Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums (Headquarters)
Discovery Museum
Blandford Square
Newcastle upon Tyne
Tyne and Wear
NE1 4JA
01912223406
Website: http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
Parent Organisation:
Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums
Funded by:
Local authority, university and other
YLM Entry Submitted: Yes
Comments:
Covers a number of museums in the Northumberland area. Comments from the senior manager at Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums: “The main museums with holdings of human remains are the Great North Museum: Hancock, Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens and South Shields Roman Fort.
Every effort has been made to provide accurate information. But the collections are difficult to quantify exactly as not all the material can easily be separated into individuals. The Whitton Hill cremations, for instance, contain 16 and 23 individuals each, but have been counted as 2 human remains because they were buried as mixed groups and it is impossible to separate out all of the individuals.”
How many human remains are in its collection, and how many of those are of ancient British provenance, pre-Christian or in other way Pagan?:
Total: 133
How many of these human remains are well documented, with clear context of date and place of exhumation?:
27
Where there are ancestors in store, is there a history of use?:
Yes
Where there are ancestors in store, is there potential for use, in display, education or scientific analysis?
Yes
Does the museum have a disposal policy, and is it including HR with negligible potential in its discussions about disposal?:Yes
Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums have a formal disposal policy, which covers our holdings of human remains. We also follow DCMS guidelines on this material. There is a strong presumption against disposal. Some non British material has been repatriated to Australia and New Zealand.
What sources of information about these human remains are in the public domain and where?:
Many of our human remains have been published in specialist reports, or in academic journals, such as Archaeologia Aeliana. Eg. Ford, W. and Miket, R. 1982 ‘An urned cremation from Warden Law, Tyne and Wear’, Archaeologia Aeliana, 5th ser, 10, 53 – 9 Miket, R. 1985 ‘Ritual enclosures at Whitton Hill, Northumberland’, Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 51, 137 – 148 (2 reports). Tyne and Wear Museums and Archives also provide an extensive programme of public lectures, as an additional source of public information. For example the recent Lindow Man exhibition at the Great North Museum: Hancock was supported by a series of lectures on various related topics.
Does the museum have ancestors (human remains) on display?:Yes
At present we have four Bronze Age burials on display, within their cists and with their associated grave goods. All are displayed within the context of the local history of the area. There are also two Egyptian mummies, Irtyru and Bakt en Hor, on display. Again these form part of display about Egyptian burial practices and beliefs about the afterlife. For the Great North Museum: Hancock, which opened in May 2009, there was extensive public consultation on all the galleries and their content. Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums have appropriate mechanisms in place for public feedback on all of our museums and we take all of our visitors’ comments seriously. We have had no comments on any of our displays of human remains.
Does the museum hold any iconic ancestors, ie. complete skeletons with a well documented story, or those considered of national or local importance, and are these on display?:
The definition of iconic is not clear but the museums do not hold anything to compare with, for example Lindow Man or the Ice Man. The nearest we have to these would be the two mummies Irtyru and Bakt en Hor on display in the Great North Museum Hancock.
Has the museum used or considered using replicas in displays? If not, why not and what would you find useful in moving to these? If you have, what response did these receive?:
Documents:
26 August, 2008
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