Reburial of human remains dating to the Roman period

[lisa]

I caught this on the newsbot page and find it very intriguing

Remains of Roman teenager buried

Does anyone know how often is reburial of ancient human remains practiced in the UK/Europe/other parts of the world? And for what reasons? In the U.S. it is only done when there can be a proven link to living descendants and usually only in the case of Native American remains.

I'm also surprised that MoLAS would be involved in reburial. Museums generally store human remains for future study. If there was no call from descendants to rebury this person, I wonder why they would have done it. Should archaeologists rebury all the human remains they excavate?

[Arthes]

Greetings Lisa,
I have heard of a few cases of reburial and/or at least placing the remains back in the original place..
In this case, it is called a 'humane gesture', I think it is generally to show some degree of respect for our ancestors.
It is not that easy to prove you are a living descendant of a Roman, Greek or Egyptian, etc, unless of a particularly anciently known lineage, or there is DNA evidence. It does not mean you are not a living descendant of somebody whose remains are in a museum or similar.
I don't know how I would feel to find that my great grandfather or mother, goodness knows how many times removed, has been dug up, removed from their grave goods, pulled apart for inspection and preservation and then interrred in a museum miles away.
It has however, happened to some of us...maybe it is that nagging feeling that it could be their ancestor they are picking the bones of....
Personally I agree with reburial in a lot of cases. I think in situ graves with grave goods intact and a see through lid, is a far better option.
OK, I know you cannot do that when the burial was in the middle of a motorway...but do as the Romans did and place gravesites all along the edges...it would be handy for reminding the drivers to slow down too....!
Is that coffin going to be under the floor of the building, or in the grounds I wonder.
Regards
Arthes