UK law leads to reburial row
Source: Agencies |
February 8, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH archaeologists are urging the government to rethink a law requiring human remains be reburied, warning it risks undermining years of research into the island's ancient peoples and study of their DNA.
The row stems from the reinterpretation of a law -introduced in 2008 by the Ministry of Justice. The rule states human bones discovered in England and Wales since that time, regardless of their age, must be re-interred after two years.
In a letter to Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, 40 academics complained experts would have too little time to study the remains and that reburial would result in the needless destruction of immensely valuable material.
Important sites that will be affected include Stonehenge and a Viking mass burial pit near Weymouth on the south coast.
Many top archaeologists -believe secrets about ancient tribes and early humans in Britain could be lost to -science forever if the rule is applied to the letter.
"Britain risks losing its leading role in archaeology, a decline that will be observed by a mystified international scientific community," the letter stated.
"The current license conditions are impeding scientific research, preventing new discoveries from entering museums, and are not in the public interest," added the academics who want the government to return to the "simple, well-tried system" practiced up to 2008.
The Ministry of Justice said the original review was undertaken in 2008 because the 1857 burial act lacked -powers to authorize -exhumation and retention for scientific purposes.
The row stems from the reinterpretation of a law -introduced in 2008 by the Ministry of Justice. The rule states human bones discovered in England and Wales since that time, regardless of their age, must be re-interred after two years.
In a letter to Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke, 40 academics complained experts would have too little time to study the remains and that reburial would result in the needless destruction of immensely valuable material.
Important sites that will be affected include Stonehenge and a Viking mass burial pit near Weymouth on the south coast.
Many top archaeologists -believe secrets about ancient tribes and early humans in Britain could be lost to -science forever if the rule is applied to the letter.
"Britain risks losing its leading role in archaeology, a decline that will be observed by a mystified international scientific community," the letter stated.
"The current license conditions are impeding scientific research, preventing new discoveries from entering museums, and are not in the public interest," added the academics who want the government to return to the "simple, well-tried system" practiced up to 2008.
The Ministry of Justice said the original review was undertaken in 2008 because the 1857 burial act lacked -powers to authorize -exhumation and retention for scientific purposes.
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