Ser man skelett eller ser man människor? : En studie kring repatriering och återbegravning av mänskliga kvarlevor.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the issue on how ancient human remains are or should be handled and dealt with from an ethical and archaeological perspective. This management has previously been based on what we today call racial biology, which shows how these issues have been neglected and assumed less worthy when it comes to how to treat indigenous people. In museums, archives, universities and medical institutions there are currently bone materials that science and indigenous people claim ownership of in different ways. Indigenous people believe that their ancestors have the right to rest in peace while science deems that human remains should be observed in order to preserve the past and monitor the future with the help of prehistoric knowledge. For a deeper understanding of how reburials and repatriation works, three case studies are presented. Two of these case studies are completed reburials, and the third case study is an ongoing process since 1949. In this paper a hermeneutic approach which is used to explain why human remains are the key to future studies, without involving our personal opinions