Le délicat problème des restes humains en archéologie

Abstract

The problem I am interested in is above all that of the biomedical management of human remains in archaeology, these ancient artifacts “unlike any other”, these “atypical patients”. In the following text, I will examine, with an interdisciplinary perspective (anthropological, philosophical and medical), how it is possible to work on human remains in archaeology, but also how to manage their storage after study. Working in archaeology is already a political problem (in the Greek sense of the word, i.e., it literally involves the city), and one could refer directly to Laurent Olivier’s work on the politics of archaeological excavations during the Third Reich and the spread of Nazi ideology based on excavation products and anthropological studies. But in addition, working on human remains can also pose political problems, and we paid the price in my team when we worked on Robespierre’s death mask (the reconstruction of the face having created a real scandal on the part of the French far left) but also when we worked on Henri IV’s head (its identification having considerably revived the historical clan quarrel between Orléans and Bourbon). Working on human remains is therefore anything but insignificant.

Les restes humains archéologiques en France : entre objets de science et sujets de droit

“…Les problématiques qui se déploient en la matière ne sont pas tant médicales qu'identitaires au sens collectif du terme. Assimiler ces restes à ceux d'un patient apparaît impropre même si, à titre individuel, les sentiments du chercheur investi dans sa fonction peuvent parfaitement le conduire à personnaliser son objet d'étude et le penser comme une personne [68]. En matière archéologique, si une exigence de consentement peut être identifiée, il s'agit plutôt d'un consentement collectif des contemporains.…”