As Katherine Verdery (The Political Lives of Dead Bodies, 1999) and others have demonstrated, the dead can have social and political lives, particularly if they were once powerful leaders. The Public Archaeology of Death, drawing primarily on case studies from the United Kingdom, explores another dimension of the biographies of the dead by providing insights into how engagements with the ancient dead through participation in excavations, museum visits, and consumption of popular media can shape the lives of the public in complex webs of interactions. This volume is also innovative pedagogically, as some of the chapters were written by final-year undergraduates at the University of Chester and presented at a student-run conference.

In Chapter 1, Williams, who taught the module that formed the basis for the conference and volume, outlines the historical antecedents of and arguments for a public archaeology of death. In Chapter 2, Shiner, Hemer, and Comeau recount the experience of involving the public in excavations of the cemetery at St. Patrick's Chapel, on the coast of southwest Wales. Rescue excavations were initiated because the cemetery and associated human remains were eroding onto a beach. The authors describe how they negotiated conflicting desires: to make the site open to the public for viewing and excavation, to respect visitors’ feelings about seeing and handling the remains of the dead (which included nonadults), and to ensure the site was excavated in a respectful and careful manner. Despite a few negative experiences, public response was overwhelmingly positive. The authors argue that such opportunities for public involvement are critical to ensuring the future of archaeology in Wales and promoting the idea of “our shared humanity rather than culturally constructed differences” (p. 33).

The remaining chapters examine public engagements with the dead in museums and through representational media. Evans and Williams (Chapter 3) analyze the complex multitemporal juxtapositions of material from the prehistoric past through the twentieth century in the Llangollen Museum in Wales. They note that the Bronze Age cremated remains have not elicited much visitor commentary or critique, perhaps because, unlike most of the material on display, the remains cannot be linked to identifiable individuals from the past or present. Walsh and Williams (Chapter 4) discuss the 39 execution graves (preserved as sand stains) at Sutton Hoo and the ways they have been de-emphasized, homogenized, or omitted from educational materials in contrast to the famous wealthy graves (the “kings and bling”). These decisions, the authors argue, “serve to displace and sublimate the emotive and mnemonic dimensions of ritualized execution, the pain and violence involved, and thus the personhood of the victims” (p. 57). Mui (Chapter 5) demonstrates how the Christian practice of supine burials has permeated representations of past dead even when a body's orientation is not known. Bolchini (Chapter 6) analyzes the frequency and nature of imagery in popular archaeology magazines, showing how many of these images sensationalize death rather than support the information in the text. Gardela (Chapter 7) discusses representations of Viking funerals and burials—including the lavish nineteenth-century painting by Polish artist Henryk Siemiradzki—and describes his experiences in commissioning paintings of Viking graves. He outlines the challenges in working with artist Miroslav Kuźma to create images that are accurate and help the viewer engage with the past in new ways. Watson and Williams (Chapter 8) critically consider visualizations of Anglo-Saxon cremations, focusing on a series of photorealistic images created by Watson. These arresting images illustrate rituals not often depicted, such as the burning of a fleshed body and sifting through the ashes. Munsch (Chapter 9) interrogates the practices and ethics of conflict archaeology, noting some problems surrounding popular media portrayals of World War I excavations. Nicholson (Chapter 10) analyzes the fascinating world of online games and the complex ways they intersect with death and the material culture of death. Finally, Williams (Chapter 11) discusses representations of death in the popular television series Vikings. Importantly, the program provides the public with an opportunity to engage with a range of mortuary behaviors not likely familiar to most viewers.

Although the cultural embeddedness of mortuary practices and the ethics of mortuary archaeology were noted by many of the authors, the cultural background of the authors and the beliefs they brought to their studies were not discussed, leaving the reader to wonder how their history or religious beliefs influence their engagements with the ancient dead, and how their research shapes their feelings about mortality. It is, nonetheless, a fascinating book and an important contribution to the literature of mortuary archaeology.