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Ethics and Human Remains

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Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology

… due dignity and respect should be afforded in the recovery, storage, investigation and reburial of human remains regardless of their context. (Hunter et al. 2001: 176)

Ethics is a branch of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of the principles and standards of human conduct that govern the behavior of individuals and groups (Bottorff 2005). Most professions adhere to an agreed code of conduct, commonly referred to as a “code of ethics,” with the intention being that all practitioners should undertake “best practice.” In reality, however, definitions of “best practice” vary because different cultures, societies, and groups have diverse value systems, namely, their own definitions of what is considered right (appropriate) and wrong (Walker 2000: 20; White 2000: 319). Because of the emotive nature of death, the treatment of human remains is often contentious and poses many ethical dilemmas.

Locating and Recovering Human Remains: Digging Up the Dead

While human remains may be...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine/Department of Forensic Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Soren Blau

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  1. Soren Blau
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Correspondence to Soren Blau .

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine / Monash University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

    Soren Blau

  2. The Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense, EAAF), Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Luis Fondebrider

  3. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, USA

    Douglas H. Ubelaker

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Blau, S. (2018). Ethics and Human Remains. In: Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_160-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_160-2

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