On the Ethical and Cultural Aspects of Studying Human Remains

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2025-4/300-313

Authors

Keywords:

ethics, human remains, physical anthropology, archaeology, museum collection, personality, social interaction

Abstract

This article explores the ethical challenges faced by archaeologists and physical anthropologists engaged in the study of human remains. It examines the diversity of perspectives on the special status attributed to human remains across different cultural and historical contexts. The analysis highlights the inherent ambiguity in defining the status of such remains—as scientific objects, cultural heritage, and, at times, as entities accorded special rights. Particular attention is given to the role of physical integrity and the persistence of social and historical ties between the living and the dead in shaping attitudes toward the treatment of remains. The article also addresses the dualistic conception of the human being, which presumes a separation between personhood and the physical body after death—a notion reflected in the traditional cultural detachment toward "old bones".

Author Biography

  • Ivan Shirobokov, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences

    Shirobokov, Ivan G. — Ph.D. in History, Senior Researcher, Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). E-mail: ivansmith@bk.ru ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3555-7509

    For citation: Shirobokov, I. G. 2025. On the Ethical and Cultural Aspects of Studying Human Remains.  Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 4: 300–313.

    References

    Bahn, P. G. 1984. Do not Disturb? Archaeology and the Rights of the Dead. Oxford Journal of Archaeology 3(2): 127–139.  https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0092.1984.tb00322.x

    Buiskih, S. B. 2015. Drevnie nekropoli: nravstvennye aspekty issledovaniia [Ancient Necropolises: A Study of Moral Aspects]. Arheologiia i davniaia istoriia Ukrainy 1 (14): 438–446.

    Campanacho V., F. Alves Cardoso, and D. H. Ubelaker. 2021. Documented Skeletal Collections and their Importance in Forensic Anthropology in the United States. Forensic Sciences 1(3): 228–239. https://doi.org/10.3390/forensicsci1030021

    Cardoso, H. 2021. An Ethical, Cultural and Historical Background for Cemetery-Based Human Skeletal Reference Collections. Journal of Contemporary Archaeology 8(1): 21–52. https://doi.org/10.1558/jca.43380

    Clavandier, G. 2019. De nouvelles normes à l’égard des restes humains anciens: de la réification à la personnalisation [New Standards Regarding Ancient Human Remains: From Reification to Personification]? Canadian Journal of Bioethics 2(3): 79–87.

    Crangle, J. N. 2015. A Study of Post-Depositional Funerary Practices in Medieval England. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Sheffield.

    Crouch, K. C. 2017. Dealing with the Dead: Understanding Professional Relations between Archaeologists and Human Remains. Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Manchester.

    de Tienda Palop, L., and B. X. Currás. 2019. The Dignity of the Dead: Ethical Reflections on the Archaeology of Human Remains. In Ethical Approaches to Human Remains, ed. by K. Squires, D. Errickson and N. Márquez-Grant. Springer, Cham: 19–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32926-6_2

    Dietrich, R. 2013. Nicht die Toten, sondern die Lebenden: Menschliche Überreste als Bodenfunde. Archäologische Informationen 36: 113–119.

    Farrow, T. J. 2021. Relics of (the) People: Ossuary Remains in Postmedieval European Folk Practice. The Enquiring Eye. Journal of the Museum of Witchcraft and Magic 5: 1–15.

    Gaivoronskii, I. V., and Solovyov, K. V. 2022. Kraniologicheskie kollektsii kafedry normal'noi ana-tomii Voenno-meditsinskoi akademii – natsional'noe dostoianie i unikal'naia baza dlia nauchnykh issledovanii [The Craniological Collections of the Department of Normal Anatomy of the Military Medical Academy – A National Treasure and a Unique Base for Scientific Research]. Saratov Journal of Medical Scientific Research 18 (4): 596–603.

    Highet, M. J. 2005. Body Snatching & Grave Robbing: Bodies for Science. History and Anthropology 16: 415–440. https://doi.org/10.1080/02757200500390981

    Leighton, M. 2010. Personifying Objects/Objectifying People: Handling Questions of Mortality and Materiality through the Archaeological Body. Ethnos 75: 78–101.

    Mokhov, S. 2020. Rozhdenie i smert pokhoronnoi industrii. Ot srednevekovykh pogostov do tsyfrovogo bessmeriia [The Birth and Death of the Funeral Industry. From Medieval Cemeteries to Digital Immortality]. Moscow: Common Place Publ. 328 p.

    Powell, S., C. E. Garza, and A. Hendricks. 1993. Ethics and Ownership of the Past: The Reburial and Repatriation Controversy. Archaeological Method and Theory 5: 1–42.

    Scarre, G. 2003. Archaeology and Respect for the Dead. Journal of Applied Philosophy 20(3): 237–249. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.0264-3758.2003.00250.x

    Schug, R. G., Halcrow, S.E., and C. de la Cova. 2025. They Are People Too: The Ethics of Curation and Use of Human Skeletal Remains for Teaching and Research. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 186: e70013. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.70013

    Shnirelman, V. A. 2020. Arheologiia, istoricheskoe nasledie i problemy etiki [Archaeology, Historical Heritage and Ethical Issues]. Sibirskie istoricheskie issledovaniia 1: 97–122. https://doi.org/10.17223/2312461X/27/6   

    Shvedchikova, T. 2019. Between the Archaeological and the Criminal Cases: Human Remains and Ethical Issues in Russia. Ethical Approaches to Human Remains. A Global Challenge in Bioarchaeology and Forensic Anthropology. Springer Nature Switzerland AG: 557–566.

    Starikov, Y. V., and A. B. Radziun. 2012. Restavratsiia estestvenno-istoricheskikh predmetov. Skelet velikana Burzhua iz Kunstkamery [Restoration of Natural History Objects. Skeleton of the Giant Bourgeois from the Kunstkamera] Issledovaniia i konservatsiia kul'turnogo naslediia 3: 258–263.

    Tammiksaar, E., and K. Kalling. 2018. “I was Stealing Some Skulls from the Bone Chamber when a Bigamist Cleric Stopped Me.” Karl Ernst von Baer and the Development of Physical Anthropology in Europe. Centaurus 60: 276–293. https://doi.org/10.1111/1600-0498.12189

    Thomas, J.-L., and K. L. Krupa. 2021. Bioarchaeological Ethics and Considerations for the Deceased. Human Rights Quarterly 43(2): 344–354. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.2021.0025

    Vanni, A. 2023. Human Remains: European Legislative Perspective on the Limit between Forensic and Archaeological Jurisdiction with Special Regard to War Graves. Journal of Bioarchaeological Research 1(2): e2023016

    Walker, P. L. 2000. Bioarchaeological Ethics: A Historical Perspective on the Value of Human Remains. In Biological Anthropology of the Human Skeleton, ed. by M. A. Katzenberg, S. A. Saunders. Hoboken, New Jersey. 3–39. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470245842.ch1

    Weiss-Krejci, E. 2011. The Formation of Mortuary Deposits: Implications for Understanding Mortuary Behavior of Past Populations. In Social Bioarchaeology. ed. by S. Agarwal, B. Glencross. Malden: Wiley-Blackwell. 68–106.

Downloads

Published

14.12.2025

Issue

No. 4 (2025): Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik antropologii)

Section

Scientific Ethics