The volume Archaeologists and the Dead is meant to instill confidence in archaeologists to challenge (but not ignore) potential sensitivities of the public to exploring the dead that may limit scientific knowledge in order to gain a more robust understanding of the human condition. This goal is successfully accomplished by providing examples of negative and positive consequences of varied approaches to either involving the public in or buffering them from archaeological activities and exhibitions.
Anthony (Chapter 2) highlights an attempt to shield the public from excavations of the recent dead and provides thoughtful insights into the associated ethics. Similarly, Tatham (Chapter 9) outlines the results (and accompanying politics) of allowing various levels of public opinion to influence displays of the dead. Highlighting a more positive experience, Sayer and Sayer (Chapter 7) successfully make an argument for connecting with the dead (rather than creating separation) in order to gain not only public support but also their participation. Sayer and Walter (Chapter 17) go on to present a creative method of objectively quantifying attitudes on popular article content using digital media.
It is clear that a requisite complex balance must be reached between the “glamorous” stories that enthrall the public (Nordstrӧm, Chapter 10), but which can dangerously include fabricated details, and the seemingly “boring” recitation of scientific details, which can lack the necessary emotion and link to humanity that effectively communicate the importance of studying the dead. The connection between the body and “personhood” is considered by McClelland and Cerezo-Román (Chapter 3) in the context of osteological practice. Furthermore, the treatment of cremains often lacks acknowledgment of that distinct human connection, but they are also the physical result of a fascinating mortuary ritual that can be hastily overlooked in presentations of material culture and human remains (Williams, Chapter 14).
Reflections on how perceptions of the excavation of “modern” dead may vary from those regarding the “long” dead are useful as we consider current mortuary practices too. For example, most are particularly sensitive to deceased children, so a dedicated chapter assessing public opinions on immature remains versus those of adults is noticeably absent. To further link those living to the dead, Jenkins (Chapter 12) focuses on how the living may use the dead to legitimize their powerful agendas and personal biases via descriptive narratives and displays of remains. Exell (Chapter 11) reiterates this viewpoint and highlights the lack of accountability for displays and associated “stories” of the dead that are often complicated by politics.
Pearson and Jeffs (Chapter 5) offer a fascinating case study of an African graveyard on St. Helena and public perceptions of excavating the dead in this unique location. While there are some token chapters focusing on case studies elsewhere, generally the volume is United Kingdom–centric, in either author perspectives or geography. Although this bias is clearly stated in the preface, it offers little to the reader interested in gaining insight into how the dead are treated and viewed in Africa, Asia, or South America, for example. This is not a criticism or a limitation of the book per se, as including information from the entire world is not feasible in only one volume, but, rather, a warning that the title may not accurately describe its content in a way that allows readers to have realistic expectations.
Unfortunately, the poor image quality of the figures substantially reduces the impact these important demonstrations have. Weiss-Krejci's contribution (Chapter 16) is regrettably ineffective as a self-identified photo-essay, since the images are small and unclear. The redeeming quality is an interesting history of burial legislation in Austria, reflecting a marked difference in attitude toward the dead there from those in other European countries.
The final chapter (Goldstein) offers an intuitive summary, and on some topics even a critical review, of the entire volume in considerably more depth than I can offer within the confines of limited space here. Other robust contributions are Brown's (Chapter 6) assessment of tribal affinity and claims to the dead through the lens of “fictive kinship” (p. 119) of the military, and Stutz's (Chapter 13), which outlines challenges in the United States and Scandinavia related to displaying human remains of varied heritage.
While not inappropriate for undergraduates, this book will be most useful for graduate students as well as professionals and academicians involved in mortuary archaeology and bioarchaeology. Many of the chapters are well suited for a graduate course in (mortuary) archaeological theory but generally do require some foundation in theoretical schools of thought and a previous consideration of possible biases provided by these various viewpoints.
