The burial area BRiG 3117 (Coyungo) was investigated during the PABRiG (Proyecto Arqueológico Bajo Río Grande). It consists of four burial contexts with about 25 individuals (MNI) and a considerable amount of pottery, textiles and gourd fragments among others. One of the textiles is part of a famous piece housed at Dumbarton Oaks. It is the most significant and complex compound known from the south coast during Late Formative times despite its heavy previous looting. In this paper the material evidence is presented in a preliminary form and some concerning interpretations are offered. / El área funeraria BRiG 3117 (Coyungo) fue investigada en el marco del Proyecto Arqueológico Bajo Río Grande de Nazca. Se trata de un conjunto de cuatro contextos funerarios con unos 25 individuos (NMI) y una cantidad elevada de restos de cerámica, textiles, mates y otros. Uno de los fragmentos pertenece a una famosa pieza de la colección de Dumbarton Oaks. Es el conjunto más complejo y significativo del Periodo Formativo Tardío de la costa sur conocido hasta la fecha, pese a que estaba saqueado. En este trabajo se presentan las evidencias en forma preliminar y se ofrecen algunas interpretaciones al respecto.

Clandestine burials, the interred human remains of forensic interest, are generally small features located in isolated environments. Typical ground searches can be both time-consuming and dangerous. Thermal remote sensing has been recognized for some time as a possible search strategy for such burials that are in relatively open areas; however, there is a paucity of published research with respect to this application. This project involved image manipulation, the analyses of signatures for "graves" of various depths when compared to an undisturbed background, and the use of image classification techniques to tease out these features. This research demonstrates a relationship between the depth of burial disturbance and the resultant signature. Further, image classification techniques, especially object-oriented algorithms, can be successfully applied to single band thermal imagery. These findings may ultimately decrease burial search times for law enforcement and increase the likelihood of locating clandestine graves.

This study focuses on the attitudes of museumgoers toward the exhibition of human remains in modern Swedish museums. More specifically, it deals with how their attitudes toward remains are shaped and informed by museums’ materiality and institutionalized authority, whether they think of remains as humans or objects, as well as how these dead bodies ultimately become culturally meaningful to us who are still alive. Through the use of ethnographic field methods including go-along interviews and participant observation, the behaviors and opinions of museumgoers are recorded. With the help of Emmanuel Levinas’ ethical phenomenology and Annemarie Mol’s theory of multiple ontology, the cultural background against which these attitudes have taken shape is examined. The study shows that museumgoers are generally positive toward the exhibition of human remains in museums—an attitude which is influenced by the history, scientific authority, and carefully designed materiality of the museum. Among the perceived benefits of exhibiting human remains, visitors cite the ability of the remains to arouse their curiosity and serve as links to the past, as well as provide material proof that validates the museum’s claims to knowledge. However, this positive attitude is dependent on whether the remains are treated and displayed with respect. This call to treat the dead respectfully can be seen as a universal reaction to the ”face-to-face encounter” as described by Emmanuel Levinas, but at the same time, museumgoers’ interpretation of respect is culturally contingent and heavily influenced by contemporary values such as individuality, scientific objectivity, and equality. Furthermore, the perceived need to treat remains respectfully is directly tied to the perceived humanity of the remains. This is in turn dependent on how close the remains are to us in terms of appearance and temporal distance. By focusing on museumgoers instead of professionals, and through using ethnographic fieldwork to note opinions and their cultural backgrounds, this study attempts to add a fresh perspective and new knowledge to what is currently one of the hottest debates in museology: whether remains even belong in museums. Further, by recognizing that no opinion is formed in a vacuum, the narrow question of displaying death can tell us something bigger about the norms and values of Sweden today.

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This study examines uncontested human remains from a staff- and institutional perspective in Scandinavia. Focusing on Sweden and Denmark, this study aims to understand more of the practice and approach concerning the Egyptian mummy, Bog bodies and Relics. Today, human remains are debated and treated in different ways depending on different ethical issues concerning the category. Here, we can talk about contested and uncontested human remains. Contested human remains is, for example, ancestral remains belonging to indigenous groups or remains of a more modern date that are deemed for have been inappropriately handled historically. The uncontested human remains however, are remains that do not fit in given examples above and that have not been seen as problematic as the contested human remains. With that said, the uncontested human remains are more prone to be covered, moved around or discussed, but in the end of the day they are still there in the exhibition or in the collection and not removed. This study is based on Tiffany Jenkins (2011) definition about the contested and uncontested and Berit Sellevold’s (2013) figure of ethical aspects in which groups of people and researchers view certain remains. Arisen from these theories and the earlier research of human remains this study attempts to examine the practice and the approach about uncontested human remains. The result of the nine case studies in this thesis shows that the Egyptian mummy, Bog bodies and Relics are used and being used for bringing human beings closer the human remains as the individuals they are and for telling stories of the past. In a concrete way of understanding this, it is the staff of the institution that makes this use and approach possible neither if it’s connecting humans to the individual, the history or the religious sphere. Two main results from this study are that the appearance and context are highly affecting whether the institution, mainly the museum, chooses to exhibit uncontested human remains or not. This is a two years master’s thesis in Museum and Cultural Heritage Studies.

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