The holes in the brickwork have grown in number over the centuries. The tuffa roof of the enclosed space overlooks four buried bodies of people long forgotten. Artefacts, such as a medusa urn housing three small terracotta vessels well over two centuries old, are strewn throughout the space. This was the state of the approximately 2,600 year old Etruscan tomb a Baylor University archaeology team found in June this year.

Many were excited about the discovery, due to a general lack of historic knowledge about the society that existed once in central Italy. No Etruscan texts have ever been uncovered. All that has been learnt about them is through short inscriptions, as well as art, tombs, pottery and descriptions from Roman and Greek writers. 

One thing that is known about their culture is that they valued family and heritage.  Throughout history, there have been many ways that humanity have marked death, an array of burial rituals and customs, varying culture to culture. One that has stood the test of time is sealing the dead in a tomb or coffin.  

Processes themselves differed even within Etruscan culture, who were not one nation but rather residents of a group of cities who all shared similar beliefs. Inhumation, the practice of hollowing out a trench in the earth for a body and covering it with rocks or dirt, became a more common burial method in the south, while cremation was still more popular in the north. The most recent tomb discovery highlights that it was important to the Etruscan people that the resting places of the deceased be intricately crafted. Of the Etruscans, historian Rachael Nelson writes “there was an organised effort…to regulate and oversee the construction, expansion and maintenance” of the places their people would rest.

While many celebrated these Etruscan finds, many others online were debating the ethics of disturbing the buried. The discussion raises the moral question that often confronts historians and archaeologists: How do we ethically grapple with the value of discovering more about our ancient past while affording the dead respect and peace?  

Classical archeology expert Dr Gillian Shepherd specialises in ancient Greek colonisation of Sicily and Italy, burial customs, and art. She tells upstart that the discussion about whether the contents found inside tombs should be removed and studied is complex. One issue that arises is that if archaeologists don’t, others might. 

“These countries have a very long history of the looting of tombs tomb robbers [and] by people who are intending to slog their finds on the black market,” she says. “If archaeologists would decide, no, we should not ever disturb the dead, that would not keep these tombs safe.”  

“We’re in a situation where we have to consider, well, which is the lesser of the evils.” 

In some cultures, it is believed that the ancient remains are to be untouched to preserve the body and it is sacred to keep them undisturbed, while for others, interaction with the dead is part of the commemorative act. For example, Shepherd points out that in some cultures, interaction with and viewing of bodies is significant, such as with the Roman Catholic Church.  

“One could consider the corpses of saints, for example, in Catholic countries,” she says. “It is often heavily robed and heavily embalmed and so on. But that direct engagement with the corpse, touching the turn, everything else, is actually quite fundamental to the significance of the individual.”  

In other cultures, burial is not always permanent either. 

“There are certain cultures, modern cultures in Greece, they’re probably dying out a bit now, but villages in Greece, where one way of celebrating the dead will be to dig the bones up regularly, wash them in wine, and have a party around the grave and then put them back up,” she says. “So, I suppose that the idea that you’re buried or cremated and then never touched again, is not necessarily the case and there are other ways of celebrating and respecting the dead.”

These days, sites are treated with greater sensitivity and respect than they have been in the past. When it comes to excavation and working on sites, it is no longer as simple as just coming in and digging up. Excavating processes have changed over time, as have the rules archaeologists have to follow to be allowed to work on a site. 

Andy Herries, field archaeologist, palaeoanthropologist and the Director of The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, says that there is a lot more regulation around what archaeologists can and can’t do with respect to sites and findings. There is also a lot more respect shown for those who live where archaeological digs take place. 

 “You shouldn’t just come in here and excavate this stuff without consultation,” Herries tells upstart.  

It is now common practice that if a foreign historian or archaeologist is coming in to excavate, they need to be working with a team of people from the area, culture or country that are connected to the land, in order to respect the people who are local. New laws that have been brought into place to protect the land, vary country to country. 

“There’s a big move in archaeology to make sure that projects and ideas and directions are driven locally by local people.”  

Still, Herries describes archaeology as a “destructive discipline”, because when tombs are opened there is a change in the atmosphere. Even if the relics, bodies or artefacts that are found get put back or left, they can no longer maintain their original form.  

“If you open a tomb, you will suddenly [be] changing all the conditions in terms of internal environment, the thing that’s actually preserving things in there in the first place,” he says.  

Herries’ work primarily takes place in Australia and Africa where he studies and excavates fossils. The bones he uncovers now no longer have a direct living line. In this sense he is saved from another issue archaeologists face when dealing with remains; whether those buried have any living ancestors.  

“[What] I’m excavating, strictly speaking, are rocks that are human shaped, rather than actually being human beings anymore and I guess those bones are not specifically tied to one population,” he says. “They are potentially the ancestors of everybody. Or they could be ancestors of nobody alive today. We don’t actually know that and that’s one of the things that we’re trying to understand.”  

Ethical questions are not restricted to whether the dead should be disturbed, but how they are treated once discovered. Bodies that have some sort of historical significance are often placed in museums. Otzi, also known as the ‘Iceman’, is an example of this. Otzi was found on the border between Italy and Austria. He had been traversing the Alps and became frozen after an accident. His body was uncovered in the 1990s during a dry weather spell. The uncovering of his body allowed a snapshot into the Copper Age and their health, diet and life. He now resides in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. 

Shepherd says that when approaching the displaying of human remains it should be done in a respectful and considerate way. She cites the way that the museum has created an exhibit showing what the Iceman would have looked like, including his original equipment and clothing.

“He’s in a special enormous freezer,” she says. “And there’s just a small window that really only one, maybe two people can look at the same time. Now, that’s not to say many people haven’t seen these bodies, but it is discreet, quite private viewing and I think that’s not just so you make sure that people who are going to be disturbed by seeing a corpse don’t see it. You know, they’re not caught unaware by it. It’s not left in front of them. But also, that degree of respect and discretion.” 

Another example Shepherd cites is the bog people, primarily found in the Northern countries of Europe. The oldest bog body that has been discovered to date is from 8,000 B.C.E the ‘Tollund Man’ and he is in the Museum of Silkeborg, giving insight into the iron age.  The bog people have been similarly displayed in a small room in the National Museum of Ireland, where only a small number of people can be present at a time. 

While archaeology is a practice that often raises the dead, it also serves as a way for people today to discover how those who lived before us lived their lives.  

“When you’re looking at something like that recent Etruscan tomb, there is a great deal of social display in that tomb,” Shepard says.

“That’s really more about the living, the relatives, the family, the heirs, than it is about the dead person.”  

Article: Nykita Van Den Berg is a second-year Media and Communications (Journalism) student at La Trobe University. You can follow her on Twitter at @Nykitavdb_

Cover Photo: Egyptian styled tomb, Springvale Botanical cemetery. By author

Photo 1: Etruscan funerary urn 1 by Mary and Jon found HERE and is used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.

Photo 2: Etruscan tombs by Amara Graps found HERE and is used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.

Photo 3: Otzi, the iceman by Carsten ten Brink found HERE and is used under a Creative Commons license. This image has been modified.