Treatment of human remains is an emotive issue, as well as at times a complex legal, scientific and practical problem. New guidance on remains from Christian burial grounds (2005) by the Human Remain Working Group (HWRG) convened by the Church of England and English Heritage for remains dating between the seventh and the 19th centuries at last gives clear guidelines for hard-pressed clergy and archaeologists faced with providing appropriate treatment for the great number of human skeletons that come to light each year in this cultural group. These skeletons range from fragments disturbed during routine works in churchyards, to several thousand bodies at Spitalfields, and include sites such as monastic cemeteries lost after the Reformation which are not under Faculty jurisdiction. The aim of the working party was to combine ethical and Christian considerations with the ethics of science and archaeology, especially in the vexed question of reburial versus storage. Archaeologists take a great deal of responsibility for dealing with human remains, so it is important to have guidance and back up for the approaches we need to take, whether in the field, laboratory or the museum/ storage context. Technical issues and theological considerations were considered in detail. As Simon Mays outlined above, recommendations include provision of long-term storage in buildings such as redundant churches; this alone could resolve a lot of pressing problems.
Alison Taylor (Sun,) studied this question.