Avebury Pagan Remains to Remain on Display

On By Chas S. Clifton

Although some British Pagans have demanded NAGPRA-style reburial for Neolithic (and thus “Pagan” in some sense) human remains found at the famous ceremonial site of Avebury, English Heritage have decided against doing so.

These Neolithic human remains were excavated in the Avebury area by Alexander Keiller between 1929 and 1935. In 2006, Paul Davies of the Council of British Druid Orders requested their reburial. English Heritage and the National Trust followed the recently-published DCMS process in considering this request, and went out to public consultation in 2009 on a draft report which set out the evidence and different options.

English Heritage and the National Trust have now published a report on the results of this consultation, and a second report on the results of a public opinion survey. Our summary report concludes that the request should be refused for four main reasons:

  • the benefit to future understanding likely to result from not reburying the remains far outweighs the harm likely to result from not reburying them;
  • it does not meet the criteria set out by the DCMS for considering such requests;
  • not reburying the remains is the more reversible option;
  • the public generally support the retention of prehistoric human remains in museums, and their inclusion in museum displays to increase understanding.

I expect that the Pagans for Archaeology group will be pleased.

One thought on “Avebury Pagan Remains to Remain on Display”

  1. I am not opposed to archeology. But I am opposed to the practice of keeping human remains in museums for “study.” Even with our primitive 21st century technology, we can create minutely detailed facsimiles of the bones in question. So why keep them above ground? Are we going to wait until we can clone ancient Neolithic people from the DNA in their bones … and then do it? Will we need the whole femur, or just a few cells?

    When I was studying human paleontology in college, we worked with “samples” from the Mississippian Mound Builders site. I may have an over-active imagination, but I could feel the anguish in those bones. They seemed to cry in outrage at being held in my hands in a laboratory.

    Keep the stuff. Re-bury the bones. If it’s the policy at Antietam Battlefield, it ought to be the policy at Avebury.

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