Help with Ethics in Pompeii and Herculaneum (1 Viewer)

[A lost duck]

Ok i know that there are other forums on this but i have got a speech and the question is:

Assess the ethical issuess in relation to the study and display of human remains from Pompeii and Herculaneum.

Now i know to look up the Venice Charter and the Tamalei Makau-rau Accord, but what i was wondering was what do i talk about with both the bones and the plaster casts, the study of them (so i am guessing taking them away from p&h) but that would also mean that they are looked after better and than i mean we have found them in the street it is not like would dug up their tomb.

Any more ideas?

 

[M@ster P]

* [FONT=&quot]Ethics can be defined as a system of moral principles by which human actions can be judged good or bad, right or wrong. Ethics can be applied to the treatment of the study and display of human remains at Pompeii and Herculaneum. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]One ethical issue is the question of how human remains found at archaeological sites should be managed. In the past, human remains were poorly treated and damaged, and some were left forgotten in the dark wrapped in newspapers. Today, human remains are treated with more respect and care, with human remains being safely stored in laboratories.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Another ethical issue is the deliberate movement of skeletons for theatrical effect. In the past skeletons were manipulated to create theatrical effect for the visiting nobility. This is confirmed as Dr Ezelle Lazer states that some skeletons in room 19 had been “constructed” as one skeleton had two left thigh bones. This creates further ethical issues about the value of entertainment compared to the value of respecting the deceased bodies. [/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Another ethical issue that has risen is whether human remains should be displayed at all. For example some cultures such as the Roman culture believe that for a soul to rest peacefully in after life, the body had to be given a proper burial. Similarly but more recently indigenous people of Australia have led campaigns for the return and proper burials of their ancestor’s remains from museum collections. Similarly to other cultures such as Christians to have skeletons of the victims of the display are considered to be offensive. As a result there has been increasing pressure on the ethical issue of whether these bones should be displayed as it is considered offensive to many cultures. Due to this increasing pressure, some museums have adopted measures to address these ethical issues. For example some museums display signs that give warnings to tourists that human remains are displayed, to not offend viewers. Also instead of actual remains, casts of the remains are displayed, a method originally developed by Fiorelli. Holiographic displays were used so that the actual bodies did not have to be displayed.[/FONT]
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[georgia-ellen]

lol, do you go to SACS?

 

[sushitree]

Ethics can be defined as a method by actions which can be judged either good or bad, right or wrong. Ethics are the principles or rules of conduct recognised in respect to human behaviour this can be applied to the treatment of the study and display of human remains in Pompeii and Herculaneum.
One issue is the question of how human remains are found at archaeological sites should be managed. Should we leave them there or should we take them from where we found them. The most simple answer is to take them as we can learn about their past what age and sex they were. We can find out what diseases they had and fully examine how they basically lived their life. In the past human remains were poorly treated and damaged, some were forgotten in the dark wrapped in newspapers. Today, human remains are treated with more respect and care, with the human remains being safely stored in laboratories and museums. Museums have always displayed the remains of ancient people. There was no questioning right or wrong of this process, assuming that this process was to satisfy the curiosity of the public of human knowledge. Though they are treating them with respect and taking much more care of the body, I wonder if they’ve ever considered that they are still disrespecting the people of Pompeii and Herculaneum as if members of their families died and were buried and people 100 years later decided to dig up their bodies up and take them to laboratories examine their bodies and put them on display, they are disrespecting their culture. When looking at it this way it is wrong.
Another issue is the deliberate movement of skeletons for theatrical effect. In the past skeletons were manipulated to create a theatrical effect for the visiting nobility. As said by Dr Estelle Lazer from the university Sydney some of the skeletons in room 19 had been “constructed” as one skeleton had two left thigh bones . Estelle had also examined the house of Menader she found that some of the skeletons had also been assembled from a number of other skeletons. She had also examined the remains of more than 300 people stored in Sarno baths using techniques f anthropology and forensic medicine she had discovered the age, sex, height, signs of disease and the relationship between victims.
One other ethical issue which I have questioned is whether human remains should be displayed at all. For example some cultures such as roman culture believe that for the soul to rest peacefully in afterlife the body had to be given a proper burial. The people who were killed in the 79 AD eruption were not buried by their loved ones but by the volcanic deposits. Very little respect was paid to these victims. Especially during earlier excavations when some were treated as theatre props. Similarly but most recently indigenous people of Australia have led campaigns for the return and proper burials of their ancestors remains from museum collections. Similar to religions such as Christianity, they too have skeletons on display which is considered to be offensive. Besides this, it is considered intrusive to display the dead and portions of the dead in public as curiosities, it dehumanises the once human individual, and intrudes into the privacy of their death and burial. Due to the increasing pressure, museums have adopted measures to address these ethical issues. For example some museums display signs that give warnings to tourists that human remains are displayed to not offend viewers. Though in Pompeii the hordes of tourists come mainly out of curiosity and to witness the plaster casts of dead bodies and animals. This is a different process. The plaster casts are recreations. However, the display of genuine skeletal remains indicates that there is nothing sacred about the dead, and they can be displayed for amusement and idle curiosity



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