At What Point In Time Is It Ok To Dig Up A Grave Or Tomb?

[kiobe]

I am allways appalled when I see another tomb being cracked open and the contents, soon to be encased in plexiglass boxes, are put on display. At what point in time is it acceptable to dig someone up and show off thier things? Is it 100 years? 500 years? Shouldn't we take into account the assumption that the people that burried thier dead in such an elaborate fashion were hoping that thier body and belongings would be left alone? As facinating as the findings are, they don't really belong to the people that are digging them up.

[Haven]

Exactly, I know what you mean. I love watching BBC's TimeTeam but when they dig up burial grounds, I feel extremely conflicted. On the one hand we are learning about our past and the cutural influences of that age, which hopefully will enable us to understand where we are today. But on the other, I don't agree with it... This is not based on any beliefs that I have relating to religion, it is more visceral and essential. You could say it comes from a knot in my brain that says, "just don't, it is wrong". You asked a very specific question, and one that I feel comfortable in answering as fully as I did, therefore I will not add my expansion as to where this question could go.

[Niamh]

Exactly, I know what you mean. I love watching BBC's TimeTeam but when they dig up burial grounds, I feel extremely conflicted. On the one hand we are learning about our past and the cutural influences of that age, which hopefully will enable us to understand where we are today. But on the other, I don't agree with it... This is not based on any beliefs that I have relating to religion, it is more visceral and essential. You could say it comes from a knot in my brain that says, "just don't, it is wrong". You asked a very specific question, and one that I feel comfortable in answering as fully as I did, therefore I will not add my expansion as to where this question could go.

but you must realise that when archaeologist excavate cemetries it is called rescue archaeology and the bodies do be re buried in consectrated ground after. If we do excavate then well they'll only end up being dug up and brought to a dump or used as foundation soil. Would you rather them being dug up and reburied of as part of your neighbours garden features.

[kiobe]

but you must realise that when archaeologist excavate cemetries it is called rescue archaeology and the bodies do be re buried in consectrated ground after. If we do excavate then well they'll only end up being dug up and brought to a dump or used as foundation soil. Would you rather them being dug up and reburied of as part of your neighbours garden features.

Yea, I don't have a problem with the preservation and caretaking of a cemetary being moved because the land has been rezoned or may become part of a flood plain or something. I am speaking more in line with tombs or graves of older cultures and at what point in time (years) is it acceptable to dig it up and show it off?

[Niamh]

well obviously those tombs that are on display are a few thousand years old. Personally i dont think its right that they are on displayed but in all fairness when they were buried, i'm sure their ansestors thought they whould never be forgotten but many of them were and their resting places were lost until the last couple of centuries. For all we really know it might have been a thing in some cultures to visit the bodies of the dead and us having them on display may please them. After all dont some families visit the crypts of their ansestors still today?
I dont think there is a general time frame. I do know that some bodies from 500 to eight hundred years ago do be on display, but they are the likes of bog bodies; bodies of murdered or sacrificed humans whos bodies have been somewhat preserved but the decaying materials that compose bogs.

[kiobe]

well obviously those tombs that are on display are a few thousand years old. Personally i dont think its right that they are on displayed but in all fairness when they were buried, i'm sure their ansestors thought they whould never be forgotten but many of them were and their resting places were lost until the last couple of centuries. For all we really know it might have been a thing in some cultures to visit the bodies of the dead and us having them on display may please them. After all dont some families visit the crypts of their ansestors still today?
I dont think there is a general time frame. I do know that some bodies from 500 to eight hundred years ago do be on display, but they are the likes of bog bodies; bodies of murdered or sacrificed humans whos bodies have been somewhat preserved but the decaying materials that compose bogs.

Yea, definitly. I visit my great grandfather's grave. He was the first of my family to come to America back in April 1905. But I'd be pretty pissed off if I went there to pay my respects and someone dug him up and put his tattered clothing and jewelry on display. I don't know if finding a body in a bog as part of some other excavation would be considered the same thing. True we, or more appropreatly, I don't know what the intentions of the living were when they burried thier dead but a burrial is usually looked upon as the last bit of caretaking for the deceased. I'm still looking for the point in time in years.

[Niamh]

but i dont think there is a point in time. It seem to just depend on the circumstances. But if there was i'm sure it would be over a thousand years.
But then again in saying that many peoples tombs have been on display since they died. Michelangeo, Giotto, Machiavelli, and many others sarcophogus' wee put on display in churches and cathedrals after they died. People have been visiting them for centuries.

[kiobe]

but i dont think there is a point in time. It seem to just depend on the circumstances. But if there was i'm sure it would be over a thousand years.
But then again in saying that many peoples tombs have been on display since they died. Michelangeo, Giotto, Machiavelli, and many others sarcophogus' wee put on display in churches and cathedrals after they died. People have been visiting them for centuries.

Yea, that's us. Crazy Italians. When my father's aunt died they displayed her in his uncles salon in thier home for a week. People would come and go and wail and cry and scream. As a little kid this was my definition of hell.

[kiobe]

I just read that they dug up Hatshepsut. The only female, and greatest ruler Egypt had known.

[Bakiryu]

This is the creepiest thing I've ever seen in the news. This man dug up this woman just a few years after her dead, MARRIED HER, and lived with her for years.

This other man made what HE SAYS is a wax image of his wife (but everybody thinks is a body and is going to be analize to prove it). He's been living with it for ten years and he still say they engage in *QUOTE*: extremely fullfiling sexual activity!

[Nossa]

Even though I'm an Egyptian, I kinda get what you mean, and agree to a certain extent. I highly respect the holiness of death and that when people die, they're supposed to be left alone and not disturbed. On the other hand, people call it science and that diggin up old tombs would give them a clearer view about how people lived in older ages. So I think that it 'could' be allowed at the point when something is argued about, or a discovery that needs support or something..other than this, I don't think that it's respectful to open up tombs and dig up people's bodies and belongings.