Digging people up...

[sccbishop]

How long does someone need to be dead and buried before it is deemed acceptable to dig them up again for historical research?

For example, the programme on 5 this evening televised live the uncovering of mummies. They couldn't exactly do that at your local graveyard. So, is it 100 years? 500 years?

[Zorro]

Have you got a deal going with motco to supply a skeleton ?

[wedg1e]

The council built a new bypass here a few years ago. The route took it through an ancient churchyard, they unearthed shedloads of bones of Plague vitims. As far as I recall they first had to make pretty certain that no records could be found that could link the bits to living people.

Then they dug the lot up and land-filled it somewhere

Plague was prevalent what, 350 years ago?

[docevi1]

they did the same in Newcastle with the Centre of Life. The land it's built on used to be a mass-burial ground for the local hospital during some recent mass infection which killed hundreds. Ironic the name of the centre in reality.

I personally think the dead should be left alone and hate it when programs like Time Team focus on digging up someone's body. It's strange as I don't for one second believe in an after-live, God, the devil or anything with even remote religious pretensions but playing with someone's body is just plain wrong IMO. How strange!