British Museum

Posted August 26th, 2008 by phl.costelloe
Location: 
Great Russell Street
Location: 
London
Location: 
WC1B 3DG
Telephone: 
020 7323 8000
Museum Website: 
Museum website
Parent Organisation: 
UK Government
Funding Organisation: 
The Department of Culture, Media and Sport
YLM Questionnaire Completed: 
Yes
Human Remains Policy: 
Yes
Comment: 

Refer to the British Museum's:

Human Remains Policy

This is a comprehensive Policy that seeks to address all the relevant issues. As is typical, this one effectively gives the museum complete control over all aspects of the care of Human Remains although like most policies it acknowleges that it has a duty to act in an ethical manner.

List of Human Remains

HR On Display: 
Yes
HR Count: 
4318
HR Count Pre-Christian: 
2060
Iconic HR: 
Yes
How many human remains are in its collection, and how many of those are of ancient British provenance: 
There are 4318 human remains in the collection from different parts of the world. This figure includes artefacts made from human remains and artefacts that incorporate human bone or teeth. Of this total, there are 2065 human remains that come from the UK. Of these 2060 are, or are probably, Prehistoric, Roman or Early Medieval in date.
How many of these human remains are well documented, with clear context of date and place of exhumation?: 
2056 of the human remains from the UK have documented provenances or are artefacts containing human remains. The provenance and history of the remaining 9 is currently being researched.
Where there are human remains in store, is there a history of use?: 
There is, and continues to be, a regular study of the human remains in the museum's care by researchers from the UK and abroad.
Where there are human remains in store, is there potential for use, in display, education or scientific analysis?: 
There is considerable potential for all the human remains in the museum's care for different forms of research, education and display, if carefully justified.
Does the museum have a disposal policy, and is it including HR with negligible potential in its discussions about disposal?: 
The British Museum is only able to consider disposal of human remains within its care under the specific terms of The British Museum Act, the Human Tissue Act and DCMS Guidelines. The Human Tissue Act gives specific provision for national museums to consider requests to deaccession human remains from outside the UK that are less than a certain age. Following the passing of this Act into UK law, the Trustees of the British Museum adopted a published policy on Human Remains that includes a detailed procedure for how they will respond to requests to deaccess human remains from outside the UK. In other circumstances, the British Museum Act does not allow for the deaccession of registered objects and human remains that are registered part of the museum's collection.
What sources of information about these human remains are in the public domain and where?: 
The British Museum was the first national museum to publish its Human Remains policy and a list of all human remains in its care through its website. Since the first publication of this list the museum has carried out further research on the provenance, collection and context of many of the human remains in its care.
Are any of these remains currently on display and in what context?: 
Only a small proportion of the human remains in the museum's care are on public display and the museum carried out a review of all the human remains then currently on display in 2005. The Roxie Walker Galleries of Egyptian Death and Afterlife contains a number of Egyptian mummies on display in a gallery about religious beliefs about death in Ancient Egypt, mortuary behaviour and what the study of ancient human remains can tell us about life in the past. There are a very small number of other displays of human remains in other parts of the museum. (Nov 2008)
Does the museum hold any iconic HR, i.e. figures of local or national importance, and are these on display?: 
The British Museum cares for a number of human remains that are well known and have recieved different levels of media and other attention. These include the bog body Lindow Man, the preserved Pre-Dynastic Egyptian burial popularly called 'Ginger', plaster covered skulls from prehistoric Jericho and several important and well known Egyptian mummies.