An Ethical, Cultural and Historical Background for Cemetery-Based Human Skeletal Reference Collections

Abstract

OPEN ACCESS-PAID-CC BY-NC-ND In historically Protestant countries, human skeletal reference collections curated by research institutions have been amassed from bodies dissected by anatomists, typically unclaimed cadavers from morgues and hospitals, or from remains donated to science. In contrast to these anatomy-based and donation-based collections, skeletal reference collections in historically Roman Catholic countries on mainland Europe and in Latin America are for the most part derived from unclaimed remains exhumed from modern cemeteries and ossuaries at the end of the mandated interment period. While much has been written in English about the history, context and ethical framework of anatomy-derived collections, cemetery-based collections have received very little critical attention. The current paper addresses this gap, with particular reference to cemetery-derived collections in Portugal. The cultural and historical context of southern Europe is discussed, particularly Roman Catholic mortuary traditions and the influence of the Napoleonic Code, and these provide the background for an overview of the ethical issues raised by cemetery-derived collections. Here, general principles that should guide the work of human osteologists working in archaeological contexts are relevant, as regards consent, dignity and respect and benefits to science and education, because unlike their anatomy-derived counterparts, cemetery-based collections include individuals who were once buried.

The Assembly of a New Human Osteological Collection: The XXI CEIC as a Forensic Pedagogical Tool

“…Much has been written about the ethical framework in the last few years since any forensic practice should abide by an ethical approach [25,26]. Cardoso [7] has argued that what has been written concerns mostly anatomy and donation-based collections, and not cemetery-based ones. These raise ethical concerns because it is unclear what approach should be followed with the so-called unclaimed remains.…”

“…Conversely, the Spitalfields collection in London was amassed because the crypts in which they were placed had to be emptied [5]. Lack of space is also the reason that led to the assembling of most Portuguese collections, as most come from municipal cemeteries that need more burial space, and remove unclaimed human remains from primary and secondary burial plots to provide space for new internments, cremate them or place them in collective ossuaries within the cemetery [5,7]. This occurs in several Portuguese cemeteries, but on different occasions, some municipalities have entrusted these remains to museums and universities for research and teaching purposes [7], being this the case of the present collection.…”

“…Currently, in Portugal, there are nine identified skeleton collections (Table 1), the Identified Skeleton Collection of IUCS-CESPU (CEIC, Coleção de Esqueletos Identificados da CESPU) being the tenth. [11,12] 505 Coimbra 1904-1936 Évora Collection [13] 201 Évora 1870-1993 Identified collection of the National Museum of Natural History, Lisbon [14] 1692 Lisbon 1880-1975 International Exchanges Collection [12,15] 1142 (skulls only) Coimbra 1904-1937 Medical School Collection [11,12] 632 (skulls only) Coimbra 1895-1903 Mendes Correia Collection [16] 99 Porto Before 1912 BoneMedLeg Collection [9] 95 Porto 1969-2003 Cardoso [7] divided human skeletal collections into three types, depending on the source of their skeletons:…”

Among Bodies: Portuguese Cemeterial Exhumations Three Years after a Pandemic

“…Just as there are mortuary differences due to distinct religious beliefs, there are also worldwide legislative and cultural disparities concerning cemeterial exhumations [47][48][49]. As far as Portugal is concerned, the re-use of graves is a standard practice.…”

Adult age‐at‐death estimation using the first rib: A simple probabilistic approach

“…As a consequence, biological age is never highly associated with chronological age [11], but may be inferred from osseous and dental variables that are correlated in some way with phenotypic aging [12,13]. In order to provide reliable age estimations on unknown individuals, these relations must be tested in different documented collections around the world [14][15][16][17][18][19].…”