea to give them a call and let the interested parties sort it out between themselves.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:‘Stunning’ Anglo-Saxon burial site found along HS2 route by mc32 on Thursday June 16, 2022 @11:03AM (#31766865)
Fair enough, though I don't think it would make much sense to involve indirect descendants of expired political entities.
[ Parent | on HN ]