9th February 2011, 01:41 PM
kevin wooldridge Wrote:This is nothing new. Most burials disinterred through licence after the 1857 Burial Act, were reinterred with Christian ceremony.
Not true for archaeology, many Prehistoric and Roman burials are in museums or research collections, some Saxon burials were reburied and many, but by no means all medieval and post medieval burials have been reinterred both with and without Christian ceremonies. But remember Kevin the 1981 disused burial grounds act applies to post-medieval cemeteries and many bodies buried under this law were reinterred in municipal cemeteries.
The old licence issued before 2008 said "d) The remains shall, if of sufficient scientific interest, be conveyed to [...Museum...] for archival storage or they shall be conveyed to a burial ground in which interments may legally take place and there be reinterred."
The new licence has removed that first bit, and removes the choice of appropriate action on behalf of the archaeologist. This means no skeletons no matter how old will be put in museums, ever again, unless a change is made.